[RESOLVED] storing multiple values in string

[zzz]

I have a list of users with checkbox next to the name. Value of the checkbox contains member id.

<input type="checkbox" name="userID[$n]'" value="'.$userID.'">$userName

When I submit the form I put the ids in a string

232,342,665,22

.

Is it possible to append user name with ID? maybe something like

232:John Doe,342:Jane Doe,665:Bill Dobbs,22:Mark Test

I used colon for be but it could be connected in any other way. One catch, I need to be able to use the string with IDs on one page. So somehow I need to strip the names...

[NogDog]

Seems to me what you really want is an array, not a single string. Each array element could have the ID as the key and the name as the value.

[zzz]

Yes, and no. I already have a JavaScript that stores selected values into a comma separated string. I guess I can add name to ID and have it stored that way and then on a page where I use the string I can create an array from the string. Can I? It might be some sort of explode trick, hah?

[zzz]

OK, I'm half-way successful. I was able to create a sting

id:name,id:name etc

However I am not sure how to create an associate array out of it.

$arr = explode(",", $str);

Get's me

[0] => id:name [1] => id:name [2] => id:name

and I need

[id] => name

[zzz]

Got it. Found a great function that does just that:

<?php
function explode_assoc($glue1, $glue2, $array)
{
  $array2=explode($glue2, $array);
  foreach($array2 as  $val)
  {
            $pos=strpos($val,$glue1);
            $key=substr($val,0,$pos);
            $array3[$key] =substr($val,$pos+1,strlen($val));
  }
  return $array3;
}

//usage:
$str="key1=val1&key2=val2&key3=val3";
$array=explode_assoc('=','&',$str);
print_r($array);
?>

This outputs:
Array
(
    [key1] => val1
    [key2] => val2
    [key3] => val3
)

http://us3.php.net/manual/en/function.explode.php