updating multiple checkbox and retrieving it for display

nuttynibbles

i would to know how to get value from multiple checkbox by storing into array which would be insert into database..which means the database would have smth like this under field(food) if more than one fav food selected->(beef/chicken/mutton)

when user want to update profile, display what he/she has checked by checking those checkbox that was selected by him/her.

tks

Protato

If your have the food choices in a table with fields for the food name, and the food id, this should be pretty easy. I'm not sure how you are storing you users choices, but (someone correct me if i'm wrong) the best method I can think of is to have a link table that holds the user_id and the food_id of their choice, having a row for each record.

//assuming you have a link table for choices like i described.
$q = "SELECT * FROM `user_food_choices` WHERE `usesr_id` = '".$user_id."'";
$res = mysql_query($q);
$user_choices = array();
while($choice = mysql_fetch_array($res)){
   $user_choices[$row['choice_id']] = $row['choice_id'];
}

$sql = "SELECT * FROM `food_choices`";
$result = mysql_query($result);
if(!$result){
   echo "Failed to get food choices.<br>";
}

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
   $checked = '';
   if(in_array($row['food_id'], $user_choices)){
      $checked = 'checked';
   }
   echo "<input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"foodChoice[".$row['food_id']."]\" value=\"checkbox\" ".$checked." />";
}

If you were dead set on having only one row in the table for each user you would have to explode the choices field, so you can separate each one into an array value, then do a compare like above based on the name.

To process the form you loop through the food_choice post array.

foreach($_POST['food_choice'] as $food_id){
   //do whatever with this data.
   echo $food_id."<br>";
}

nuttynibbles

okay i give a shot. btw on my first Q, how to get value from multiple checkbox by storing into array??

Protato

nuttynibbles wrote:
okay i give a shot. btw on my first Q, how to get value from multiple checkbox by storing into array??

I had put that in the code snippet but failed to elaborate on it. By using the brackets ([,]) on the name you can treat it as an array. So in my example we gave each check box a name, then made in an array value with the key of the food_id. You would also use them in an auto-index manner if the key value association wasn't neccisary.

//auto indexed key for checkbox array.
echo "<input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"name[]\" ... />";
//assigned index key for checkbox array.
echo "<input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"name[1]\" ... />";

So once you post the form, you have a multidimensional array.

//to get a single value replace $key with the index you want.  With our above you could use either 0 or 1 (auto generated index starts at 0).
echo $_POST['name'][$key]

/*or you can loop through all values
also my above example of this foreach is a little off
as it's only giving you the value of the checkbox, the key is what you are really
*/
foreach($_POST['name'] as $key => $val){
   echo $key." ".$val."<br />";
}