[RESOLVED] Empty MySQL Results in Drop Down Menu

[shaneshack]

I've created a drop down list that dynamically gets its <option> values from a MySQL database. The "business" column that populates this drop down menu does not have a value for every record in the database. It is a column for business name, but not all of our clients are business owners, so it is left blank.

My problem is I do not want the blank column entries to appear in the drop down menu. Right now, I have the menu values sorted alphabetically by business name, so at the top are all of the blank entries - about 5 blank lines - and then the first business name appears.

Here is the code I am currently using:

<select name="searchbusiness">
<?php
$query = mysql_query("select business from customers order by business");
if(!$query){
		  die('Invalid query:'.mysql_error());
                  }
$num_results = mysql_num_rows($query);
for($i=0; $i<$num_results; $i++){
$row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query);
?>
<option><?php echo stripslashes($row['business']); ?></option>
<?php } mysql_free_result($query); ?>
</select>

How can I remove the blank entries from the drop down list?

[tomhath]

Just put an "if" statement around it:

  $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query);
  if ($row['business'] != "") {
  ?>
    <option><?php echo stripslashes($row['business']); ?></option>
  <?php 
  }
} 
mysql_free_result($query); 
?>

[bradgrafelman]

Or, if you want to take them out of the equation entirely, just alter your SQL query and add "WHERE business IS NOT NULL" (or "WHERE business != ''" depending upon how your table is setup).

[shaneshack]

I tried both of your suggestions. Tomhath's recommendation worked spot on. Bradgrafelman's suggestion did not work, but I am uncertain why it did not work. I researched to attempt to make it work, but I was unsuccessful. Thank you both for you help. Much appreciated.