Need a Link or Basic Script to Learn Select Functionality

[meOmy]

Hi All,

The Problem: I'm trying to learn how to take records from the NAME row of one table (i.e. Tom, Jim, Chris, Mike) and put them into a SELECT (drop down menu) box, then select a name and save it to a DIFFERENT table where the row is also called NAME, and THEN have that selection I just saved show in the SELECT box as SELECTED when the page refreshes.

I have found a hundred websites showing how to bind a SELECT box to a table and put them into a SELECT box via $key => $val and even how to save it to ANOTHER textbox on the page, which is a lot easier, but never a step further as described in the first paragraph above. Seems unbelievable to me since it's so common. Maybe I'm just not using the proper search terms/keywords.

Here's an example: Let's say you wanted to notify 3 people of your birthday. So, on the notification page, you would enter three names of people you would want notified all in separate input textboxes with [keys]. So, you enter John, Chris, and Tom into three text boxes and save the page. Done.

Now, on another page, I have -- say .... five select boxes. For arguments sake, let's just say I click on all of them one at a time. In each of them, I would only see three names (John, Chris, and Tom). Now, in the first SELECT box I click on John. In the second select box I click on Chris, and on the third I click on Tom. Then save the form. I would like to see John, Chris, and Tom in the first three boxes after refreshing and I would like to see SELECT A NAME on the last two Select boxes that we never did anything with.

Remember, there are NO default names in the first table with row called NAMES. They are populated by the user and saved to the row.

 

I'm attaching an image of what the page looks like that I want to see the names and be able to select them.

 

Does anyone have a link to a site that shows how to do this... or maybe have something very basic that would show me the process? Or, if not too difficult, maybe you could show me?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[jcbones]

Why?  Data should only be stored once, in one place.  Database Normalization is a must for consistent, trustworthy data.  On top of that, I'm not sure this is something you would use a database for, maybe sessions is where you should be looking.

Sessions should only be a backup if they don't have javascript enabled.  This should really be handled via ajax.