DB Select List and Initial Selected Value

[ethought]

Here is the code I am testing for filling a Select list with values from a database.

$query = "SELECT name FROM department_table ORDER BY name";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die("Query Fialed");
while($data = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
   echo "<option value='" . $data['name'] . "'>" . $data['name'] . "</option>";
}
mysql_free_result($result);

This works all fine and dandy. But what I need now is to have one of those option values selected based on a value I have in Session. And I am kind of lost on how to do this. If someone could point me in the right direction, that would be great.

Thanks.

[ethought]

This was my first attempt, but it is not working quite right.

while($data = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
     if ($_SESSION['empinfo']['department'] == $data['name'])
     {
          echo "<option value='" . $data['name'] . "' selected>" . $data['name'] . "</option>";
     }
     else
     {
          echo "<option value='" . $data['name'] . "'>" . $data['name'] . "</option>";
     }
}

It's as if my first IF is never evaluating to true. But as far as I can tell, it should be.

[ethought]

Ok, the code I posted above actually works. It helps if I load the Session with the data before testing. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I would still like to know if this is the BEST way or if there is a cleaner way of doing this.

Thanks.