populating drop down to send

[steveDD]

I will be a master at this one day. Sorry for the constant questions but I find this forum really helpful.
I have 4 options within my form catagory (selected by populated drop down) and 3 other text boxes say one, two and three.

I am simply trying to populate a drop down box with options from my mysql database. The form is then posted to another php file (completed) which takes the 4 options) and places them into the mysql database.

<form method="post" action="updated1.php">

  <p><br />
    Catagory:<br />

<select>   

<?PHP
error_reporting(E_ALL && ~E_NOTICES);

$link = mysql_connect("hostname","username","password");
mysql_select_db("blc");

$sql="SELECT catagory FROM cats";
$result =mysql_query($sql);
while ($data=mysql_fetch_assoc($result)){
?>
<option value ="<?php echo $data['catagory'] ?>" ></option>
<?php } ?>
<select />


<br />

Company:<br />
  <input type="text" name="company" size="30" /> 
  <br />

Description:<br />
  <input type="text" name="description" size="30" /> 
  <br />

Discount:<br />
  <input type="text" name="value" size="30" /> 
  </p>
  <p><br />

<input type="submit" value="update database" />

</p>
</form>

Table for the poplation is called cats and the different options title called catagory.

I think I am also missing a value tag so the updated1.php file knows where to put the value selected from the drop down box.

Thanks Steve

[TenaciousC]

If your drop down box isn't populating, you might change this:

<option value ="<?php echo $data['catagory'] ?>" ></option>

to this:

<option value ="<?php echo $data['catagory'] ?>" ><?php echo $data['catagory'] ?></option>

Other than that, I don't see anything that would make your code not work.

[steveDD]

Yeah thats working now.

As it is part of my user form they select an option and that option is put in the mysql database. Can I give the drop down a name like I have with the others so when the .php script is ran the option selected is added to the database?

Steve

[TenaciousC]

Yes, you can. Any for field with a name attribute will have it's value passed when you submit the form.

<select name="whatever">
...
</select>

When you submit the form, the value of that select box will be accessible via either GET or POST, depending on the form's method.

[steveDD]

thanks working fine now. Your help has been greatly appreciated.

[benracer]

Mark this thread as resolved if it is 😃