Array problems in creating a form and looping through results [checkboxes]

[Mandakins]

I've created 20 identical rows in a form using a loop, and then use a loop to process the arrays on the resulting page.

So, I've got the following fields and types:

Name: (text)
Title: (select)
Email: (text)
Seminar1: (checkbox)
Seminar2: (checkbox)
Lunch: (checkbox)

I'm having problems with the checkboxes. In the resulting page I may have only 8 items in the Seminar1 array, only 6 in the Seminar2 array, and only 7 in the Lunch array, though there may actually be 9 rows filled out with Names, Titles, etc. So what's happening is that the checkbox items are not lining up with the other items in the results. They are "stacking" so to speak.

So I thought I'd just make them radio buttons - that way every one would have some value and all the arrays would contain the same number of items.

The problem there is that when I loop through to create the rows of the form, all the radio buttons for Seminar1 are essentially the same - i.e. if you select Seminar1 "yes" for row 1, then you scroll down and select the same thing in row 8, row 1's "yes" becomes deselected.

Any ideas on how to fix this or work around it so I don't have to hard code 20 rows in both the form and resulting page?

Code for creating the rows in the form (using checkboxes):

<?php
$thecount = "1";
while ($thecount < 21) {
?>
<tr><td><input type = "text" name = "Name[]" size = "45" /></td>
<td><select name="Title[]">
<option value="" selected>Select Title</option>
<option value="Administrator">Administrator</option>
</select></td>
<td><input type = "text" name = "Email[]" size = "25" /></td></tr>
<TR>
<td colspan = "3"><p align = "center">
<input type = "checkbox" name = "Seminar1[]" value = "yes" /> <strong>Will attend Seminar 1</strong> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<input type = "checkbox" name = "Seminar2[]" value = "yes" /> <strong>Will attend Seminar 2</strong> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<input type = "checkbox" name = "Lunch[]" value = "yes" /> <strong>Will attend lunch</strong> </p></td></tr>

<?php
$thecount++;
}
?>

Resulting page - loop through arrays:

<?php
// set counter variable for loop
$x = 0;

// loop through records, error check and record
while ($x < 20) {
// get posted variables
$name = $POST['Name'][$x];
$title = $POST['Title'][$x];
$email = $POST['Email'][$x];
$seminar1 = $POST['Seminar1'][$x];
$seminar2 = $POST['Seminar2'][$x];
$lunch = $POST['Lunch'][$x];

// do something with them now
?>

[sneakyimp]

I'm not certain, but I think that your checkbox arrays such as $_POST['Seminar1'] will only have values defined if at least one checkbox has been checked. This might seem frustrating to you but starts to make a lot of sense if you provide meaningful things for the VALUE field instead of just "yes". Try putting in $thecount instead like this:

<input type = "checkbox" name = "Seminar1[]" value = "<?=$thecount ?>" />

If you were to loop through $POST['Seminar1'] then you would only have the numbers for the rows where the checkbox was on. In other words, $POST['Seminar1'] might still only have a couple of values in it, but instead of reapeating 'yes', they would be the row numbers where people had checked 'Seminar1'.

Another approach is to explicitly set array indexes by putting $thecount in the brackets [] in your html input like this:

<input type = "checkbox" name = "Seminar1[<?=$thecount ?>]" value = "1" />

In that case, $POST['Seminar1'] will still only have one array element for each checked checkbox, but instead of tightly packed integer keys from 0 to however many checkboxes are checked, you will have array keys that correspond to your original row number. That is to say instead of your submitted form defining an array like this as your code currently does:

$_POST['Seminar1'][0] = 'yes';
$_POST['Seminar1'][1] = 'yes';
$_POST['Seminar1'][2] = 'yes';

then your form would basically define an array equivalent to this one:

$_POST['Seminar1'][3] = 1;
$_POST['Seminar1'][8] = 1;
$_POST['Seminar1'][13] = 1;

that second approach might work well with your form processing loop.

[Mandakins]

You are a genius! GENIUS!!!!

I used the second approach and it worked perfectly.

Thank You!!!!!

[sneakyimp]

Glad to help. I'm from Little Rock, by the way.