select box problems

[Anon]

I have a select box in a form that produces a financial proposal. The select box has 4 options:

<select name="warranty">
<option value="<?php echo $deductions["warranty48month"] ?>">48 Months</option>
<option value="<?php echo $deductions["warranty36month"] ?>">36 Months</option>
<option value="<?php echo $deductions["warranty24month"] ?>">24 Months</option>
<option value="<?php echo $deductions["warranty12month"] ?>">12 Months</option>
</select>

The user selects the option they require and finally clicks a "Calculate" button, which reloads the form with all of the figures displayed and calculations performed.

However if the user selected, for example 2 years warranty, when the form is reloaded the select box displays the 48 Months value and not, as in this example, 2 years warranty.

I have seen some similar requests along time ago but I do not yet understand what the code does or how to use it. I have included a sample taken from a thread last year that is supposed to do what I require:

<?php

$cc[]='discover';
$cc[]='visa';
$cc[]='amex';

echo "<select name=credit>";

echo "<option value=>Select One";

for($i=0; $i < sizeof($cc); $i++)
{
$sel=($cc[$i] == $credit) ? ' selected' : '';
echo "<option$sel value=$cc[$i]>$cc[$i];
}

echo "</select>";

?>

How do I use something like this to solve my problem?

I would be very grateful if anyone has a solution as I am getting stressed about this and the deadline to complete my project is tomorrow.

Kind regards
Dean

[matto]

the problem is, you can't specify a pre-selected value in select boxes as easily as in text inputs.

you have (e.g.) to iterate through the options and check with each whether it is the one that has been selected previously, and in this case append ' selected' to it.

there are different approaches, for example:

<select name=id>
<option value=1<? echo ($id == 1 ? ' selected' : ''); ?>>first value</option>
<option value=2<? echo ($id == 2 ? ' selected' : ''); ?>>first value</option>
</select>

once you've tried around a bit, you will find it useful to prepare the 'additional' fields for each option, which can contain ' selected' or ''. you can do this in a loop:

$remember = array();
foreach($optionvalues as $optionvalue)
{
if($selection == $optionvalue)
$remember[$optionvalue] = ' selected';
}

...

<select name=selection>
<option value=<?=$optionvalues[0] ?><?=$remember[$optionvalues[0]] ?>>first value</option>
...
</select>

this is like the example that you gave ...

I hope you get the point; HTH!

[Anon]

Thank you for your help.

I am posting the resolution I have found to help anyone who may search messages in the future. The final code is:

<Select name="warranty">
<option value="<?php echo $deductions["warranty48month"] ?>" <?php if ($warranty == $deductions['warranty48month']) { echo "selected"; } ?>>48 Months</option>
<option value="<?php echo $deductions["warranty36month"] ?>" <?php if ($warranty == $deductions['warranty36month']) { echo "selected"; } ?>>36 Months</option>
<option value="<?php echo $deductions["warranty24month"] ?>" <?php if ($warranty == $deductions['warranty24month']) { echo "selected"; } ?>>24 Months</option>
<option value="<?php echo $deductions["warranty12month"] ?>" <?php if ($warranty == $deductions['warranty12month']) { echo "selected"; } ?>>12 Months</option>
<option value="0" <?php if ($warranty == "0") { echo "selected"; } ?>>None</option>
</select>

Thanks to Matto for the pointers.

Regards
Dean