I know I can't pass a checkbox's negative value.... but....

schwim2

It sure would be handy if I could 🙂

I've got a form that's got a bunch of checkboxes associated with each entry:Thank you all very much for your assistance!

<input  type='text' name='name[]'>
<input type='text' name='value[]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='active[]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='visible[]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='available[]'>
<br>
<input  type='text' name='name[]'>
<input type='text' name='value[]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='active[]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='visible[]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='available[]'>
<br>
<input  type='text' name='name[]'>
<input type='text' name='value[]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='active[]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='visible[]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='available[]'>

and on the PHP side, it builds an array, binding the elements together for me which I can loop through on the processing side.

$i = 0;
WHILE(ISSET($_POST['name'][$i])){

$name = $_POST['name'][$i];
// Do important stuff
$i = ++$i;

}

but with checkboxes, if it's not checked, it doesn't exist in the array, so if I check the first row's box and third row's box, I will get a checked box on the first and second row, since PHP doesn't know that the unchecked box deserved a spot in the array.

This could be easily resolved with radio buttons, since it sends a value, regardless of which you use:

<input  type='text' name='name[]'>
<input type='text' name='value[]'>
<input type='radio' name='active[]' value='1'>
<input type='radio' name='active[]' value='0'>
<br>
<input  type='text' name='name[]'>
<input type='text' name='value[]'>
<input type='radio' name='active[]' value='1'>
<input type='radio' name='active[]' value='0'>
<br>
<input  type='text' name='name[]'>
<input type='text' name='value[]'>
<input type='radio' name='active[]' value='1'>
<input type='radio' name='active[]' value='0'>

but I don't have room to fit the radio buttons on the page. I really need a single "on/off" solution instead of "either/or".

I have been trying to solve this for almost 5 hours now. I've tried javascript solutions, css and PHP and I can't figure it out. I can't use hidden form elements with the same name because the array is being built dynamically. If I place hidden element named 'active[]' with a value of 0 and then the checkbox with 'active[]' and a value of one, it just shows as two different array's values instead of the checkbox overwriting the hidden's entry.

Any thoughts on this? I've wasted a day on it in an effort not to have to rewrite all the HTML, jquery and js functions across all of my script but it's starting to get a bit ridiculous.

NogDog

What I might do...

<input  type='text' name='item[1][name]'>
<input type='text' name='item[1][value]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='item[1][active]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='item[1][visible]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='item[1][available]'>
<br />
<input  type='text' name='item[2][name]'>
<input type='text' name='item[2][value]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='item[2][active]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='item[2][visible]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='item[2][available]'>
...etc....

Then in your PHP code you can loop on item, and check for each checkbox existence...

foreach($_POST['item'] as $ix => $data) {
    if(isset($data['active'])) {
        // the 'active' checkbox was checked for this item
    }
}

schwim2

Hi there Nog,

There was another element to this problem that I should have explained. There is a jquery function that allows me to add, edit, delete and reorder rows to this form. That's the reason I'm not already numbering the array elements. To keep me from having to alter the way everything works (jquery, PHP, form), I was really hoping to be able to simply alter how the form passes it's information so it will pass a positive/negative instead of simply a positive.

I've also been googling making a radio button look like a checkbox, single radio button for two values, etc. to try to handle it on that end but so far haven't been able to apply anything I've found. The search continues.

NogDog

There's a hack that seems to work -- but I don't know if it's 100% guaranteed -- where you create a hidden field with some name, then after that create a checkbox with the same name. If the checkbox is checked, you get its value for that form element name, otherwise you get the value assigned in the hidden field. Also, I'm not sure how that would behave with square bracket notation, but it might be worth a try if nothing better comes along.

<form>
<input type='hidden' name='active[]' value='0'>
<input type='checkbox' name='active[]' value='1'>

Derokorian

Do the rows have IDs when saved to the DB? If so, you could have the jquery function build them with [-1..-n] for the indexes of new rows, and the existing rows would have their ID as the index. This way reordering rows doesn't change the index. You can then use the reordering event to update row numbers for fixed index, using a hidden field for example,

<input type="hidden" name="order[$id]" />
<input  type='text' name='name[$id]'>
<input type='text' name='value[$id]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='active[$id]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='visible[$id]'>
<input type='checkbox' name='available[$id]'>

// Or whatever the events are actually called, sorry dunno what you're using
$('container selector').on('rowAdded rowDeleted orderChange', function () {
    $(this).find('hidden').each(function (k,v) {
        $(v).value(k);
    });
});

Then on the PHP side, you can loop through indexes in order:

$order = $_POST['order'];
sort($order);

foreach($order as $id) {
    $active = $_POST['active'][$id] ?? false;
    $visible = $_POST['visible'][$id] ?? false;
    $available= $_POST['available'][$id] ?? false;
    // do the other stuff, if $id < 0 its a new row, if > 0 its a row to be updated
}