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Dynamic DropDown PHP/AJAX

MadTechie

By MadTechie
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MadTechie Regular Member

MadTechie

Posted
Posted

OK, this isn't a request, but many have asked for this sort of thing so i thought i'll write one

please read the comments

 

if their is anything thats doesn't make sense please let me know and i'll try to explain better..

 

this all works as one file..

 

first off, this snipplet of code was written to emulate a database

	$NewData = "";
	$P = (int)$_GET['Param'];

	//Emulate the database
	$DB[1][] = "NewItem1 - 1";
	$DB[1][] = "NewItem1 - 2";

	$DB[2][] = "NewItem2 - 1";
	$DB[2][] = "NewItem2 - 2";

	//Emulate the select
	$row = $DB[$P];

	//use contents from DB to build the Options
	foreach($row as $K1 => $V1)
	{
		$NewData .= "<option value='$K1'>$V1</option>\n";
	}

 

you can replace that with

 

$dbh = mysql_connect($hostname, $username, $password) 
or die("Unable to connect to MySQL");
$selected = mysql_select_db("first_test",$dbh) 
if (!mysql_query("SELECT * FROM table WHERE ID=$P"))
{
  echo "Database is down";
}
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result,MYSQL_ASSOC))
{
   $NewData .= "<option value='".$row['ID']."'>".$row['Name']."</option>\n";
}
mysql_close($dbh);

 

 

TRY this by itself first.. (single file)

<?php
//for use with my FIRST list box
$list1[1] = "Item1";
$list1[2] = "Item2";

if( isset($_GET['Param']) )
{
	$NewData = "";
	$P = (int)$_GET['Param'];

	//Emulate the database
	$DB[1][] = "NewItem1 - 1";
	$DB[1][] = "NewItem1 - 2";

	$DB[2][] = "NewItem2 - 1";
	$DB[2][] = "NewItem2 - 2";

	//Emulate the select
	$row = $DB[$P];

	//use contents from DB to build the Options
	foreach($row as $K1 => $V1)
	{
		$NewData .= "<option value='$K1'>$V1</option>\n";
	}
	echo $NewData; //Send Data back
	exit; //we're finished so exit..
}
?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>Simple Dymanic Drop Down</title>
<script language="javascript">


function ajaxFunction(ID, Param)
{
//link to the PHP file your getting the data from
//var loaderphp = "register.php";
//i have link to this file
var loaderphp = "<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] ?>";

//we don't need to change anymore of this script
var xmlHttp;
try
    {
	// Firefox, Opera 8.0+, Safari
	xmlHttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
    }catch(e){
	// Internet Explorer
	try
	{
		xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
	}catch(e){
		try
		{
			xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
		}catch(e){
			alert("Your browser does not support AJAX!");
			return false;
		}
	}
}
    xmlHttp.onreadystatechange=function()
{
	if(xmlHttp.readyState==4)
        {
		document.getElementById(ID).innerHTML = xmlHttp.responseText;
        }
}
    xmlHttp.open("GET", loaderphp+"?Param="+Param,true);
    xmlHttp.send(null);
}
</script>

</head>
<body>

<!-- OK a basic form-->
<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" name="myForm" target="_self">
<table border="0">
  <tr>
    <td>
	<!-- 
	OK here we call the ajaxFuntion LBox2 refers to where the returned date will go
	and the this.value will be the value of the select option
	-->
	<select name="list1" onchange="ajaxFunction('LBox2', this.value);">
		<option value=''></option>
	<?php 
		foreach($list1 as $K1 => $V1)
		{
			echo "<option value='$K1'>$V1</option>";
		}
	?>
	</select>
</td>
    <td>
	<select name="list2" id="LBox2">
			<!-- OK the ID of this list box is LBox2 as refered to above -->
	</select>
</td>
  </tr>
</table>
  <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>

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  • 1 year later...
MadTechie Regular Member

MadTechie

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Due to a few PM's asking for a third box or example for the SQL side i have decided to update the script, i have tried to keep it simple.. i have include the SQL table structure and some sample data.. i hope it helps

 

 

<?php
/*
-- SQL Data
--
-- Table structure for table `list1`
--

CREATE TABLE `list1` (
  `ID` mediumint( NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `Name` varchar(15) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`ID`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=4 ;

--
-- Dumping data for table `list1`
--

INSERT INTO `list1` (`ID`, `Name`) VALUES
(1, 'Dogs'),
(2, 'Trees'),
(3, 'Apples');

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `list2`
--

CREATE TABLE `list2` (
  `ID` mediumint( NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `List1Ref` mediumint( NOT NULL,
  `Name` varchar(20) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`ID`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=7 ;

--
-- Dumping data for table `list2`
--

INSERT INTO `list2` (`ID`, `List1Ref`, `Name`) VALUES
(1, 1, 'Sleep in'),
(2, 1, 'Bark at'),
(3, 2, 'Grow'),
(4, 2, 'Are'),
(5, 3, 'are coloured'),
(6, 3, 'Taste');

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `list3`
--

CREATE TABLE `list3` (
  `ID` mediumint( NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `List2Ref` mediumint( NOT NULL,
  `Name` varchar(20) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`ID`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=11 ;

--
-- Dumping data for table `list3`
--

INSERT INTO `list3` (`ID`, `List2Ref`, `Name`) VALUES
(1, 1, 'Baskets'),
(2, 1, 'on the couch'),
(3, 2, 'Cats'),
(4, 2, 'Postmen'),
(5, 3, 'slowly'),
(6, 4, 'green'),
(7, 5, 'Red'),
(8, 5, 'Green'),
(9, 6, 'Nice'),
(10, 6, 'Not nice');


*/
$hostname = "localhost";
$username = "root";
$password = "";

?>

<?php
$dbh = mysql_connect($hostname, $username, $password)
	or die("Unable to connect to MySQL");
$selected = mysql_select_db("ajax_test",$dbh);
   	if( isset($_POST['Submit']) )
   	{
   		echo "<pre>";
   		print_r($_POST);
   	}
   	if( isset($_GET['ajax']) )
{
	//In this if statement
	switch($_GET['ID'])
	{
		case "LBox2":
			$query = sprintf("SELECT * FROM list2 WHERE List1Ref=%d",$_GET['ajax']);
		break;
		case "LBox3":
			$query = sprintf("SELECT * FROM list3 WHERE List2Ref=%d",$_GET['ajax']);
		break;
	}

	$result = mysql_query($query);
	echo "<option value=''></option>";
	while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
	{
		echo "<option value='{$row['ID']}'>{$row['Name']}</option>\n";
	}
	mysql_close($dbh);
	exit; //we're finished so exit..
}

if (!$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM list1"))
{
	echo "Database is down";
}
//for use with my FIRST list box
$List1 = "";
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
	$List1 .= "<option value='{$row['ID']}'>{$row['Name']}</option>\n";
}
?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>Simple Dymanic Drop Down</title>
<script language="javascript">
function ajaxFunction(ID, Param)
{
   //link to the PHP file your getting the data from
   //var loaderphp = "register.php";
   //i have link to this file
   var loaderphp = "<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] ?>";
   
   //we don't need to change anymore of this script
   var xmlHttp;
   try
    {
      // Firefox, Opera 8.0+, Safari
      xmlHttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
    }catch(e){
      // Internet Explorer
      try
      {
         xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
      }catch(e){
         try
         {
            xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
         }catch(e){
            alert("Your browser does not support AJAX!");
            return false;
         }
      }
   }
   
   xmlHttp.onreadystatechange=function()
   {
      if(xmlHttp.readyState==4)
        {
        	//the line below reset the third list box incase list 1 is changed
        	document.getElementById('LBox3').innerHTML = "<option value=''></option>";
        	
        	//THIS SET THE DAT FROM THE PHP TO THE HTML
			document.getElementById(ID).innerHTML = xmlHttp.responseText;
        }
   }
    xmlHttp.open("GET", loaderphp+"?ID="+ID+"&ajax="+Param,true);
    xmlHttp.send(null);
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<!-- OK a basic form-->
<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" name="myForm" target="_self">
<table border="0">
  <tr>
    <td>
      <!--
      OK here we call the ajaxFuntion LBox2 refers to where the returned date will go
      and the this.value will be the value of the select option
      -->
      <select name="list1" id="LBox1" onchange="ajaxFunction('LBox2', this.value);">
         <option value=''></option>
      <?php 
         echo $List1;
      ?>
      </select>
   </td>
    <td>
      <select name="list2" id="LBox2" onchange="ajaxFunction('LBox3', this.value);">
      	<option value=''></option>
            <!-- OK the ID of this list box is LBox2 as refered to above -->
      </select>
   </td>
   <td>
      <select name="list3" id="LBox3">
      	<option value=''></option>
            <!-- OK the ID of this list box is LBox3 Same as above -->
      </select>
   </td>
  </tr>
</table>
  <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>

 

 

Same as above without MySQL

<?php
   if( isset($_GET['ajax']) )
   {
      //In this if statement
      switch($_GET['ID'])
      {
         case "LBox2":
            $Data[1] = array(10=>"-Tom", 20=>"Jimmy"); 
            $Data[2] = array(30=>"Bob", 40=>"-MadTechie");
            $Data[3] = array(50=>"-One", 60=>"Two");
         break;
         
         //Only added values for -Tom, -MadTechie and -One (10,40,50)
         case "LBox3":
            $Data[10] = array(100=>"One 00", 200=>"Two 00");
            $Data[40] = array(300=>"Three 00");
            $Data[50] = array(1000=>"10000");
         break;
      }
      
      echo "<option value=''></option>";
      foreach($Data[$_GET['ajax']] as $K => $V)
      {
         echo "<option value='$K'>$V</option>\n";
      }
      mysql_close($dbh);
      exit; //we're finished so exit..
   }
   $Data = array(1=>"One", 2=>"Two", 3=>"Three");
   $List1 = "<option value=''></option>";
   foreach($Data as $K => $V)
   {
      $List1 .= "<option value='$K'>$V</option>\n";
   }
?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>Simple Dymanic Drop Down</title>
<script language="javascript">
   function ajaxFunction(ID, Param)
   {
      //link to the PHP file your getting the data from
      //var loaderphp = "register.php";
      //i have link to this file
      var loaderphp = "<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] ?>";
      
      //we don't need to change anymore of this script
      var xmlHttp;
      try
       {
         // Firefox, Opera 8.0+, Safari
         xmlHttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
       }catch(e){
         // Internet Explorer
         try
         {
            xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
         }catch(e){
            try
            {
               xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
            }catch(e){
               alert("Your browser does not support AJAX!");
               return false;
            }
         }
      }
      
      xmlHttp.onreadystatechange=function()
      {
         if(xmlHttp.readyState==4)
           {
              //the line below reset the third list box incase list 1 is changed
              document.getElementById('LBox3').innerHTML = "<option value=''></option>";
              
              //THIS SET THE DAT FROM THE PHP TO THE HTML
            document.getElementById(ID).innerHTML = xmlHttp.responseText;
           }
      }
       xmlHttp.open("GET", loaderphp+"?ID="+ID+"&ajax="+Param,true);
       xmlHttp.send(null);
   }
</script>
</head>
<body>
<!-- OK a basic form-->
<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" name="myForm" target="_self">
<table border="0">
  <tr>
    <td>
      <!--
      OK here we call the ajaxFuntion LBox2 refers to where the returned date will go
      and the this.value will be the value of the select option
      -->
      <select name="list1" id="LBox1" onchange="ajaxFunction('LBox2', this.value);">
      <?php 
         echo $List1;
      ?>
      </select>
   </td>
    <td>
      <select name="list2" id="LBox2" onchange="ajaxFunction('LBox3', this.value);">
         <option value=''></option>
            <!-- OK the ID of this list box is LBox2 as refered to above -->
      </select>
   </td>
   <td>
      <select name="list3" id="LBox3">
         <option value=''></option>
            <!-- OK the ID of this list box is LBox3 Same as above -->
      </select>
   </td>
  </tr>
</table>
  <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>

  • 8 months later...
MadTechie Regular Member

MadTechie

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Okay.. first off this is more of a hack, I will re-write this whole thing correctly but for now

 

I have received quite a few PM's telling me that the code above doesn't work in IE8

this is true, it due to the use of innerHTML, Now normally I would use JSON to pass arrays between PHP & JS but as i have stated this is just a quick hack,

 

if your updating code then the only real change is the 20 lines below

if(xmlHttp.readyState==4)

(lines 159-179)

 

Now what is does it rebuild the dropdown box, using a Regular Expression to extra the options data from the html passed back from PHP,

 

Hope it helps :)

 

<?php
/*
-- SQL Data
--
-- Table structure for table `list1`
--

CREATE TABLE `list1` (
  `ID` mediumint( NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `Name` varchar(15) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`ID`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=4 ;

--
-- Dumping data for table `list1`
--

INSERT INTO `list1` (`ID`, `Name`) VALUES
(1, 'Dogs'),
(2, 'Trees'),
(3, 'Apples');

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `list2`
--

CREATE TABLE `list2` (
  `ID` mediumint( NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `List1Ref` mediumint( NOT NULL,
  `Name` varchar(20) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`ID`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=7 ;

--
-- Dumping data for table `list2`
--

INSERT INTO `list2` (`ID`, `List1Ref`, `Name`) VALUES
(1, 1, 'Sleep in'),
(2, 1, 'Bark at'),
(3, 2, 'Grow'),
(4, 2, 'Are'),
(5, 3, 'are coloured'),
(6, 3, 'Taste');

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `list3`
--

CREATE TABLE `list3` (
  `ID` mediumint( NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `List2Ref` mediumint( NOT NULL,
  `Name` varchar(20) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`ID`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=11 ;

--
-- Dumping data for table `list3`
--

INSERT INTO `list3` (`ID`, `List2Ref`, `Name`) VALUES
(1, 1, 'Baskets'),
(2, 1, 'on the couch'),
(3, 2, 'Cats'),
(4, 2, 'Postmen'),
(5, 3, 'slowly'),
(6, 4, 'green'),
(7, 5, 'Red'),
(8, 5, 'Green'),
(9, 6, 'Nice'),
(10, 6, 'Not nice');


*/
   $hostname = "localhost";
   $username = "root";
   $password = "";

?>

<?php
   $dbh = mysql_connect($hostname, $username, $password)
      or die("Unable to connect to MySQL");
   $selected = mysql_select_db("ajax_test",$dbh);
   if( isset($_GET['ajax']) )
   {
      //In this if statement
      switch($_GET['ID'])
      {
         case "LBox2":
            $query = sprintf("SELECT * FROM list2 WHERE List1Ref=%d",$_GET['ajax']);
         break;
         case "LBox3":
            $query = sprintf("SELECT * FROM list3 WHERE List2Ref=%d",$_GET['ajax']);
         break;
      }
      
      $result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
      while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
      {
         echo "<option value='{$row['ID']}'>{$row['Name']}</option>\n";
      }
      mysql_close($dbh);
      exit; //we're finished so exit..
   }
   
   if (!$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM list1"))
   {
      echo "Database is down";
   }
   //for use with my FIRST list box
   $List1 = "";
   while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
   {
      $List1 .= "<option value='{$row['ID']}'>{$row['Name']}</option>\n";
   }
?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>Simple Dymanic Drop Down</title>
<script language="javascript">
   function ajaxFunction(ID, Param)
   {
      //link to the PHP file your getting the data from
      //var loaderphp = "register.php";
      //i have link to this file
      var loaderphp = "<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] ?>";
      
      //we don't need to change anymore of this script
      var xmlHttp;
      try
       {
         // Firefox, Opera 8.0+, Safari
         xmlHttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
       }catch(e){
         // Internet Explorer
         try
         {
            xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
         }catch(e){
            try
            {
               xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
            }catch(e){
               alert("Your browser does not support AJAX!");
               return false;
            }
         }
      }
      
      xmlHttp.onreadystatechange=function()
      {
         if(xmlHttp.readyState==4)
           {
              //the line below reset the third list box incase list 1 is changed
              	var sSelect = document.getElementById(ID);
			for(options in sSelect.options)	sSelect.remove(options);
              	var opt = document.createElement("option");
			sSelect.options.add(opt);
			var data = xmlHttp.responseText;

			results = data.split('\n');
			for(r in results){
				var d =  results[r];
				match = d.match(/<option value='(.*?)'>([^<]*)<\/option>/);
				if (match != null) {
					var opt = document.createElement("option");
					opt.value= match[1];
					opt.text = match[2];
					sSelect.options.add(opt);
				}
			}
           }
      }
       xmlHttp.open("GET", loaderphp+"?ID="+ID+"&ajax="+Param,true);
       xmlHttp.send(null);
   }
</script>
</head>
<body>
<!-- OK a basic form-->
<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" name="myForm" target="_self">
<table border="0">
  <tr>
    <td>
      <!--
      OK here we call the ajaxFuntion LBox2 refers to where the returned date will go
      and the this.value will be the value of the select option
      -->
      <select name="list1" id="LBox1" onchange="ajaxFunction('LBox2', this.value);">
         <option value=''></option>
      <?php 
         echo $List1;
      ?>
      </select>
   </td>
    <td>
      <select name="list2" id="LBox2" onchange="ajaxFunction('LBox3', this.value);">
         <option value=''></option>
            <!-- OK the ID of this list box is LBox2 as refered to above -->
      </select>
   </td>
   <td>
      <select name="list3" id="LBox3">
         <option value=''></option>
            <!-- OK the ID of this list box is LBox3 Same as above -->
      </select>
   </td>
  </tr>
</table>
  <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>

 

any problems feel free to PM me

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