Multiple select drop-down

zzz

I've got a large drop down menu, that allows multiple select. I am trying to validate the form before submitting it by checking if all the required form fields are filled. If soemthing is not entered the form refreshes and I would like to be able to keep the selections in other form fields made by ECHOing them back. Everything works fine, except the multiple select drop-down:

<select name="field1" size="5" multiple>

I think I need to put in into an array and then spit it out through a loop and whatever OPTION is matching the one selected will get an SELECTED tag.

I think this is what i need to do, but I have no idea where to begin. Any tips?

lozza1978

Hi There,

Am i right in saying that when the user sumbits the form, the form fails and select boxes have defaulted back to the orginal options ? if this is the case you will need to do something like the following,

$when = array('Now', 'Today', 'This Week'); 

echo ' 

<select name="when"> '; 

foreach ($when as $value) 
{ 
    echo '<option'; 
    if (isset($_POST['when']) && $_POST['when'] == $value) {echo ' selected';} 
    echo '>' . $value . '</option>'; 
}

hope this helps

zzz

This is EXACLY what I was lookign for!!!

I am having difficulty with sending multiple values fron the drop down into an array. For some reasons I assumed that if I select multiple values and did a POST they'll be sent as an array. Currently if I select one value it posts it OK but if i do multiple select nothing gets posted... puzzled.

lozza1978

HI There

I did some googling and came up with this page

This should help you,

lozza

zzz

Wow, thanks lozza1978 for finding this for me. It seems a bit more involved then I'd hope for but I'll give it a shot and post here whether I succeed or fail...

zzz

Well, I miserably failed...

I took all the code from the article and put it all in a test.php file. The only modification I made was to post on itself.

<script language="JavaScript1.2" type="text/javascript">
function allSelect()
{
List = document.forms[0].test_select;
if (List.length && List.options[0].value == 'temp') return;
for (i=0;i<List.length;i++)
{
List.options[i].selected = true;
}
}
</script>

<form action="<? print($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']); ?>" method="post" name="frm_test" id="frm_test" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" onSubmit="return allSelect();">
<select name="test_select[]" id="test_select" multiple="multiple">
<option value="1">1</option>
<option value="2">2</option>
<option value="3">3</option>
<option value="4">4</option>
</select>
<input type="Submit" name="btn_submit" id="btn_submit" value="Submit" />
</form>

<?
if (is_array(test_select[])) { // is this an array?
$selects = sizeof(test_select[]); // get the size of the submitted array (i.e. how many content items were submitted for the home page)
for ($i=0; $i<$selects; $i++) { // ok loop over it
echo($test_select[$i]."<br />"); // and output it to screen
}
}
?>

When I tested it I keep getting an error:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected '[' in /home/dir/test.php on line 24

Something tells me there's gotta be a simpler way to do multiple selects in HPP without involving JS...

Drakla

I don't know what all the javascript is about - it's not needed. Change your code to

if (isset($_POST['test_select'])
{
    foreach ($_POST['test_select'] as $value)
    {
          echo "You selected: $value<br />";
    }
}

BarryJ

I am trying to do the same thing, selecting multiple values from a select box, but the difference is that I am using chained select boxes. I my case the first select box selects a county, and the second select box displays the towns in that particular county. If I do a multilple select of say 5 towns, all that passes is the last town selected value. Anybody any ideas?

leatherback

Hi,

THe error refers to:
if (is_array(test_select[])) { // is this an array?

The [] brackets are not needed when you are referring to the variable. You''d to:
if (is_array(test_select)) { // is this an array?

The same here:
$selects = sizeof(test_select[]);
should be
$selects = sizeof(test_select);

But use drakla's code

 if (isset($_POST['test_select'])
{
    foreach ($_POST['test_select'] as $value)
    {
          echo "You selected: $value<br />";
    }
}

instead of:

if (is_array(test_select[])) { // is this an array?
$selects = sizeof(test_select[]); // get the size of the submitted array (i.e. how many content items were submitted for the home page)
for ($i=0; $i<$selects; $i++) { // ok loop over it
echo($test_select[$i]."<br />"); // and output it to screen
}
}