[SOLVED] Clever way to make a dropdown-menu filter?

[katie77]

Hi there,

 

I have a dropdown menu which is supposed to filter a table to show results for professionals, students or all.

But I don't really know what I'm doing.  This is what I have so far. 

 

if (isset($_GET['occupation'])) {
if ($_GET['occupation'] == "all")
{
       $filter = $_GET['occupation'];
} 
        else 
{
	$filter = "'Student' or occupation = 'professional'";
}
}
else 
{
      $filter = "'Student' or occupation = 'professional'";
}

//query table

$result = mysql_query
              ("select * from software 
		WHERE occupation = '$filter'
		ORDER by id DESC ");								

//drop-down menu		
echo "
<form method='get' enctype='text/plain'>
<select size='1' name='occupation'>
                <option value='All'>All</a></option>
	<option value='Student'>Students</a></option>
	<option value='Professional'>Professional</option>
 </select>
        <input type='submit' name='submit' value='Filter'> 
</form>";

 

 

Initially, I was able to filter for students or professionals, but since trying to have an all option (students and professionals) it has gone to pot, and I keep getting errors.  I know that my quotation marks are not right, but I can't think of a solution. I would be more than happy to see any ideas, even if they are completely different to mine!

 

Can anyone help me out?

 

Many thanks,

 

Katie

[Barand]

if it's "All", omit the WHERE

<?php
if (isset($_GET['occupation'])) {
    if ($_GET['occupation'] == "All")
    {
        $filter = "";
    } 
    else 
    {
        $filter = "WHERE occupation = {$_GET['occupation']}";
    }
}
else 
{
$filter = "";
}

//query table

$result = mysql_query
              ("select * from software 
		$filter
		ORDER by id DESC ");								

//drop-down menu		
echo "
<form method='get' enctype='text/plain'>
<select size='1' name='occupation'>
                <option value='All'>All</a></option>
	<option value='Student'>Students</a></option>
	<option value='Professional'>Professional</option>
 </select>
        <input type='submit' name='submit' value='Filter'> 
</form>";