Help processing checkbox value arrays to mysql database?

ArcGames

Hello, I have two files, one file is named messages.php the other file is named processing.php. The messages.php file displays html that has a table, in this table are rows and in each row it contains a checkbox and a message topic (the topic is displayed as a url). The rows, checkboxes, and message topics are all created dynamically at run-time, and the message topic comes from a mysql database. The mysql database contains the following fields: mID (is id and is Primary Key), mTopic, mMessage, mDeleted.

Now back to the messages.php file, when a user clicks any of the checkboxes and then clicks the Delete button at the bottom of the form, the form is suppose to submit these values to the processing.php file. The processing.php file will then update the corresponding mDeleted field in the mysql database for that particular message topic. Below is a copy of my messages.php file and my processing.php file so you can see it. But I need help to make it do what I have described above, please help?

messages.php File

<table>
<form name="messages" method="post" action="processing.php">
<?php
  $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM messages WHERE mDeleted != '0' ORDER BY mID DESC ")    

  or die(mysql_error());
  while($row = mysql_fetch_array( $result )) {
  $mID = $row['mID'];
  $mTopic = $row['mTopic'];

?>
<tr>
<td>
  <input type="checkbox" name="delCB[]" id="delCB[]" value="1"/><a href="readmessages.php?mID=<?php echo $mID; ?>"><?php echo $mTopic; ?></a>
</td>
</tr>
<?php
  }
?>
<input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="Delete" />
</form>
</table>

processing.php File

<?php
  for($i=0;$i<count($_POST["delCB"]);$i++){
  $result = mysql_query("UPDATE messages SET mDeleted='1' ")  or die(mysql_error());
  }
  header('Location: http://www.mysite.com/messages.php');
?>

dagon

change the check-box value to the message id, then you can use that in the update query,

bradgrafelman

Also note that you could use a single SQL query rather than looping over multiple queries; the single query would look something like:

UPDATE messages SET mDeleted='1' WHERE mID IN (1, 3, 5, 9, 9001)

(in other words, rather than doing a strict '=' comparison of the mID column, use the IN syntax and pass the entire list of id's you get from the checked boxes).

Also note that you should get rid of the id="delCB[]" in the HTML for the checkboxes; 'id' values must be unique across all elements in an HTML document, so by outputting the same id value for all checkboxes you're not only violating the HTML standards but you're also not gaining anything.