[SOLVED] Code to recognize digits within a number string

[njdirt]

Hello,

  I think this is a simple enough problem and I hope somebody knows how to do it.

  I have a page that has five form options which correspond to a value in a database.  If all five options were selected, the value would be '12345' and if the first second and fifth were selected, the value would be "125".  I need some way of determining from the value which options are to be selected.

 

  Optimally, I'd like something along the lines of:

 

if $value contains "1" then ...

if $value contains "2" then ...

 

Any ideas?  Thanks in advance!

[Jessica]

It might help to put a marker in between the digits, so you can use explode. Such as a .

 

1.2.3.4.5 or 1.2.4 you can explode on the . and then you'll have an array of all the digits.

[JonnoTheDev]

What you should have done is give the field a name of an array type to hold multiple values i.e.

If I have 3 checkboxes

<input type="checkbox" name="foobar[]" value="1" />
<input type="checkbox" name="foobar[]" value="2" />
<input type="checkbox" name="foobar[]" value="3" />

Then I can get at the selected values using array functions

<?php
print_r($_POST['foobar']);
?>

[Jessica]

neil.johnson I think he's past that part and has stored the values in the database already.

 

 

[njdirt]

Hello,

  Thanks for the quick replies!  I have not yet stored anything in the database.  Basically, I'm storing 5 boolean switches in one field in the db.  I'm going to see if I can make it work better with the suggestions you gave me Neil.  Thanks, I'll let you know how it turns out!

[JonnoTheDev]

neil.johnson I think he's past that part and has stored the values in the database already.

Nothing mentioned about storing post data but data correspondence

I have a page that has five form options which correspond to a value in a databas

You mentioned exploding a string to an array by using a separator. This requires modification to the form to include the separator as the value. How can I split the string 123? does it consist of three digits 1,2,3 or two 12,3 ?

By using the correct data type in the first place will eliminate the need to split anything.

[Jessica]

How do you store an array in a database? He's said database like 5 times, so yes, storing data was mentioned...

[JonnoTheDev]

How do you store an array in a database? He's said database like 5 times, so yes, storing data was mentioned

Really? The word 'database' means storing data?

 

LOL

[Jessica]

Not sure where you're going with that, but alright.

 

Good luck OP.

[njdirt]

Thanks, I think I figured out a way to make it work for me.

  The stored value is a 5 digit number composed of zeros and ones, with each digit acting  as an operator for a specific option. Then for each switch, I look to the first, second,...,fifth digit to see if it is true or false, like so:

$ch_email = substr($preferred_contact,0,1); 
	$ch_phone1 = substr($preferred_contact,1,1); 
	$ch_text1 = substr($preferred_contact,2,1); 
	$ch_phone2 = substr($preferred_contact,3,1); 
	$ch_text2 = substr($preferred_contact,4,1); 

 

Thanks again, hope this helps somebody out.  I'm trying to add more options to a db with thousands of entries already, so I can't add fields as I please...