[RESOLVED] passing multiple values from pull-down menu

cbesh2

I am trying to create a pull-down menu that allows mutiple selections instead of the standard single selection. I am stumped. 😕 Sorry, but this is all the code I have - a basic pull-down menu. Can anybody lead me in the right direction?

<form method="post" ACTION="insert.php">
	<select NAME="theme">
		<option SELECTED>Classic
		<option>Antique
		<option>Modern
	</select>
	<input type="submit" value="submit"> <input type="reset" value="clear">
</form>

I would imagine this might require a little bit of JavaScript??? How would I pass one or mutilpe values to my database using PHP? Thanks for your help in advance. 😉

garblar

needs to be set to multiple, and its a good idea to set the size to make it easier to select multiple options

now $_POST['theme'] will be an array of all the selected options

<form method="post" ACTION="insert.php">
	<select NAME="theme[]" MULTIPLE SIZE=5>
		<option SELECTED>Classic
		<option>Antique
		<option>Modern
	</select>
	<input type="submit" value="submit"> <input type="reset" value="clear">
</form>

cbesh2

Oh, very cool. I think I can get it to work now. Thank you.

cbesh2

Nope. I guess I don't know how to pass array variables. I used the code you included:

<form method="post" ACTION="insert.php">
	<select NAME="theme">
		<option SELECTED>Classic
		<option>Antique
		<option>Modern
	</select>
	<input type="submit" value="submit"> <input type="reset" value="clear">
</form>

This is the code for my insert.php file.

echo $_POST['themeID[0]'];
echo $_POST['themeID[1]'];
echo $_POST['themeID[2]'];

It doesn't work. Any suggestions?

garblar

you would want

foreach($_POST['theme'] as $value){
    echo $value;
}

cbesh2

Excellent. Thank you!

cbesh2

Okay. This thread is NOT resolved afterall. :p

I'm still having problems. I've gotten everything else to work except assigning the values from the array to a variable. How do I do this? I am using the LIST function but I'm getting weird results. Any suggestions? Here's my code:

foreach($_POST['themeID'] as $value){
	list($themeID1, $themeID2, $themeID3, $themeID4, $themeID5, $themeID6, $themeID7, $themeID8) = $value;
}

Am I doing something wrong?

garblar

hmm
what is the overall goal for this?
not sure what you are intending to do and that would help

cbesh2

I am wanting to create a script that uses a form to input data to my database. This particular pull-down menu (mentioned above) can contain multiple selections. Eventually, each variable will be a seperate entry in one of my tables.

garblar

so do you want to combine all the selected options into a single string and store that in the database?
or store each selected option separately?

cbesh2

I will try to explain while keeping things as simple as I can.

The database is used to hold data for various products. Some products can been assigned to multiple Themes. So, I figured it would be best to create one entry for the product and then use a seperate table for the themes. A third table would be used to make relationships with those two tables (products & theme).

cbesh2

garblar wrote:
so do you want to combine all the selected options into a single string and store that in the database?
or store each selected option separately?

They would need to be stored separately to be entered into the database.

garblar

ok. so say for product A, you had the options of 1,2,3,4 for themes. and you selected 1 and 3. you would then have two entries in the third table right?
A, 1
and
A, 3
?

laserlight

The database is used to hold data for various products. Some products can been assigned to multiple Themes. So, I figured it would be best to create one entry for the product and then use a seperate table for the themes. A third table would be used to make relationships with those two tables (products & theme).

That sounds correct.

What exactly is the problem that you are facing with themes now?

garblar

ok, so if you were to use the product name as the name of the select, and the theme name as the value for the option, you could use

foreach($_POST[PRODUCTNAME] as $value){
     //enter row in third table with product=productname, theme=$value
}

cbesh2

garblar wrote:
ok. so say for product A, you had the options of 1,2,3,4 for themes. and you selected 1 and 3. you would then have two entries in the third table right?
A, 1
and
A, 3
?

Perhaps I've complicated things. My entry for the product name is a separate field -- it works. I'm needing the theme entries assigned to separate variables. For example, if I have the options of 1,2,3,4 for the themes and if I selected 1 and 3, I need 1 assigned to a variable and 3 assigned to another variable.
Like this:
$themeA = 1
$themeB = 3

cbesh2

laserlight wrote:
That sounds correct.

What exactly is the problem that you are facing with themes now?

I'm needing the data from my array assigned to separate variables to be entered to my database. Each would be a new entry in my "relationship" table.

laserlight

If you follow garblar's earlier suggestion, you would have $POST['theme'][0] = 1, $POST['theme'][1] = 3, etc.

cbesh2

garblar, forgive me of my ignorance. I believe I understand the concept but I'm not sure how to use it.

foreach($_POST[PRODUCTNAME] as $value){
//enter row in third table with product=productname, theme=$value }

When I go to insert my data, what is the variable I need to use?

Here is the code I'm using to insert my data to my database (simplified):

PRODUCT TABLE

$sql = "INSERT into Products (product_name) VALUES ('$product_name')";

THEME TABLE
The Theme table has preassigned values. New themes are not inserted in this table.

PRODUCT_THEME_RELATIONSHIP TABLE

$sql = "INSERT into Product_Theme_Relationship (prodID, theme) VALUES ('$prodID', '$theme')";

Note: The prodID is read by using SELECT COUNT earlier in the script.
Note: There may be multiple database entries (INSERT) for the Product_Theme_Relationship query.

laserlight

You would loop through the $_POST['theme'] array and perform an insert for each element of the array.