Help With Array And Form Validation

[mpar612]

I have a form that is populated based on a database. In particular I have a multiple pulldown menus like this:

echo "<td width=\"112\"><select name=\"temperature[$itemId]\">
        <option value=\"0\">-- Select --</option>
	<option value=\"Blood-Rare\">Blood-Rare</option>
	<option value=\"Medium Rare\">Medium-Rare</option>
	<option value=\"Medium\">Medium</option>
	<option value=\"Medium-Well\">Medium-Well</option>
	<option value=\"Well Done\">Well Done</option>
</select></td>";

When the user submits the form the values are been stored in an array. How do I validate the form to ensure that the user selects something other than "-- Select --".

I have tried the following and do not understand why it does not work:

if ($_POST['_submit_check']) {
		foreach($_POST['temperature'] as $key => $value){
			if($value == 0)){
				$error = "Please select temperature";
		} else {
			process_form();
		}
    } 

I do not get any errors, the page just keeps refreshing when the form is submitted.

Any thoughts or tutorials on how to do form validation when arrays are used? I am totally confused about why this won't work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[bpat1434]

Could it be because if the first item isn't "0" then it processes the form? So you'd have to loop through them all, set a common variable (like $errors) and then proceed to show an error message or process the form. Something like:

$errors = array();
foreach($_POST['temperature'] AS $key => $val)
{
    if($val == '0')
      $errors[$key] = 'You must select a temperature';
}

// Now $errors is an array of errored elements

if(empty($errors))
    process_form();
else
{
    // Display the form with error message(s)
}