pre-populating drop down menus in a form (select)

[jeff5656]

When updating a record, I want the form to be pre-populated, but I want the values in the drop down menu to also show what the record values are.  the following does not work though.  The drop down doesn't display the values, it displays "Please Select" even when there was an actual value for that record:

 

 <th>Sex</th><?php $select = isset($_POST["sex"]) ? $_POST["sex"] : ''; ?>
  <td><select name = "sex" >
      <option value="" <?php if ($select == '') echo 'selected="selected"'; ?>>Please Select</option>
      <option value="m" <?php if ($select == 'm') echo 'selected="selected"'; ?>>Male</option>
      <option value="f" <?php if ($select == 'f') echo 'selected="selected"'; ?>>Female</option>
      </select></td></tr>
  <tr></tr>
  <th>Race</th>
  <td><select name = "race" >
      <option value="" <?php if ($select == '') echo 'selected="selected"'; ?>>Please Select</option>
      <option value="b" <?php if ($select == 'b') echo 'selected="selected"'; ?>>Black</option>
      <option value="w" <?php if ($select == 'w') echo 'selected="selected"'; ?>>White</option>
      <option value="o" <?php if ($select == 'o') echo 'selected="selected"'; ?>>Other</option>
      </select></td></tr>

[jeff5656]

Anyone have any ideas? How do I get the value from the record to be the default value in the dropdown menu?

[maexus]

To set the default value of a drop down is HTML, not PHP

 

My suggestion is to visit http://htmldog.com/

[graham23s]

Hi Jeff,

 

This is what i do:

 

<?php
// gender array //
$gender_array = array("1"=>"Male","2"=>"Female");

$gender = $row['gender']; <-- 1 or 2 coming from mysql (depending on what the user has selected)

// then //
print("<select name='sex'>");
foreach($gender_array as $key => $gender_value)
{
  print("<option value='$key' ");
  
  // if for selected //
  if($key == $gender)
  {
   print(" selected");
  }
  
  print(">$gender_value</option>\n");
  
}
print("</select>\n"); 
?>

 

hope that helps.

 

Graham

[jeff5656]

Hi,

that doesn't work.  If I have a female it still shows "male" as the default on the drop down.

 

I changed "1" and "2" to "m" and "f", but otherwise kept everything else you had the same.

 

Now if i select female and hit submit, it correctly changes the value (confirmed when I view it in phpmmyadmin), but when I go back to edit the record, the form always displays male as the default.

[graham23s]

Hi Mate,

 

this is really the bit we are after:

 

<?php
  // if for selected //
  if($key == $gender)
  {
   print(" selected");
  }
?>

 

 

$gender <-- this is basically the variable your grabbing from mysql in the gender table it will store either the 1 or 2

$key <-- when $gender matches one of the keys (1 or 2) it will echo the selected

 

are you pulling the users gender from mysql at all?

 

Graham

[jeff5656]

I made a stupid mistake - my value is called "sex" not gender.  Once I changed the $gender to $sex, it works.  Thanks! 

 

Now if only someone could help me with my problem put forth in the javascript forum (subject "2 java scripts in one php file").