question on how to fill my form out by exploding vars

jbrill

Hey, I have a question regarding pulling information from a row in my database and displaying the results in my form,

I have a table called “products” which contains all the product information, in that table there is a row called “colors” the information in the this row is stored like so: 1;2;3;4;5;6 etc. These numbers, separated by semi-colon, are the id’s of the colors in the “colors” table.

In my form i have an area where you can select what colors the product comes in, by checking off the appropriate check box. This part so far is working and the data is being entered in the database properly, with the id’s being separated by colons. however when i go tot he “edit product” page these check boxes which id’s are in the table need to be checked off. This is where I’m having problems and i need help.

here is my code for the “edit products” page:

// get this stored info from the products table.
$sql = "SELECT * FROM products WHERE id='".$_GET['idr']."'";
$sql = mysql_query($sql);
$modify = mysql_fetch_array($sql);

// get the separated color id values from the products table, row "colors"
	$var = explode (';',$modify['colors']);
	foreach($var as $val) 
		{
		$checkedcolor = $val;
		}

//select all colors from the "colors" table
	$colorsquery = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM colors");
		while ($colors = mysql_fetch_array($colorsquery))
			{
			echo '<input type="checkbox" name="color" value="' . $colors['id'] . '">' . $colors['name'] . '<br />';
			}

Kudose

You should use a checkbox array. You do this by applying [] to the end of the field's name. For example

echo '<input type="checkbox" name="colors[]" value="' . $colors['id'] . '">';

Then when the data is posted, if will come in the colors _POST array.

$colors = $_POST['colors'];

Then you can implode it back into your format.

$colors = implode(';', $colors);

jbrill

still confused, could u explain a but more please. the end result must check off the appropriate boxes and also display the other boxes that arent checked off

draeton

// get this stored info from the products table. 
$sql = "SELECT * FROM products WHERE id='".$_GET['idr']."'"; 
$sql = mysql_query($sql); 
$modify = mysql_fetch_array($sql); 

// get the separated color id values from the products table, row "colors" 
$checkedcolors = explode (';',$modify['colors']); 

//select all colors from the "colors" table 
$colorsquery = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM colors"); 
while ($colors = mysql_fetch_array($colorsquery)) 
{
	$checkedAttr = in_array($colors['id'], $checkedcolors) ? ' checked' : '';
	echo '<input type="checkbox" name="color" value="' . $colors['id'] . $checkedAttr .'">' . $colors['name'] . '<br />'; 
}

jbrill

I just tested the above code without any luck. the boxes are not being checked off..

draeton

I forgot punctuation...

// get this stored info from the products table. 
$sql = "SELECT * FROM products WHERE id='".$_GET['idr']."'"; 
$sql = mysql_query($sql); 
$modify = mysql_fetch_array($sql); 

// get the separated color id values from the products table, row "colors" 
$checkedcolors = explode (';',$modify['colors']); 

//select all colors from the "colors" table 
$colorsquery = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM colors"); 
while ($colors = mysql_fetch_array($colorsquery)) 
{ 
    $checkedAttr = in_array($colors['id'], $checkedcolors) ? ' checked ' : ''; 
    echo '<input type="checkbox" name="color" value="' . $colors['id'] . '"' . $checkedAttr .' >' . $colors['name'] . '<br />'; 
}

jbrill

k ive discovered another problem with my script that i need to figure out before i work on what you just posted. the problem is that the "implode" function that puts information into the datatbase is now not working and i don't know why. It was yesterday so i must have changed something... here is the scrtipt

// combine the colors and seperate with semi colons
			$color_array = $_POST['color'];
			foreach($color_array as $color) 
			{
			$colors_separated = implode(';',$color);		
			}

im my query to put the info to the database i put $colors_separated as the value for colors

draeton

implode works on an array, so

$color_array = $_POST['color'];
$colors_separated = implode(';', $color_array);

jbrill

do i not need the "foreach" even though here are multiple check boxes that can be checked off?

draeton

if you used brackets in the input field name, all fields with that name are returned as an array.

echo '<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" value="' . $colors['id'] . '"' . $checkedAttr .' >' . $colors['name'] . '<br />';

now, a call to $_POST['color'] returns an array