"Sticky Forms" - Need Solution For Drop Down Menus

[dr0n3]

In my PHP scripts I have used "sticky forms". In other words, when a user submits a value, it still appears in the input field after they submit the form.

I have accomplished this using:

<input name="first_name" id="first_name" type="text" value="<?php echo htmlentities($_POST["first_name"]); ?>" size="20" maxlength="100" />

However, I have been unable to figure out a solution for drop down menus. Does anyone have a PHP solution for this? Maybe a JavaScript solution even?

[bubblenut]

<select name="country">
  <option value="en"<?php echo($_POST['country']=='en'?' selected="selected"':'');?>>England</option>
  <option value="ie"<?php echo($_POST['country']=='ie'?' selected="selected"':'');?>>Irelend</option>
  <option value="fr"<?php echo($_POST['country']=='fr'?' selected="selected"':'');?>>France</option>
  <option value="de"<?php echo($_POST['country']=='de'?' selected="selected"':'');?>>Germany</option>
</select>

Or a little bit tidier for long selects (because you can load the array elsewhere, maybe store it in the database or a seperate file), place values display strings in an array and build the select dynamically.

$countries[]=array('code'=>'en', 'name'=>'England');
$countries[]=array('code'=>'ie', 'name'=>'Ireland');
$countries[]=array('code'=>'fr', 'name'=>'France');
$countries[]=array('code'=>'de', 'name'=>'Germany');
echo('<select name="country">');
for($i=0;$i<count($countries); $i++) 
  echo('<option value="'.$countries[$i]['code'].'"'.($_POST['country']==$countries[$i]['code']?' selected="selected"':'').'>'.$countries[$i]['name'].'</option>');

HTH
Bubble

[dr0n3]

Great, thank you. I thought of a similar idea before I looked at your post, but yours is better 😉