Preserve blank space in dynamic select?

[Trent_Hatred]

I have a dynamic mysql select box as follows:

			<select name="options" class="form" onChange="this.form.purchaseorder.value=this.value;" class="form" size="5">
			<?php								
				$queryPurchaseOrder = "SELECT PurchaseOrder FROM $tblOrders ORDER BY PurchaseOrder ASC";
				$result2 = mysql_query($queryPurchaseOrder) or die("Select Failed!");
				$sHTMLOutput = "";
				while($hasil2 = mysql_fetch_array($result2))				
				{
				$sHTMLOutput .= "<option value=\"$hasil2[PurchaseOrder]\">$hasil2[PurchaseOrder]</option>";
				}
				print $sHTMLOutput;
			?>
			</select>

The above works just fine, however some of the dynamic options have preceeding white space in front of them such as:

<option value=" V102483">V102483</option>
<option value=" verbal">verbal</option>

The "value" is proper, as you can see it includes the blank spaces. The problem is that the text displayed in the actual select list removes those spaces.

Any tips on how I would go about preserving them?

Hope that makes sense,
B

[drew010]

try
$sHTMLOutput .= "<option value=\"$hasil2[PurchaseOrder]\">" . htmlentities($hasil2['PurchaseOrder']) . "</option>";

[BuzzLY]

First off... please edit your post and fix the spacing problem, and wrap your code with &#91;php] tags instead of &#91;code].

Fix your code like so, and let's see if it still exhibits this problem:

<select name="options" class="form" 
  onChange="this.form.purchaseorder.value=this.value;" 
  class="form" size="5">

<?php								
$queryPurchaseOrder = <<<EOS
  SELECT PurchaseOrder 
    FROM $tblOrders 
    ORDER BY PurchaseOrder ASC
EOS;
$result2 = mysql_query($queryPurchaseOrder) or die("Select Failed!");
$sHTMLOutput = "";
while($hasil2 = mysql_fetch_array($result2)) {
  $sHTMLOutput .= "<option value='" . $hasil2['PurchaseOrder'];
  $sHTMLOutput .= "'>" . $hasil2['PurchaseOrder'] . "</option>";
}
print $sHTMLOutput;
?>

</select>

Please note the use of single quotes in your $hasil2 array, and the concatenation with the string. Arrays cannot be included inside a string the same way as variables, unless you surround them with { and }. I prefer to use concatenation myself, as it is less confusing.

Also, if you are not familiar with heredoc strings, make sure the line with "EOS;" has no trailing spaces... otherwise you will get an error.

If you still have a problem with spaces disappearing, try drew's solution using htmlentities()

[Trent_Hatred]

Thanks for the responses.

I've tried both suggestions to no avail.

The html entities suggestion does the following:

<option value=" V102483"> V102483</option>
<option value=" verbal"> verbal</option>

It looks as though it's preserving the spaces in the source, however in the list box, it is still removing them.

BuzzLY, with you suggestion, I'm getting errors as follows:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_VARIABLE in /var/www/html/admin/index2.php on line 104

Line 104 is:

  $sHTMLOutput .= "'>" . $hasil2['PurchaseOrder'] . "</option>"; 

And all of the code is as follows:

 <select name="options" class="form" 
  onChange="this.form.purchaseorder.value=this.value;" 
  class="form" size="5"> 
<?php                                 

$queryPurchaseOrder = <<<EOS
  SELECT PurchaseOrder  

    FROM $tblOrders  

    ORDER BY PurchaseOrder ASC 
EOS;
$result2 = mysql_query($queryPurchaseOrder) or die("Select Failed!"); 
$sHTMLOutput = ""; 
while($hasil2 = mysql_fetch_array($result2)) { 
  $sHTMLOutput .= "<option value='" . $hasil2['PurchaseOrder']
  $sHTMLOutput .= "'>" . $hasil2['PurchaseOrder'] . "</option>"; 
} 
print $sHTMLOutput; 
?> 
</select>

I can't seem to determine the problem.
B

[BuzzLY]

my bad... forgot a semicolon on line 103...

[drew010]

Originally posted by Trent Hatred
The html entities suggestion does the following:

<option value=" V102483"> V102483</option>
<option value=" verbal"> verbal</option>

It looks as though it's preserving the spaces in the source, however in the list box, it is still removing them.

are you sure? because i tested with about 10 spaces in ie and mozilla and the spaces do show up in the dropdown.

[BuzzLY]

Sometimes a single space in the dropdown is hard to see...

[drew010]

buzzly, congrats on the 2k'th post

[BuzzLY]

Doh!! And what a wonderfully profound post that was, eh?

[Trent_Hatred]

Hi BuzzLy and Drew,

Still not displaying spaces in the list box. The entries remain left justified, but the html code is showing that the spaces are being output.

B

[BuzzLY]

I see you have labelled your select with a class="form" attribute (twice, by the way). Can you post the CSS for that class?

[BuzzLY]

Ok, apparently, spaces get trimmed. I suggest using &amp;nbsp; for each space. I tested this, and it does work.

[Trent_Hatred]

Hi BuzzLy

Thought of that already, and removed all .css references to test. Didn't change. =(

B

[Trent_Hatred]

Resolution!

BuzzLy, thanks for pointing me in that direction. The solution, after determining that spaces get trimmed, is:

			<select name="options" class="form" onChange="this.form.purchaseorder.value=this.value;" class="form">
			<?php								
				$queryPurchaseOrder = "SELECT $tblOrders.PurchaseOrder, $tblCompanies.name, $tblCompanies.department FROM $tblOrders, $tblCompanies WHERE $tblOrders.CompanyID = $tblCompanies.id ORDER BY PurchaseOrder ASC";
				$result2 = mysql_query($queryPurchaseOrder) or die("Select Failed!");
				$sHTMLOutput = "";
				while($hasil2 = mysql_fetch_array($result2))				
				{
				$pot = ereg_replace("([ ]{2})","\\1&nbsp;",$hasil2[PurchaseOrder]);
				$sHTMLOutput .= "<option value=\"$hasil2[PurchaseOrder]\">$pot - $hasil2[name] - $hasil2[department]</option>";
				}
				print $sHTMLOutput;
			?>
			</select>

Simple ereg_replace for spaces. 😉

Thanks again,
B