[RESOLVED] dropdown list

[verN]

Hi, I am using a drop down list with the following values (see below) and I am able to select the chosen value and this gets stored in my database. However, in my edit form i do not know how to retreive the value and ensure this is the value highlighted in the drop down list.

<select name="occupation">
<option>student</option>
<option>self-employed</option>
<option>unemployed</option>
</select>

help please!

[dalecosp]

You'll have to retrieve the value in the edit form, and then loop over the select options with an IF.

$fooarray=("student","self-employed","millionairesdaughter");

echo "<select>"; // example, fix it yourself ;-)
foreach ($fooarray as $foo) {
   echo "<option value=\"$foo\"";
   if ($myedit_var==$foo) {
      echo " selected";
   }
   echo ">$foo</option>\n";
}

Something like that. Good luck!

[big_nerd]

You can do the above if you are really only using 3 options for your drop down list.
If you have more it can save time (in the end) to write a function.

<?php
$occupat = $_REQUEST['occupat'];

function selected($check_var, $act_var) {
    if ($check_var == $act_var) {
        echo " selected ";
    }
}
?>
<select name="occupation">
<option <?php selected($occupat,"student"); ?>>student</option>
<option <?php selected($occupat,"self-employed"); ?>>self-employed</option>
<option <?php selected($occupat,"unemployed"); ?>>unemployed</option>
</option>

On a side note: to make things easier for myself I assign values, such as 1,2,3.

Many of the forms I use in this matter have 35-50 options though.

big.nerd

[dalecosp]

Bah! An extra level of complexity....could it be less expensive to encapsulate the 'if' in a function that's not needed?

It could be that a "long" list would slow things down, but, more likely, that'd be because you had a big array using a lot of memory space, and that would take some time.

The only reason to write a function is the same as ever - so you could use it on more than one select. Which is what I do when I want to "re-use" the code. IIRC, our company's API uses selected() as the function's name, too 😉

[big_nerd]

Fair enough,

I am the sole PHP programmer @ work. So I do wite an extensive list of functions I find myself using often.

Also, that function can be copied verbatim, and used quite easily.. one could add complexity by saying:

<?php

$options = $_REQUEST['options'];

function opt_selected($option_var, $post_var) {
    if ($option_var == $post_var) {
        echo "<option selected>$option_var</option>";
    } else {
        echo "<option>$option_var</option>";
    }
} 
echo "<select name="blah">";
opt_selected("Option 1",$options);
opt_selected("Option 2",$options);
opt_selected("Option 3",$options);
echo "</select>";

That's not needed and overcomplex, but would work again.. Verbatim.

On the note of naming it "selected", great minds think alike.

big.nerd