256 radio buttons - best way to handle it?

[split63]

I have an html form on which a user selects numbers from 0x00 to 0xFF.  Each of the 256 numbers has a radio button or check box.  They can select as many numbers that apply to them.  The results will be stored in a mysql database. 

 

Ideally, only a true or false is needed for each number.  I could store each number selected, or I could store a true/false for all 256.

 

Also, it seems like an array might be best for handling this data, but as I understand Mysql does not directly store arrays.  Later, I will pull this data from the database and dependent on which numbers were selected, I will print a unique message for each number.

 

Any suggestions with regard to the overal approach to get me pointed in the right direction would be appreciated.  Its been 12 years since I used server side scripting so its like starting over. 

[ignace]

I thought it was fun to do:

 

function createHexColorList($name, $callback) {
  if (!function_exists($callback)) {
    trigger_error("Function '$callback' does not exist.", E_USER_ERROR);
    return;
  }
  
  $return = '';
  for ($i = 0; $i < 256; ++$i) {
    $return = $return . $callback($name, dechex($i));
  }
  
  return $return;
}

function htmlInput($name, $value) {
  $value = strtoupper($value);
  return '<li><label><input type="radio" name="' . $name . '" value="' . $value . '"> 0x' . $value . '</label></li>';
}

echo '<form action="#" method="POST">',
     '<ul id="red">', createHexColorList('red', 'htmlInput'), '</ul>',
     '<ul id="green">', createHexColorList('green', 'htmlInput'), '</ul>',
     '<ul id="blue">', createHexColorList('blue', 'htmlInput'), '</ul>',
     '</form>';

if (!empty($_POST)) {
  $red = $_POST['red'];
  $green = $_POST['green'];
  $blue = $_POST['blue'];
  
  echo 'You selected: <span style="background-color: #' . $red . $green . $blue . '">' . $red . $green . $blue . '</span>';
}

 

To allow for multiple colors to be selected:

 

function createHexColorList($name, $callback) {
  if (!function_exists($callback)) {
    trigger_error("Function '$callback' does not exist.", E_USER_ERROR);
    return;
  }
  
  $return = '';
  for ($i = 0; $i < 256; ++$i) {
    $return = $return . $callback($name, dechex($i));
  }
  
  return $return;
}

function htmlInputCheckbox($name, $value) {
  $value = strtoupper($value);
  return '<li><label><input type="checkbox" name="' . $name . '[]" value="' . $value . '"> 0x' . $value . '</label></li>';
}

echo '<form action="#" method="POST">',
     '<ul id="red">', createHexColorList('red', 'htmlInputCheckbox'), '</ul>',
     '<ul id="green">', createHexColorList('green', 'htmlInputCheckbox'), '</ul>',
     '<ul id="blue">', createHexColorList('blue', 'htmlInputCheckbox'), '</ul>',
     '</form>';

if (!empty($_POST)) {
  $red = $_POST['red'];
  $green = $_POST['green'];
  $blue = $_POST['blue'];
  
  foreach ($red as $key => $colorCode) {
    print 'You selected: <span style="background-color: #' . $red[$key] . $green[$key] . $blue[$key] . '">' . $red[$key] . $green[$key] . $blue[$key] . '</span><br>';
  }
}

[split63]

ignace,

 

I ran your code and it provided one long column repeated three times with radio buttons.

A user can select one or more numbers so I don't think a radio approach works unless each is its separate entity.  Currently only one button can be checked in your code.

 

My plan was to display 16 rows of 16 check boxes.  I think I can swing that.  What  I was having trouble with was dealing with the results once the user submitted the form.  I need to determine how to construct the form so that it provides the data in a format best suited for storing to Mysql.  Once I know the best format, I can create the table in MySQL using phpmyadmin. 

 

So my fundamental issue is whats the best way to store this info in MySQL?

[split63]

It seems that using a checkbox and name array is one options like this:

 

<form action="checkbox-form.php" method="post">
    Select your numbers<br />
    <table>
    	<tr>
            <td><input type="checkbox" name="numbers[]" value="0" />0 </td>
            <td><input type="checkbox" name="numbers[]" value="1" />1 </td>
            <td><input type="checkbox" name="numbers[]" value="2" />2 </td>        
            <td><input type="checkbox" name="numbers[]" value="4" />4 </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><input type="checkbox" name="numbers[]" value="10" />A</td>
            <td><input type="checkbox" name="numbers[]" value="11" />B</td>
            <td><input type="checkbox" name="numbers[]" value="12" />C</td>        
            <td><input type="checkbox" name="numbers[]" value="13" />D</td>
        </tr>
     </table>    
    <input type="submit" name="formSubmit" value="Submit" />
</form>

 

This is currently showing a brute force manual method, which would be replaced with a php loop to produce the same thing.

 

 

The question then is,  what do I do with the numbers[] array in checkbox-form.php?  Meaning, what is the best Mysql type to store this in and what would the query look like?

[ignace]

A user can select one or more numbers so I don't think a radio approach works unless each is its separate entity.  Currently only one button can be checked in your code.

 

256 radio buttons - best way to handle it?

 

Plus I provided a checkbox solution, maybe read my reply in it's entirety? If you want to limit it to 16 side-by-side you can do that by using CSS: float all <li>'s and put a height on the <ul>.

 

 

[djbuddhi]

use a php for loop in side the radio button 

[split63]

Plus I provided a checkbox solution, maybe read my reply in it's entirety? If you want to limit it to 16 side-by-side you can do that by using CSS: float all <li>'s and put a height on the <ul>.

Your code helped quite a bit.  I have a version of it running and it creates the form in 16 rows of 16 columns.

 

Thanks

[split63]

ignace,

 

I did stumble upon what seems to be a slight improvement.  Instead of the dechex and strtoupper, I used sprintf("%02X", $i).  The "X" says print in upper case Hex.  This also allowed the number to always be two digits.  So "5" is displayed as "05"

 

Thanks,