Remember form data on reload

[dudejma]

I'm wondering how to save drop down menu values. For example, say someone was filling out the form and they left a field blank, it would reload the page, and say please fill in this field or whatever, but how do I get it to save the drop down menu data. I know how to get it to save the input fields, just not the drop down menus.

[perky416]

Hi mate,

 

I use something similar to the following:

 

<select name="dropdown">
<option value="value 1" <?php if $_POST['dropdown'] == "value 1" echo "selected"; ?>>value 1</option>
<option value="value 2" <?php if $_POST['dropdown'] == "value 2" echo "selected"; ?>>value 2</option>
<option value="value 3" <?php if $_POST['dropdown'] == "value 3" echo "selected"; ?>>value 2</option>
</select>

 

Hope it helps.

[dudejma]

I'm very new to PHP. Could you explain the code to me please?

[mgoodman]

@op:

 

Perky's code contained some syntax errors. Here's the fixed version:

 

<select name="dropdown">
    <option value="value 1" <?php if ($_POST['dropdown'] == 'value 1') echo 'selected="selected"'; ?>>value 1</option>
    <option value="value 2" <?php if ($_POST['dropdown'] == 'value 2') echo 'selected="selected"'; ?>>value 2</option>
    <option value="value 3" <?php if ($_POST['dropdown'] == 'value 3') echo 'selected="selected"'; ?>>value 2</option>
</select>

 

edit: explanation

 

$_POST['dropdown'] is where the selected value would be stored when the user submits the form. So, for each option the code checks to see if it was selected, and if it was it prints out selected="selected" (which will set that as the "default" option).

 

If that doesn't make sense then let me know and I'll try to explain it differently.

[perky416]

Sorry I typed it out quickly.

 

<option value="value 1" <?php if ($_POST['dropdown'] == 'value 1') echo 'selected="selected"'; ?>>value 1</option>

 

The php in the above line is basically saying "if the posted value is the same as the option value, display 'selected=selected' within the line of html".

 

If an <option> tag reads <option selected="selcted"> then that dropdown value is displayed by default when the page loads.

 

I hope you understand that. I get it in my head im just not sure if I put it across too good lol.

[dudejma]

That makes sense. Thanks guys!

[Pikachu2000]

If you have fields with more than just a few <option>s, it's much easier to build them from arrays in php instead of coding them all into the html, if you're interested:

 

$options = array( 'option 1', 'option 2', 'option 3', 'option 4', 'option 5'); // example array
echo "<select name=\"select_options\">\n"; // start the <select> field
foreach( $options as $v ) {
        // if the form has already been submitted, set the $selected var if there's a match, then echo each array element as an option
$selected = ( isset($_POST['select_options']) && $v == $_POST['select_options'] ) ? 'selected="selected"' : '';
echo "<option value=\"$v\" $selected>$v</option>\n"; 
}
echo "</select>\n"; // close the select field.