[RESOLVED] Can a Radio button retains its position in an array?

[dmacman1962]

Hi All,

I am trying to do several forms with dynamic radio buttons ( I would use checkboxes, but I want to limit them to only one selection per item).

I can build the form dynamically and get the data, but I want to retain the position of the radio button in an array (to insert into my table).

IE...

|---Radio Button 1-|-Radio Button 2--|-Radio Button 3--|
|------------------|---Selected------|----------------|

[Radio Button] => Array
(
[0] => 0
[1] => 1
[2] => 0
)

Again, If I could limit the users selection to one checkbox, I would just to pull off this positioning in the array I am trying to achieve.

Is this even possible?

Thanks,

Don

[devinemke]

not sure i understand you. the selected radio button(s) will be returned to the form handling script in the $POST (or $GET) array. the order of the $_POST array is dictated by the order of the form fields. you can reorder this array anyway you want by refering to the array keys.

as a side note: it is possible (and sometimes preferable) to use checkboxes as radio buttons. you can use javascript to force only 1 checkbox selection per group.

[dmacman1962]

Hi devinemke,

What I am trying to pull off is to store the radio button selected in the related field position.

My table has the following fields (and radio buttons in the same order).

|---Favorite--|--Very Good--|---Good---|-----Poor-----|--Never heard of them--|

|--Button 1--|---Button 2---|-Button 3-|--Button 4----|--------Button 5-----------|

And after I get the POST, if they chose Button 4 I get ..

[radiobutton] => Array
    (
        [3] => 1
    )

Then I would have to build a bunch of loops to test the value and store it in the correct field.

I thought it would be easier to retain the buttons position, relative to its position in my form (which mirrors my table).

So the above submission would give me...

[radiobutton] => Array
    (
        [0] => 0
        [1] => 0
        [2] => 0
        [3] => 1
        [4] => 0
    )

and then I could insert into my table..

0,0,0,1,0

Is that a better explaination of what I am looking to do?

I know I could do javascript to keep them from selecting more than 1 checkbox, but I have a table that is built dynamically with 45 different rows, and was trying to keep from shooting myself with combining the Java and the dynamic form.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Don

[devinemke]

i suggest you rethink your data structure here. what is the point of storing all of those 0's? why bother storing the choices that the user did not choose? your post suggests that your form is some sort of question/survery. a typical data layout for this might be 2 tables: questions and answers. the answer table would have foreign key to the question table's primary key to relate the two. i don't know what the questions look like but if all of the answers will simply be 1 choice out of a set group of choices then i might suggest you use sort sort of enumerated field in the answers table (like mySQL ENUM type) to store the list of possible answers (like the ratings scale you posted). each radio group could have the question ID as the array key. then it's a simple matter of looping thru the $_POST array and running an INSERT query on each iteration.

perhaps i am still missing the broader aspects of what you are trying to do.

[dmacman1962]

No, I don't think your missing anything. 🙂

Your answer is perfect, I played with enum and got it working with the simple form.

I will go back and re-write my other (dynamic) form to work like you suggested.

I am learning (with help from you and others like yourself) how to normalize my tables, and this is my first attempt.

Thanks for the input and I will post my final code, once I got it working.

I appreciate your help and explaination.

Don