[RESOLVED] drop down menu from query within form

ejwf

I have a form that is working OK, but I want to add an extra field to hold a drop down menu from which the user can select the relevant information

Code I Have

<form action="process.php" method="POST" > 
<td width="50" align="left"> <? $row2[0]?> </td> 
<td width="2">&nbsp/&nbsp</td>
<td width="150" align="left"> <? $row2[1]?> </td> 
<td width="\" align="left"><input type="hidden" name="MRef[]" value=" <? $row2[2]?> "></td> 
<td width="2" align="left"></td> 
<td width="200" align="right"> $row3[1]&nbsp;&nbsp </td>
<td width="2" align="left"><input type="hidden" name="PreviousMonth[]" value=" <? $row3[1]?> "></td> 
<td width="200" align="left">  <input type="text" name="ThisMonth[]"></td>

<?

// variables set in previous queries - all work OK
$query = "SELECT `CName` FROM `tblUser` WHERE `SRef` = '$SRef' AND CRef ='$CRef'"; 
$result99 = mysql_query($query) 
   or die (mysql_error()); 
while ($row99 = mysql_fetch_array($result99))
$User[] = $row99["CName"]; 
?>

<td width="200" align="right"><select name=user>
									<?
									foreach($User as $value)
									{ 
									printf("<option>".$value."</option>");
									}
									?>
									</select>
		</td>

<?echo "<br><p align=\"center\"><input type=\"submit\" name=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\"> "; 
echo '</form>';?>

The form displays the information I would expect it to, but the drop down menu is not visible (just a blank space where it should appear).

I know the query to set $User works as I can echo out the array just as I would expect it to be.......

Where am I going wrong?

thanks

TobyRT

I can't see a drop down menu in there anywhere.

unless you've stored it in $row[3] - if that's the case you'll need to put it in the php <? tags before it will show!

ejwf

When I've used a drop down list before, I have used the same code as

<td width="200" align="right"><select name=user> 
                                    <? 
                                    foreach($User as $value) 
                                    {  

                                    printf("<option>".$value."</option>"); 
                                    } 
                                    ?>

But I've never used this code within a table / form layout before......

How would you do it. ?

TobyRT

my mistake - it is there - couldn't see for looking - D'OH!

I'll have another look now

ejwf

thanks

TobyRT

Well one thing that you're missing is an actual value for the drop down - I realise at the moment it's not displaying at all, but that aside, even if it WAS displaying it wouldn't mean anything, as the value it's posting wouldn't be passed - there is no value! Your option needs to read:

echo '<option value="'.$value.'">'.$value.'</option>';

This gives the option both a value to post and a value to display. I'll carry on looking and see what else i can find

ejwf

I have been playing around with this problem all day.......
I have googled extensively and tried lots of different ways to write this <select> code, non of which work.
The thing is I can get the drop down to function perfectly outside of the form table, but not inside it where I want it to appear.
The table is part of a larger while ....
would this have anything to do with it?

leatherback

Hi,

easy, I think:

You need a curly bracket after:

while ($row99 = mysql_fetch_array($result99))

so:

while ($row99 = mysql_fetch_array($result99))
{
// do your things

}

otherwise it will only run the code on the next line.

By the way:

You should consider storing the dropdown in a variable, which you echop out at a later stage:

while ($row99 = mysql_fetch_array($result99))
{
$dropdown .= "<option>".$value."</option>";
}

ejwf

thanks everyone who has helped
I have re-written this code from scratch and have somehow got it working - it will take me the next 2 days to work out what I have done !!!

TobyRT

Would you mind posting your code so I can see what you've done?

Glad you got it working!

ejwf

First of all I moved the query out of the table to the beginning (with all of the other queries), then the code for the table/form was

echo "<form action=\"process.php\" method=\"POST\" > 
<td width=\"50\" align=\"left\"> {$row2[0]}</td> 
<td width=\"2\">&nbsp/&nbsp</td>
<td width=\"150\" align=\"left\"> {$row2[1]}</td> 
<td width=\"2\" align=\"left\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"MRef[]\" value=\"{$row2[2]}\"></td> 
<td width=\"2\" align=\"left\"></td> 
<td width=\"200\" align=\"right\"> $row3[1]&nbsp;&nbsp </td> 
<td width=\"2\" align=\"left\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"PreviousMonth[]\" value=\"{$row3[2]}\"></td> 
<td width=\"200\" align=\"left\">  <input type=\"text\" name=\"ThisMonth[]\"></td>
<td width=\"200\" align=\"right\"><select name=\"user\"><option value = \"'.$value.'\">$value</option>
<option selected></option>";

								foreach($User as $value)
{			
printf("<option>".$value."</option>");
}
echo "</select></td>";

This displays everything OK and the drop down box works fine

HOWEVER !!!

I don't know if you can help, but I get a wierd thing when it comes to collecting the output from this select field in the form......
In the drop down box there are 2 options; John Lennon or Andy Pandy.
There are 2 rows in the input table, in the first row I select Andy Pandy, in the second row I select John Lennon.
When it outputs the data (either testing the variables in the process form code or looking in the database) for the first row it outputs 'a' for the second row 'n'.... The first 2 letters of Andy, no john lennon at all?
Likewise if I put John Lennon int he first row, Andy Pandy in the second - I get 'j' then 'o'...........

Any idea what is going on?

thanks

leatherback

You need to read up on your HTML tags mate.

<option value=\"$value\">".$value."</option>

The select syntax is:

<select name="">
<option value="">label</option>
<option value="">label</option>
</select>

TobyRT

I'm sure leatherback will disagree, but I find it easier (especially with html forms) not to bother with echo-ing every line of the table in php - too many things need escaping and there's a lot of scope for error. If the layout is largely done in html and you only have a few php variables I prefer to do it all in html and just do a <?php echo $name;?> inside the relevant tags.

eg
<select name="users">
<option value="<?php echo $user1;?>"><?php echo $user1;?></option>

of course, for the sake of the "> to close the option tag, I'd actually include those in the echo, but you get my idea 😛

leatherback

Hi Toby,

The reason for me to place al the output into PhP vars, is because I keep my scripts in a large repository, and include them in lots of different websites. So my output is very general. Most of the time it is either a a block of HTML, ready to be pasted in the right section of the website, or even an array with the resultsets. THese then get further processed in the site I am at the moment building.
I can then use simple templates to mseh the whole thing together, and I do not need to rewrite every function if I need a new web-layout.

Just my 2 pennies.