Dropdown Menu

Ros

Hi,

I have an issue with the dropdown menu.
check it out

The funcion I use to create this drop down menu is:

function create_dropdown($identifier, $pairs, $firstentry, $multiple="")
{
	// Start the dropdown list with the <select> element and title
	$dropdown = "<select name=\"$identifier\" multiple=\"$multiple\">";
	$dropdown .= "<option name=\"\">$firstentry</option>";

// create the dropdown elements
foreach($pairs AS $value => $name)
{
	$dropdown .= "<option name=\"$value\">$name</options>";
}
// Conclude the dropdown and return it
echo "</select>";
return $dropdown;
}

What is the problem?

Thanks
Ros

planetsim

echo "</select>"; you echo this out? shouldnt it be on the $dropdown variables?

Ros

Hi,

You mean like this?

But still it won't work out.

function create_dropdown($identifier, $pairs, $firstentry, $multiple="")
{
	// Start the dropdown list with the <select> element and title
	$dropdown = "<select name=\"$identifier\" multiple=\"$multiple\">";
	$dropdown .= "<option name=\"\">$firstentry</option>";

// create the dropdown elements
foreach($pairs AS $value => $name)
{
	$dropdown .= "<option name=\"$value\">$name</options>";
}
// Conclude the dropdown and return it
$dropdown .= "</select>";
return $dropdown;
}

Roger_Ramjet

Try using </option> NOT </options>

Ros

you are right. I corrected it. but it is still no dropdown menu.

It is driving me nuts. :queasy:

This is an example from the book PHP5 and MySQL From novice to professional.

The listening is showing me a dropdown menu and as you can see it is just a listbox. Is that an semantic error rather than syntax error in the code?

Regards
Ross

Roger_Ramjet

Well now. The thing that switches the dropdown into a listbox is the SIZE attribute; size="1" and you get a dropdown, size="2" or "3" etc and you get a listbox. I know it is not present in your code, I'm surprised that it defaults to the listbox. Just add ' size="1" ' to the <select> tag and that should fix it.

Ros

Hi Roger,

Well it is indeed very weird. I have tried your size solution without any real change. It is still a list box just with size 1 and you'll need the cursor keys to switch the values.

check it out

If I get rid of the multiple attribute at all, it works fine.

check it out

But what the heck is that? I have even checked the right syntax at W3.org. Whats wrong with HTML? 😃

honestly, I think this is normal. Because otherwise it won't be possible to multiselect values from a drop down menu. Thats why they convert it automatically to a listbox. Kind of paradox though...

But now I have a different question regarding the dropdown menu. I am sure you guys have seen before those nice drop down menus, where you can type a value. While you are typing the word, it will goes and catch the next value matching your letters and so on. It is kind of very convenient to select the right word from masses of values.

I even don't know if a drop down menu would be the right choice for my small dictionary at the end...I am still playing around and learning PHP.

Any ideas?
Thanks
Ross

Roger_Ramjet

What you are talking about is not a part of html. In the examples you have seen it will probably be a VBscript combo box, either that or some class javascript at work. Have a search around some javascript forums for code that does what you want.

java boutique
javascript source

I'm surprised at the multiple having that effect? But then I just looked at your source code again and you have the multiple syntax wrong: it is just a keyword and does not use the = sign.

Ros

Thanks for the tip. I will have to do some research about it.

By the way, even the keyword type of multiple won't work. I updated it.

here

function create_dropdown($identifier,$pairs,$firstentry,$multiple="") {

  // Start the dropdown list with the <select> element and title
  $dropdown = "<select name=\"$identifier\" size=\"1\" multiple>";
  $dropdown .= "<option name=\"\">$firstentry</option>";

  // Create the dropdown elements
  foreach($pairs AS $value => $name)
     $dropdown .= "<option name=\"$value\">$name</option>";

  // Conclude the dropdown and return it
  $dropdown .="</select>";
  return $dropdown;
   }