Form Coding

PromInc

I know this isn't so much a PHP question, but I'm sure someone here can help me out with this.

On my page, a user will fill out information in an HTML Form. The users will have to enter in a persons name of where the information came from. This form then gets saved into a MySQL database.

The names that have been entered into the database already will be displayed in a drop down/select box, however at times a name that is not listed in the database already will need to be added.

What is my best method to accomplish this? Do I need to have a text field for the new names and a drop down for the list polled from the database? If I do that, how will the form know which information I intend to enter.

I appreciate any help you can be on this situation. Thank you very much.

homer09001

one way you could do it is add a field to the form that a use can enter the name at the same time they select option say "User Defined" then they fill the text box with the name they want, then when your process the form check if the dropdown is == to "User Defined" if it is process the textbox as if it was selected via the dropdown box?

Not ideal situation but should work

homer09001

Form:

<form method="post" action="process.php">
Select Name
<br>
<select name="name">
<option value="dave">dave</option>
<option value="peter">peter</option>
<option value="sian">sian</option>
<option value="andy">andy</option>
<option value="User_Defined">User Defined</option>
</select>
<br><br>
User Specified Name:
<input type="text" name="UD_Name">

process

$select = $_POST['name'];
$udname = $_POST['UD_Name'];

if($select == 'User_Defined')
{
$database_name = $udname;
}
else
{
$database_name = $select;
}

PromInc

Thanks for your reply. I did find a solution using Javascript that works perfectly.

There is a txt box that the user can enter a name into, or choose from a drop down box that is next to it that will move the selected item into the txt box. Whatever is in the drop down box is recorded to MySQL.