[RESOLVED] 'Dynamic' Chicken or the egg question

[dmacman1962]

Hi All,

I use a lot of forms on our sites (for teachers and students) and I am trying to make them more user-friendly by retaining the user data when they have to go back and correct an error. What I did for the text fields is a simple ...

<input name="FirstName" size="40" tabindex="2" value="<?=$_SESSION['FirstName']?>"/>

...which keeps their name if the need to go back to correct another field.

The challenge is the 2 sets of checkboxes I need to use.

One set, they can select all that apply, the other only one check box can be selected.

So if I do this for the Grade Levels they taught (multiple can be selected so I use an array) ...

<input name="GradeLevel[0]" type="checkbox" tabindex="5" value="Elementary">
<input name="GradeLevel[1]" type="checkbox" tabindex="5" value="1st Grade">

How would I 'retain' their choice if I use value="Elementary" instead of

value="<?=$_SESSION['FirstName']?>"

?

And in the case where only one can be selected,

<input name="Video[]" type="checkbox" tabindex="5" value="David Robinson">

the same applies.

Does that make sense?

I appreciate the insight and help,

Don

[bpat1434]

If only one checkbox can be selected, I'd suggest you use a radio button. That way there's a definite only one selected 😉

As for the multiple check-boxes.... a good browser will cache the answers. But if that's not what you want to do, then I'd suggest doing something like this:

<?php

$grades = array('Elementary', '1st Grade', '2nd Grade', '3rd Grade', '4th Grade', '5th Grade',
    '6th Grade', '7th Grade', '8th Grade',
    '9th Grade', '10th Grade', '11th Grade', '12th Grade');

foreach($grades as $grade) {
    $selected = ((isset($_POST['GradeLevel'] && !empty($_POST['GradeLevel'])) ? (in_array($grade, $_POST['GradeLevel'])) : false;

echo '<input type="checkbox" name="GradeLevel[]" value="' . $grade . '"' . ($selected ? 'checked' : '') . '> <label for="' . $grade . '_chckbx">' . $grade . '<br />';
}

Now, the same type of thing can be done with a radio button. Same exact principle. Except that the conditional for $selected will be slightly different, more like:

$selected = ($video == $_SESSION['Video']);

Everything else pretty much the same. But like I said, you'd want to use "type='radio'" to ensure that only one selection per "name" is used (i.e. 1 video).

[dmacman1962]

Hi bpat,

Thanks for helping.

I still have a question. In this line...

$selected = ((isset($_POST['GradeLevel']) && !empty($_POST['GradeLevel'])) ? (in_array($grade, $_POST['GradeLevel'])) : false;

I was getting a parse error, expecting a ")" which I put in after ['Gradelevel'] which looked correct, I am still getting a parse error on that line...

Parse error: parse error, unexpected ';' in D:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\htdocs\izzit\videoclub\dvd_video_feedback.php on line 126

I dont understand the code in that line as far as

: false;

.

Did I miss something or was my ) in the wrong place?

Thanks,
Don

[bpat1434]

This:

$selected = ((isset($_POST['GradeLevel'] && !empty($_POST['GradeLevel'])) ? (in_array($grade, $_POST['GradeLevel'])) : false;

should be:

$selected = ((isset($_POST['GradeLevel']) && !empty($_POST['GradeLevel'])) ? in_array($grade, $_POST['GradeLevel']) : false);

It was my fault. typing way too fast 😉

The styntax is just the ternary operator:
result = Expression ? value_if_true : value_if_false;

[dmacman1962]

BINGO!

That did it.

Just in case it helps anyone else, here is the final code (I added a tabindex, defined starting with 5 [my previous tabindex value]).

$grades = array('Elementary', '7th', '8th', '9th', '10th', '11th', '12th', 'Post-Secondary');
$z='5';
foreach($grades as $grade) {
$selected = ((isset($_POST['GradeLevel']) && !empty($_POST['GradeLevel'])) ? in_array($grade, $_POST['GradeLevel']) : false); 

echo '<input type="checkbox" name="GradeLevel[]" tabindex="'.$z.'" value="' . $grade . '"' . ($selected ? 'checked' : '') . '> <label for="' . $grade . '_chckbx">' . $grade . ' ';
$z++;
}

Thanks Bpat!

Don

[bpat1434]

Not a problem!! Glad I could be of assistance.