[RESOLVED] Build drop-down

zzz

I need to build a drop down list based on the string stored in db in the following format:

US,United States CA,Canada AU,Australia BR,Brazil

So I need to turn it into this:

<select>
<option value="US">United States
<option value="CA">Canada
<option value="AU">Australia
<option value="BR">Brazil
</select>

Do I need to take the string and reformat it into some sort of array first or can i make a use of what I got?

And just to add a level of complexity, say I have a value of the country present

$myCountry = 'US';

how do I select the appropriate line?

sneakyimp

That's a pretty poorly formatted string but you can work with it IF AND ONLY IF NO COUNTRY NAMES OR ABBREVIATIONS CONTAIN COMMAS AND NO ABBREVIATIONS CONTAIN SPACES.

suppose you have the string in a variable $str. You can split it by commas then by spaces

<?php
// split string along commas
$str = "US,United States CA,Canada AU,Australia BR,Brazil";
$arr1 = explode(',', $str);

// further split each split along spaces
$length = sizeof($arr1);
$arr2 = array();
for($i=0; $i<$length; $i++) {
$arr2[$i] = explode(' ', $arr1[$i]);
}

// then parse that last array for the country names and abbreviations
$length = sizeof($arr2) - 1;
$names = array();
$abbrev = array();
for($i=0; $i < $length; $i++) {
  $element = $arr2[$i];
  $index = sizeof($element) - 1;
  $abbrev[$i] = $element[$index];

  $element2 = $arr2[$i+1];
  $count = sizeof($element2) - 1;
  if (!$count) $count = 1;
  $nm = '';
  for($j=0; $j<$count; $j++) {
    $word = $element2[$j];
    $nm .= ($nm) ? (' ' . $word) : $word;
  }
  $names[$i] = $nm;
}

if (sizeof($abbrev) != sizeof($names)) {
  die('oops something went wrong' . print_r($names));
}

// output the result
echo "<select>\n";
$length = sizeof($names);
for($i=0; $i<$length; $i++) {
  echo "<option value=\"" . $abbrev[$i] . "\">" . $names[$i] . "</option>\n";
}
echo '</select>';
?>

zzz

Holy smokes, this is more complicated then I envisioned it.

One problem, however. My example of the string was to short to show two word countries, such as Great Britain or Costa Rica. One I address this I should be perfect!

Here's the full string:

US,United States CA,Canada AU,Australia BS,Bahamas BM,Bermuda BR,Brazil CA,Canada FR,France DK,Denmark DE,Germany IE,Ireland IL,Israel IT,Italy JP,Japan MX,Mexico NL,Netherlands NZ,New Zealand NO,Norway PT,Portugal PR,Puerto Rico ZA,South Africa ES,Spain GB,United Kingdom US,United States

Yes, I agree it is not the best way of storing values, not sure why it was done that way (not my code) but I have to work with what I've got... Also I noticed a couple of duplicate results, I guess to keep US and Canada on top...

zzz

I just thought about perhaps a simpler solution. I have an array of ALL countries supported by ISO. What I can do is perhaps strip this sting down to codes, using regex, leaving something like US,CA,AU,BS... and then run it against full country list arrau and show only the ones that match. I think it should work.

NogDog

The "real" solution is to re-think your database design. You should always try to avoid storing multiple data items in a single field; as when you do so you are hamstringing your DBMS's ability to select, sort, filter, and otherwise manipulate your data. What you probably need is a new table for this country info with at least 3 columns: one that relates it to the primary key of the table row with which it is associated, plus separate columns for abbreviation and name.

Anyway, if you are stuck with this data design, a somewhat shorter solution would be:

<?php
// test data:
$str = 'US,United States CA,Canada AU,Australia BR,Brazil';
?>
<select name='test'>
<?php
$arr = explode('|', preg_replace('# ([a-z]+,)#i', "|$1", $str));
foreach($arr as $country)
{
   list($abbr, $name) = explode(',', $country);
   printf("<option value='%s'>%s</option>\n", $abbr, $name);
}
?>
</select>

sneakyimp

My code works even on your larger string. It doesn't remove duplicates, however.

zzz

Yes, I have to use this db design.

Again, this code assumes single word names. I think I need to use this ([A-Z]{2},) instead of space.

NogDog

The duplication in the string is probably done from a US-centric point of view so that the list can be alphabetic, but also have the US at the top of the list. If you want to remove duplicates, you could add the following to my code after the array $arr is created:

$arr = array_unique($arr);
sort($arr);  // omit if you want to keep US at the top of the list

NogDog

zzz wrote:
Yes, I have to use this db design.

Again, this code assumes single word names. I think I need to use this ([A-Z]{2},) instead of space.

No, my script works as long as the following assumptions hold true: (a) there is a space between each country name and the following abbreviation, (b) there are no spaces or non alpha characters in each abbreviation, and (c) each abbreviation is immediately followed by a comma.

Here's the output of my latest version with the array_unique() and sort() commands:

<select name='test'>
<option value='AU'>Australia</option>
<option value='BM'>Bermuda</option>
<option value='BR'>Brazil</option>
<option value='BS'>Bahamas</option>
<option value='CA'>Canada</option>
<option value='DE'>Germany</option>
<option value='DK'>Denmark</option>
<option value='ES'>Spain</option>
<option value='FR'>France</option>
<option value='GB'>United Kingdom</option>
<option value='IE'>Ireland</option>
<option value='IL'>Israel</option>
<option value='IT'>Italy</option>
<option value='JP'>Japan</option>
<option value='MX'>Mexico</option>
<option value='NL'>Netherlands</option>
<option value='NO'>Norway</option>
<option value='NZ'>New Zealand</option>
<option value='PR'>Puerto Rico</option>
<option value='PT'>Portugal</option>
<option value='US'>United States</option>
<option value='ZA'>South Africa</option>
</select>

zzz

OK, my head is starting to spin. Yes, the string that I posted is direct output from my db and it does comply with the 3 conditions the code requires, however here's what i get"

<select>
<option value='US'>United States CA</option>
</select>

Not sure why...

zzz

I think I have some freakish issues. If I use my string from db it messes up the output, but is I echo back string, then copy and paste into $str it works great...

NogDog

Could it be a newline or other whitespace character between countries? If so, try changing the regex to:

''#\s([a-z]+,)#i'

The "\s" matches any whitespace character. You might even want to stick a "+" repetition character in case it's something like a CR/LF sequence:

'#\s+([a-z]+,)#i'

zzz

Worked great! There must've been something in the string. Is there a way to detect those hidden issues?

Now that it builds a list I need to be able to add something like:

$userCountry = 'US';

if ($userCountry == '%s') { echo ' selected'; }

but I am not really show whether it is possible with printf

printf("<option value='%s'>%s</option>\n", $abbr, $name);

sneakyimp

It was probably not a space but rather a newline or tab character. If you data is tab-separated you'd be much better off !

Horizon88

$selected = '';
foreach ($arr as $key => $val) {
   if ($key == $yourMatch) {
      $selected = ' selected="selected"';
   }
   echo '<option value="'.$key.'"'.$selected.'>'.$val.'</option>';
}

Or something similar.

zzz

OK, the code to add selected value in drop-down did not work because of the way the array is structured. When I use it I get this:

<select size="1">
<option value="0" selected="selected">AU,Australia</option>
<option value="1" selected="selected">BM,Bermuda</option>
<option value="2" selected="selected">BR,Brazil</option>
<option value="3" selected="selected">BS,Bahamas</option>
<option value="4" selected="selected">CA,Canada</option>
<option value="5" selected="selected">DE,Germany</option>
<option value="6" selected="selected">DK,Denmark</option>
<option value="7" selected="selected">ES,Spain</option>
<option value="8" selected="selected">FR,France</option>
<option value="9" selected="selected">GB,United Kingdom</option>
<option value="10" selected="selected">IE,Ireland</option>
<option value="11" selected="selected">IL,Israel</option>
<option value="12" selected="selected">IT,Italy</option>
<option value="13" selected="selected">JP,Japan</option>
<option value="14" selected="selected">MX,Mexico</option>
<option value="15" selected="selected">NL,Netherlands</option>
<option value="16" selected="selected">NO,Norway</option>
<option value="17" selected="selected">NZ,New Zealand</option>
<option value="18" selected="selected">PR,Puerto Rico</option>
<option value="19" selected="selected">PT,Portugal</option>
<option value="20" selected="selected">US,United States</option>
<option value="21" selected="selected">ZA,South Africa</option></select>

I think I need to reformat array somehow...

Horizon88

It'd help if you could show me how the array is structured, and what you're keying off to match the select. Do a <pre>; print_r() for me?

zzz

I got it!!!

Here's the final code that works fine:

$str = rtrim($str);

$arr = explode('|', preg_replace('#\s+([a-z]+,)#i', "|$1", $str));

$arr = array_unique($arr);
sort($arr);  // omit if you want to keep US at the top of the list 

foreach($arr as $country)
{
   list($abbr, $cntrName) = explode(',', $country);

   echo '<option value='.$abbr;

	if ($abbr == $userCountry) {
        echo ' selected';
    }

   echo '>'.$cntrName.'</option>';
}

Please note the first line. I even forgot I put it there but it does not work without it.

Thanks all for your help!!!

Horizon88

That should probably be:
echo ' selected="selected"';
I've run into problems where just 'selected' didn't actually take in some browsers.

zzz

I think it has something to do with XHTML and should be fine in plain HTML.