[SOLVED] Checkbox search

[twsowerby]

Hi all,

 

Had a quick look through the archives for the answer to this query but not had any luck so far...

 

I have a database full of villa details. some of the fields are 'pool', 'hottub' and 'tv'. Each villa either has a 1 or a 0 in the pool, tv, hottubs fields depending on whether they have one or not.

 

I need to be able to search villas by checking a checkbox. So if a user wanted to search for villas with a pool and a tv they could check the pool and tv box and click search.

 

I have made a start but it doesnt seem to be working, so far I have this:

 

<form method="post" action="scripts/search_script.php">
	<input type="checkbox" name="pool" value="1" />Pool <br />
	<input type="checkbox" name="hot_tub" value="1" />Hot Tub <br />
	<input type="checkbox" name="tv" value="1" />TV <br />
	<input type="submit" value="Go">
</form> 

 

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM villas WHERE pool = '%$pool%' and hottub = '%$hot_tub%' and tv = '%$tv%'");
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($query))
{
$Name=$row["Name"];
$Country=$row["country"];
$Price=$row["price"];
echo $Name, $Country, $Price;
}

 

I'm pretty new to PHP so there's bound to be something wrong with my query or syntax. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Regards,

 

Tom

 

 

[rhodesa]

Try this for your PHP:

 

<?php
$where = array();
if($_POST['pool'])
  $where[] = "pool = '1'";
if($_POST['hot_tub'])
  $where[] = "hottub = '1'";
if($_POST['tv'])
  $where[] = "tv = '1'";
$sql = "SELECT * FROM villas";
if(count($where))
  $sql .= " WHERE ".implode(' AND ',$where);
$query = mysql_query($sql);
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($query))
{
$Name=$row["Name"];
$Country=$row["country"];
$Price=$row["price"];
echo $Name, $Country, $Price;
}
?>

[twsowerby]

Awesome, that worked a treat, thanks!

 

Regards,

 

Tom

[twsowerby]

Actually just a quick question, would you mind explaining to me what the '.' does in the second $sql variable? I know what a dot does normally but I don't fully understand its use here.  How does the PHP differentiate between the two $sql's?

 

Would like to know so I can learn from the help you gave me, will prevent me from asking similar questions in the future.

 

Regards,

 

Tom

[rhodesa]

(I think you know this already) A period in PHP concatenates two strings:

$var = 'ABC' . 'DEF'; // ABCDEF

 

.= is simply appending to the string:

$var = 'ABC';
$var .= 'DEF'; // ABCDEF

 

it's the short version of this:

$var = 'ABC';
$var = $var . 'DEF'; // ABCDEF

 

Edit: This applies to number operators too: + - * / %

[twsowerby]

Thanks Aaron,

 

I did know that it was a concatenation but the use of it there confused me a little bit, haven't quite got my head around how (using your example) PHP can have a variable that looks like it contains itself, ie $var = $var...Am I right in thinking that anything that calls $var in that script would be calling "ABCDEF" and not just "ABC"?

 

Tom

 

 

[rhodesa]

Right, it's just adding on to itself.

 

In the solution I originally posted, $sql starts as a simple query string, and then we add stuff to it if checkboxes are checked. Here is a good tuturial for Beginners with PHP:

http://devzone.zend.com/node/view/id/627

And the part about concatenation:

http://devzone.zend.com/node/view/id/625#Heading9

 

[twsowerby]

Awesome, thank you. You've been a great help.

 

Regards,

 

Tom