[SOLVED] Radio Button Form Help!

[gigantorTRON]

I'm creating a quiz type application that uses PHP to automatically load questions and their possible answers into an HTML page. The function I have that does this looks like this:

 

switch($type) {
		//single line text box
		case "T":

		while ($out = mysql_fetch_row($result)) {

		$output .= $out[0] . ": <input type='text' name='" . $qid . $x . "'><br>";
		$x++;
		}

		$x=0;

		break;

		//text area
		case "B":

		$output = "<form method='POST'>";

		while ($out = mysql_fetch_row($result)) {

		$output .= $out[0] . ": <textarea name='firstname" . $x . "' cols=40 rows=6></textarea><br>";
		$x++;
		}

		$x=0;

		break;

		//radio button
		case "R":

		while ($out = mysql_fetch_row($result)) {

		$output .= "<p><input type='radio' name='" . $qid . $x . "' value='" . $out[0] . "'>" . " " . $out[0] . "</p>";
		$x++;
		}

		$x=0;

		break;

		case "C":

		while ($out = mysql_fetch_row($result)) {

		$output .= "<p><input type='checkbox' name='" . $qid . $x . "' value='" . $out[0] . "'>" . " " . $out[0] . "</p>";
		$x++;
		}

		$x=0;

		break;

		//select (drop down) box

		case "S":

		$output = "<form method='POST'>";

		while ($out = mysql_fetch_row($result)) {

		$output .= $out[0] . ": <input type='select' name='firstname" . $x . "'><br>";
		$x++;
		}

		$x=0;

		break;

		default :
	}

		return $output;
}

 

This outputs the form elements with their names equal to question#choice i.e. 13a, 13b, etc. Another function then takes this data and saves it to a database table to track progress.

 

Here's the problem I'm encountering...

The html radio buttons are defined as a group by their 'name=' tag. Since each name tag is unique they are separate groups and a user could click multiple radio buttons rather than just one.

 

Is there a way around this via css or something else? Or maybe a better way to approach this task?

 

Thanks!

[freakstyle]

Hey there,

i've run into this same issue myself.

 

the way i worked around it, was to create a hierarchy of data and to dig down into as needed.

in my db, here's how i set it up::

 

 

SurveyAnswerTypes
id, name ( radio, textbox, textfield, checkbox )

SurveyAnswers
id, survey_question_id, survey_answer_type_id, name, title, created, modified

SurveyQuestions
id, sort_ord, name, survey_id, created, modified

SurveyResponses
survey_id, survey_question_id, answer_value, ip, created

Surveys:
id, sort_ord, name, copy, status

 

so then in the application logic,

i loop over all the questions for this survey

each question can have an answer, that answer would be one of the survey types

the name of the answer (your radio, text, ....) would be the question_id

so you can have more then one answer type for each question (radios and select boxes)

 

ex of final result: http://www.soyconnection.com/newsletters/soy-connection/health-nutrition/survey.php?id=5

 

 

hope that helps a bit.

 

good luck

 

 

 

 

[gigantorTRON]

Nice!

Thanks for the reply.

 

I see that it may be more beneficial to define the answer type as radio/check box/etc. rather than define the question in that way.

 

Did you happen to find any optional ways?