function I'm proud of

[dumdumsareyum]

I wrote a little function to make a selection list of all the distinct values in a mysql database column. You can also send a value

that you would like to be pre-selected should it match one of the generated list items. I'm sure it's nothing new, but I sure do like it so I thought I'd post it and maybe someone else would find it useful too.

 

Here's an example of how to use the function:

Select Location(s): <br />
<select name="location[]" multiple ="multiple" size="3">
<option value="" selected="selected">All Locations</option>
<?php
/*****Get locations from database****/
createSelection("location", $cxn, "propertyData");
?>
</select>

 

And here is the function:

 

function createSelection($columnName, $cxn, $table, $match)
{

//$columnName is the column name of in the table you wish to create a selection list from (gets distinct values from this col only)
//$cxn is a mysqli connection
//$table is the table you wish to retreive values from
//$match is a value that you wish to be selected in the selection list if it matches any of the values in the created list

$sql = "SELECT Distinct $columnName from $table order by $columnName";
$result = mysqli_query($cxn, $sql) or die(DPP_error("There was an error processing your request. Please try again"));

	while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result))
		{
			if ($row[$columnName] != "")
			{
			 echo "<option value='".$row[$columnName]."'";
		      if(($row[$columnName] == $match) && ($match != ""))
			   {
			     echo " selected='selected'";
			   }
			 echo ">".$row[$columnName].PHP_EOL;
			}
	}
} //end function

 

I thought about including the selection tags and a parameter for the name attribute etc., but I think it's pretty flexible this way and still gets the job done.