[RESOLVED] Create an array from a Dynamic list

[dcjones]

Hi all,

I am working on a form which has 2 lists.

List 1 is dynamic and pulls its content from a data table.

List 2 contains selected items from list 1.

The user can select multiple items from list 1 and on selecting one or more items I have some JavaScript that populate list 2.

I then want to POST the content of list 2 in to another table. My problem is that I am only post one selected item and not multipul items. From waht I have read I need to create an arry to hold my POSTing data.

My form:

<form method="post" name="combo_box" action="<?php echo $editFormAction; ?>">
            <input name="member_id" type="hidden" value="<?php $_SESSION'member_id']; ?>" />
<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr>
<td>
<select  multiple size="10" name="list1" style="width:150" onDblClick="move(document.combo_box.list1,document.combo_box.list2)">
  <?php
do {  

?>
  <option value="<?php echo $row_packinglista['id']?>"><?php echo $row_packinglista['description']?></option>
  <?php
} while ($row_packinglista = mysql_fetch_assoc($packinglista));
  $rows = mysql_num_rows($packinglista);
  if($rows > 0) {
      mysql_data_seek($packinglista, 0);
	  $row_packinglista = mysql_fetch_assoc($packinglista);
  }
?>

</select>
</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">
<input type="button" onClick="move(this.form.list2,this.form.list1)" value="<<" id=button1 name=button1>
<input type="button" onClick="move(this.form.list1,this.form.list2)" value=">>" id=button2 name=button2>
</td>
<td>
<select multiple size="10" name="list2" style="width:150" onDblClick="move(document.combo_box.list2,document.combo_box.list1)">
</select>
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td align="center" colspan="3"><input type="submit" name="submit_button" value="Submit" onClick="selectAll(document.combo_box.list2);"></td></tr>
</table>
<input type="hidden" name="MM_insert" value="combo_box" />
</form>

How can I create an arry to hold the POSTed data.

[johanafm]

When you popuplate list2, you must also make sure that you set each new option as selected, and you have to do that on the option level in the DOM, or at least I don't know the syntax to do that directly to "selectObject.selectedIndex = ...".

Serverside you will be able to access all selected items from a multiple select for example by

foreach ($_POST['list2'] as $l2)

[dcjones]

Hi johanafm,

Thank you for your reply.

I am still having a problem with this script.

On my landing page I am trying to access the input from the list2 var.

On my landing page I have:

foreach ($_POST['list2'] as $key){
	echo  $key;"<br />\n";
	}

The landing page displays an error:

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach()

Can you see where I am going wrong.

Many thanks for your help.

[Bjom]

do

var_dump($_POST['list2']);

it needs to be an array. if it isn't, it doesnt fit a foreach. If there is a chance that you get either array or plain string you need to take care of that:

if (is_array($_POST['list2'])) {
    //foreach...
} else {
    //echo...
}

[dcjones]

Hi,

The result of var_dump($_POST['list2']);

array(2) { [0]=> string(37) "Copies of passport (one in each bag) " [1]=> string(38) "Vaccination certificate (if required) " }

So now I need to print this our item by item, like

foreach ($_POST['list2'] as $key){
	echo  $key;"<br />\n";
	}

but all I get on screen is "Array"

Can you see what I am doing wrong.

Many thanks

[johanafm]

In that case, I'd say something is changing between the time you have var_dump in your code and when you don't.

Have a look at this code:

$_POST['list2'] = array("Copies of passport (one in each bag) ", "Vaccination certificate (if required) ");

var_dump($_POST['list2']);

echo "<br/>";

foreach ($_POST['list2'] as $key){
    echo  $key;"<br />\n";
    }

Apart from the fact that it's not doing what you want (it will not print any <br/> element, nor any line feed characters), everything works like a charm and exactly matches your var_dump. Here's my output:

array(2) { [0]=>  string(37) "Copies of passport (one in each bag) " [1]=>  string(38) "Vaccination certificate (if required) " }
Copies of passport (one in each bag) Vaccination certificate (if required) 

[dcjones]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the help. Armed with your comments I have resolved the issue.

Many thanks again.