using drop down menus to search table

[adrianuk29]

Ok I can easily work out how to search my database if two drop down menus have been selected, however whats always got me confused is how I can still search the table if only one of the drop down menus has been selected and the other has been left blank and vice versa and also how to get a result if both tables are selected. I thought of using the or statment but then that rules the AND statment if two drop down menus have been selected.

Any pointers or short examples would be greatly appreciated.

[etoast]

set your dropdowns to a value of 'any' for when they don't pick a value, then start your query...

if (drop1 == any) && (drop2 == any)
query = whatever
elseif (drop1 == any) && (drop2 !== any)
query = whatever
elseif (drop1 !== any) && (drop2 == any)
query = whatever
elseif (drop1 !== any) && (drop2 !== any)
query = whatever

your queries grow geometrically so if you have 5 drop downs you need to write out 32 queries - stick to two, trust me!

hope this helps