how would I Delete all thats checked

[TeddyKiller]

I have a messages inbox and sentbox (working on inbox first) with a check all and uncheck all feature.

I want to know how I'd delete all thats checked.

Here is my code for the forms or whatever.

 

      default:
          echo '<a href="mail.php?act=send">Send Message</a> - <a href="mail.php?act=sent">Sent Messages</a><br />';
          echo "<fieldset><legend>Inbox Messages</legend><form name=\"myForm\" action=\"\" onSubmit=\"return ValidateForm(this,'chkSample')\">";
          
          $q = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `sent_messages` WHERE to_status='0' AND to_id='$user->id'");
          while($r = mysql_fetch_array($q)){
              $wr = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `users` WHERE id='".$r['from_id']."'");
              $rw = mysql_fetch_array($wr);
              echo '
              <div style="text-align:left; border-bottom:1px solid #e1e3d3; padding-bottom:5px;">
              <div id="topmail">From: <a href="#">'.ucwords($rw['username']).'</a> - Subject: <a href="#">'.ucwords($r['subject']).'</a></div>
              <div id="mail">
              <div style="float:right; width:30px; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;">
              <input name="chkSample" type="checkbox" value="" />
              </div>
              <div style="margin-right:50px;">'.substr($r['message'],0,100).'</div>
              </div>
              </div><br />';
          }
          
          echo '</fieldset><br />
          <div style="text-align:right;">
          <a href="javascript:SetChecked(1,\'chkSample\')">Check All</a> - 
          <a href="javascript:SetChecked(0,\'chkSample\')">Uncheck All</a>
          </div></form><br /><br />';
          
      break;

 

How would I delete all thats checked? Thanks

[ialsoagree]

In order to delete all the checked rows, you need to know which items are checked. This is your current checkbox (which is the same for every message because it's used in the while loop):

 

<input name="chkSample" type="checkbox" value="" />

 

The problem here is that every checkbox has the same name, and has no value. In order to be able to distinguish which checkboxes are checked, I'd recommend changing your checkbox code to this:

 

<input name="checkedItems[]" type="checkbox" value="'.$r['unique_database_id'].'" />

 

Obviously you need to change 'unique_database_id' to whatever the column that identifies each message uniquely is.

 

The list of checked items will be returned as an array in $_POST like so:

 

foreach ($_POST['checkedItems'] as $value) {
    echo $value; // Echoes the unique ID of each checked message
}

[TeddyKiller]

I understand what your saying. I've got that setup. May be dumb, but whats next?

foreach ($_POST['checkedItems'] as $value) {
    //Would I run my php query in here? This will loop for all thts checked, right?
}

 

Also.. but how would I call it becuse..I don't want a button, I would like a link?

[ignace]

No a far better approach then the foreach () would be:

 

$in = implode(',', $_POST['checkedItems']);// I recommend that you verify that 1) the user is allowed to do this 2) it's an array containing only integers
$query = "DELETE FROM table WHERE id IN ($in)";
$result = mysql_query($query);

[TeddyKiller]

No a far better approach then the foreach () would be:

 

$in = implode(',', $_POST['checkedItems']);// I recommend that you verify that 1) the user is allowed to do this 2) it's an array containing only integers
$query = "DELETE FROM table WHERE id IN ($in)";
$result = mysql_query($query);

 

Is this a loop? and yes, it uses integers, also wouldn't $in be - ,13

(If the ID is 13 that is)

[ialsoagree]

(The above solution is a lot more elegant - and probably more efficient too - than mine, I have some comments about using a link instead of a button below though)

 

How to delete the items, specifically, is going to depend on your database (of course) but I'll do my best to give you something generic (written for MySQL, since that's what I use) you can tailor to your use. Make sure that before you do delete anything, the user requesting the delete actually has permission to delete each of the files requested.

 

There's nothing to stop a user from building a POST or GET request with any message ID they want to put in (even if the messages don't belong to them) so plan accordingly!

 

$delete = 'DELETE FROM your_messages_table_name WHERE ';
$start = TRUE;
$i=0;
foreach ($_POST['checkedItems'] as $value) {
    if (!$start)
        $delete .= ' OR ';
    else
        $start = FALSE;
    $delete .= 'message_id_column = '.$value;
    $i++
}
$delete .= ' LIMIT '.$i;

// Delete is now ready to run on your server, but you should make sure
// that the user actually has permission to delete each of the ID's they're trying to delete!

 

As for the issue of using a link instead of a button. This is a javascript issue really. There's a few ways you could do this. I'd recommend this...

 

<input name="checkedItems[]" id="message_check_'.$r['unique_database_id'].'" type="checkbox" value="'.$r['unique_database_id'].'" />

 

Have your delete url look something like...

 

<a onClick="deleteMessages()" style="cursor:pointer;">Delete Checked Messages</a>

(A quick note, cursor:pointer may not work on IE, you may have to use cursor:hand in addition to cursor:pointer, or another style).

 

(I'm suddenly getting really lazy because I've been writing this post for about 10-15 minutes, so here's a quick note about what you need to do, and if you need specific examples than hopefully someone can help you, or I can continue later).

 

In your loop where you pull each message row, you need to create a series of if then javascript statements that checks each individual checkbox (they each have unique ID's, so you can pull their ID's using getElementById) to see if it is checked or unchecked (and if it's checked, to build a string that will take the user to a delete page and sends the ID's in checkedItems[], the request can be POST or GET, just change the PHP above from $_POST to $_GET if you switch to GET).

 

Then outside your loop, you have to put that javascript statement you made into the deleteMessages javascript function that builds the GET or POST request and sends it for the user.

[ignace]

No a far better approach then the foreach () would be:

 

$in = implode(',', $_POST['checkedItems']);// I recommend that you verify that 1) the user is allowed to do this 2) it's an array containing only integers
$query = "DELETE FROM table WHERE id IN ($in)";
$result = mysql_query($query);

 

Is this a loop? and yes, it uses integers, also wouldn't $in be - ,13

(If the ID is 13 that is)

 

No this is not a loop it uses the IN operator to delete all rows with the corresponding ID's (=integers provided by $_POST['checkedItems'])

 

And if you pass 13 it will show up as 13 if you pass 12 and 13 it will show up as 12, 13

[TeddyKiller]

Ok, I'll try it out. Also.. how do I check if atleast 1 checkbox has been checked?

Would it be.. if($_POST['checkedItems'] == checked){ do this } else { this } ?

[ialsoagree]

This will partly depend on how you send the delete request, but if done correctly, $_POST['checkedItems'] will be unset if nothing is checked.

 

In other words:

 

if (isset($_POST['checkedItems'])) {
    // At least 1 item checked
}
else {
    // Nothing checked
}

[TeddyKiller]

Right. Okay thanks. For the last thing.. how would I use a link to submit a form instead of a button?

(For the sake of fitting in with the checkall and uncheck all links)

[ignace]

<a href="#" onClick="return submitForm('formName');">text</a>
<script type="text/javascript">
function submitForm(formName) {
    var form = document.getElementById(formName);
    form.submit();
    return false;
}
</script>