daft array questions....

[wmguk]

Hey,

 

Im trying to build an array so that when a visitor selects various benefits they are entered in one array within the database, then I need to be able to search the database on that array...

 

<input name="benefit[]" type="checkbox" value="car" />Car<br />
<input name="benefit[]" type="checkbox" value="pension" />Pension<br />
<input name="benefit[]" type="checkbox" value="shares" />Shares<br />
<input name="benefit[]" type="checkbox" value="life" />Life Insurance<br />
<input name="benefit[]" type="checkbox" value="expenses" />Expense Account <br>

 

Can anyone point me in the right direction to make this go in to one field called benefit, and to be searchable?

 

Thanks

[JonnoTheDev]

If you wanted each selection to be stored in a single field you may use something like the following:

$benefit = implode(",", $_POST['benefit']);

 

This would produce (dependent on the user selection)

car,pension,shares

[Barand]

I'd strongly advise against that and correctly normalise your data with a benefits table.

 

visitor_benefits

--------------

id

benefitID

visitorID

 

So if a visitor id 42 selects car, pension, shares you write three rows

[pre]

visitor_benefits                                      benefits

 

id  |  benfitID |  visitorID |                        benefitID  |  benefit

-----+-----------+------------+                        -----------|--------------

101 |    1    |    42    |                            1    |  car

102 |    2    |    42    |                            2    |  pension

103 |    3    |    42    |                            3    |  shares

                                                            4    |  life ins

                                                            5    |  expense acct

[/pre]

 

You'll find subsequent queries and processing much simpler in the long run