How do I auto-select something in dynamically populated dropdown boxes?

jasonmills58

So, this worked great for selecting sequential numbers from my database, but now I have a bunch of text select options and I can't figure out how to make this work... Any clues?

<?
$result = mysql_query("SELECT count(*) FROM portfolio");  

$total = mysql_result($result, 0, 0);  

$data = mysql_query( "SELECT * FROM sections" );
$a_row = mysql_fetch_array( $data );
?>

<td class="formContent"><select name="portSection">
  <option selected>select a section</option>
	<?php
	for ($g = 0; $g <= $total; $g++) { 
	    if ($g == $a_row['sectionName']) { 
	        $sectionNameSelected[$g] = " SELECTED"; 
	            } 
	            print "<option" . $sectionNameSelected[$g] . ">" . $g . "</option>\n"; 
	} 
	?>
</select></td>

cheers,
jason

daynah

In this line,

print "<option" . $sectionNameSelected[$g] . ">" . $g . "</option>\n";

Where is the value attribute?

jasonmills58

Well originally, $g, as an incrementing integer would eventually be equal to a number I had in my database (storing a number 1-12) so I knew exactly what I had, and how to match it. Now, I could have any number of items in the drop down, and I want to have the correct one selected for this record.

Does that make sense? I don't know if I'm explaining this right...

thanks!

[edit]
For instance, right now I have:

Website Development
Logo Development
Collateral

as options in my database. More may be added dynamically. They are section labels for portfolio pieces, and when the data for a portfolio piece is viewed for editing, I want to populate a "Select a section" drop down box that already has that piece's section selected. Does that make more sense? 🙂

jasonmills58

is mucho giddy LOOK WHAT I DID!!

                <td class="formContent"><select name="portSection">
<?				  

$section_data = mysql_query( "SELECT * FROM sections ORDER BY sectionName" );
while ( $b_row = mysql_fetch_array( $section_data ) ) {
	if ( $b_row['sectionName'] == $a_row['portSection'] ) {
		$optionSelected = "selected";
	} else {
		$optionSelected = "";
	}
?>
			<option <? print $optionSelected; ?>><? print $b_row['sectionName']; ?></option>
<?
	}
?>
                </select></td>

is embarrassingly proud of himself

Thanks for the input daynah!