How to set form variable to 'null' so it doesn't get added if left blank?

badgoat

2nd boneheaded question of the morning...

My MSSQL table is set to not allow null values. However, my form, even when nothing is selected in a dropdown, will submit a value of "0" to the table. I am not sure why! I have tried

<option value=""></option>
<option value=" "></option>
<option value="\0"></option>
<option value="' . $row['f_id'] . '">' . $row['fn_name'] . ' ' . $row['city_name'] . ' ' . $row['f_state'] . ' </option>

and no <option> html tags at all, and no matter what, when there are no dropdown selections, the zero is added to the table column. This is more of a PITA during development when I hit refresh to view the page changes, since with every refresh it adds another bogus record to the table.

Is there a way to stop this from happening?

devinemke

badgoat wrote:
...even when nothing is selected in a dropdown, will submit a value of "0" to the table.

when you say "even when nothing is selected" realize that when the form is submitted the first element in the select list will be returned. in your code exmaple the first elemet is simply a blank string. when this is sent to your query, your RDBMS is inserting a "0" because you have specifically told it not to allow NULL values. what do want inserted if not a "0"?

badgoat

Well, if the dropdown list has no selection, I would like nothing to be inserted!

devinemke

badgoat wrote:
Well, if the dropdown list has no selection, I would like nothing to be inserted!

you are missing my point, there will always be a selection. if you wish to only do your query based on a certain selection then you must condtionally code it that way.