Forms with multiple checkboxes

DaveNPhx

Hello all,

I am using PHP to create a multiple-row form with editable text boxes. I'm also using javascript to use a checkbox to enable and disable each row of text boxes. Each checkbox and it's respective text boxes all have unique names, i.e. 'checkbox_n', 'email_n' where 'n' is an incremental digit for each row. The idea is a user is presented with rows of data they can change, but only after they check the box at the beginning of the row they would like to change.

This part all works fine and the variable data is being sent by the form as intended. The obstacle is that I want to know which rows were checked and then grab the variable data from the additional fields from that row without having to use isset on each checkbox name. I'm basically looking for something that will recursively scan '$checkbox_n' for each instance.

I hope this makes sense. I'm a self taught PHP coder, so I appologize for the newbie questions.

bretticus

This is the way I do it typically...

<?PHP
//searching for checkbox_*
$search = "checkbox_";
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
	if (substr($key, 0, strlen($search)) == $search) {
		//we have a checkbox_* in our midst. Let's get the number...
		$number = substr($key, strpos($key, "_") + 1);
		//now we have the number, we can update adjoining fields...
		$sql = "UPDATE table SET text1 = '{$_POST['text1_'.$number]}' WHERE id = $number";
		//...and so on...
	}
}
?>

bretticus

Alternately, if you enter all checkboxes in with the name of (something similiar) checkboxes[] (i.e ...name='checkboxes[]'...) in your html and make each checkbox value the id of the row you want to update, then you can use something like this instead...

foreach ($_POST['checkboxes'] as $number) {
	$sql = "UPDATE table SET text1 = {$_POST['text1_'.$number]} WHERE id = $number";
}

DaveNPhx

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll give them a try.

DaveNPhx

Originally posted by bretticus
Alternately, if you enter all checkboxes in with the name of (something similiar) checkboxes[] (i.e ...name='checkboxes[]'...) in your html and make each checkbox value the id of the row you want to update, then you can use something like this instead...

When I use [] in the name, it breaks the javascript I'm using to enable and disable the rows.

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE=\"JavaScript\"><!--
function codename_" . $i . "() {

if(document.settings_form.checkbox[].checked)
{
document.settings_form.threshold_1" . $i . ".disabled=false;
document.settings_form.threshold_2" . $i . ".disabled=false;
document.settings_form.email_1" . $i . ".disabled=false;
document.settings_form.email_2" . $i . ".disabled=false;
}

else
{
document.settings_form.threshold_1" . $i . ".disabled=true;
document.settings_form.threshold_2" . $i . ".disabled=true;
document.settings_form.email_1" . $i . ".disabled=true;
document.settings_form.email_2" . $i . ".disabled=true;
}
}

//-->
</SCRIPT>

<tr>
<td><input type=\"checkbox\" onclick=\"codename" . $i . "()\" name=\"checkbox[]\" value=\"$i\"></td>
<td>$location</td>
<td><input type=\"text\" disabled size=\"10\" name=\"threshold_1". $i ."\" value=\"$db_array[threshold_1]\"></td>
<td><input type=\"text\" disabled size=\"10\" name=\"threshold_2". $i ."\" value=\"$db_array[threshold_2]\"></td>
<td><input type=\"text\" disabled size=\"10\" name=\"email_1". $i ."\" value=\"$db_array[email_1]\"></td>
<td><input type=\"text\" disabled size=\"10\" name=\"email_2_". $i ."\" value=\"$db_array[email_2]\"></td>
</tr>

Any suggestions?

bretticus

Use the first example.

DaveNPhx

Originally posted by bretticus
This is the way I do it typically...

<?PHP
//searching for checkbox_*
$search = "checkbox_";
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
	if (substr($key, 0, strlen($search)) == $search) {
		//we have a checkbox_* in our midst. Let's get the number...
		$number = substr($key, strpos($key, "_") + 1);
		//now we have the number, we can update adjoining fields...
		$sql = "UPDATE table SET text1 = '{$_POST['text1_'.$number]}' WHERE id = $number";
		//...and so on...
	}
}
?>

[/B]

I tried this but there is nothing being returned. I can manually echo individual $checkbox_n variables and get the appropriate response, however the code is not recognizing them for some reason. I tried setting $value = "ON" (the value set in the form) but still came up with nothing. I'm sure I'm doing something blatantly wrong, but I'm not seeing it.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

bretticus

This is a working example:

<?PHP
//searching for checkbox_*
$search = "checkbox_";
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
    if (substr($key, 0, strlen($search)) == $search) {
        //we have a checkbox_* in our midst. Let's get the number...
        $number = substr($key, strpos($key, "_") + 1);
        //now we have the number, we can update adjoining fields...
        $sql = "UPDATE table SET text1 = '{$_POST['text1_'.$number]}' WHERE id = $number";
        echo $sql;
        //...and so on...
    }
}
?> 
<html>
<head>
<title>Untitled Document</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<form name="form1" method="post" action="">
  <input type="checkbox" name="checkbox_1" value="1">
  Check One 
  <input type="text" name="text1_1">
  <br>
  <input type="checkbox" name="checkbox_2" value="1">
  Check Two 
  <input type="text" name="text1_2">
  <br>
  <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit">
  <br>
</form>
</body>
</html>

bretticus

BTW, if that example doesn't work on your server, what version of PHP are you using? Actually, if this doesn't work, post the results of a phpinfo().

DaveNPhx

Originally posted by bretticus
BTW, if that example doesn't work on your server, what version of PHP are you using? Actually, if this doesn't work, post the results of a phpinfo().

It works as a stand alone form, but not with the PHP 'while' statement and javascript combination, so my problem is somewhere within those two components. This is what I needed in order to know where to start disecting.

Thanks for the help! 😃

DaveNPhx

I got it solved. I don't know exactly were the problem was, but I just rebuilt the code from scratch using the example and it's working exactly as I wanted.

Thanks so much again!