Category checkboxes problem

[fiziwig]

Newbie here. I have a page that uses a <select> list to assign a
category to an itme, however it is possible for an item to have more
than one category assigned. Right now I have to enter the item and one
of the categories then go back to the edit item page to add a second or
third category.

What I'd like to do is to list the categories ias checkbox items
instead of in a <select> list. The problem is the category keys and
descriptions come from a MySQL atbel, and can be changed. So how do
associate a name and value with each checkbox when I don't know ahead
of time how many checkboxes there will be or what their category keys
will be?

I can do

<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb123" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb137" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description

Where "123", and "137" in the example are the category keys from the
SQL table, but then how would the page that recieves those values know
which possible variable names to look for?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

--gary

[Andy Jeffries]

Re: Category checkboxes problem

On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 08:34:51 -0800, fiziwig wrote:[color=blue]
> I can do
>
> <INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb123" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description
> <INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb137" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description
>
> Where "123", and "137" in the example are the category keys from the SQL
> table, but then how would the page that recieves those values know which
> possible variable names to look for?[/color]

foreach ($_POST as $key=>$value) {
if (ereg("cb([0-9]+)", $key, $matches)) {
print "You checked ID $matches[1]";
}
}

Cheers,


Andy


--
Andy Jeffries MBCS CITP ZCE | gPHPEdit Lead Developer
http://www.gphpedit.org | PHP editor for Gnome 2
http://www.andyjeffries.co.uk | Personal site and photos

[fiziwig]

Re: Category checkboxes problem

Perfect! Thank you.

As a newbie so far I've only used regexps to validate an email address.
I hadn't really explored their full potential yet.

--gary

[Ken Robinson]

Re: Category checkboxes problem

> On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 08:34:51 -0800, fiziwig wrote:[color=blue][color=green]
> > I can do
> >
> > <INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb123" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description
> > <INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb137" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description[/color][/color]

A different way to do this is

<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb[123]" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb[137]" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description

Then in you PHP, you can do
<?php
if (isset($_POST['cb']))
foreach $_POST['cb'] as $key=>$dmy)
echo 'You chose catagory ' . $key . '<br>';
?>

This works because only those checkboxes that are actually checked are
sent to your script.

Ken

[Geoff Berrow]

Re: Category checkboxes problem

Message-ID: <1143225322.387 767.284600@u72g 2000cwu.googleg roups.com> from
Ken Robinson contained the following:
[color=blue][color=green][color=darkred]
>> > <INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb123" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description
>> > <INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb137" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description[/color][/color]
>
>A different way to do this is
>
><INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb[123]" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description
><INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb[137]" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description
>
>Then in you PHP, you can do
><?php
>if (isset($_POST['cb']))
> foreach $_POST['cb'] as $key=>$dmy)
> echo 'You chose catagory ' . $key . '<br>';
>?>[/color]

If he's getting the values from a db it may be slightly easier to do
this:
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cat[]" VALUE="cb123">C ategory Description
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cat[]" VALUE="cb137">C ategory Description

<?php
if (isset($_POST['cat'])){
foreach $_POST['cat'] as $value){
echo 'You chose category ' . $value . '<br>';
}
}

Values will only exist if checkboxes are checked.[color=blue]
>?>[/color]
--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

[noone]

Re: Category checkboxes problem

Ken Robinson wrote:
[color=blue][color=green]
>> On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 08:34:51 -0800, fiziwig wrote:[color=darkred]
>> > I can do
>> >
>> > <INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb123" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description
>> > <INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb137" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description[/color][/color][/color]
[color=blue]
> A different way to do this is[/color]
[color=blue]
> <INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb[123]" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description
> <INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb[137]" VALUE="on">Cate gory Description[/color]
[color=blue]
> Then in you PHP, you can do
> <?php
> if (isset($_POST['cb']))
> foreach $_POST['cb'] as $key=>$dmy)
> echo 'You chose catagory ' . $key . '<br>';
> ?>[/color]
[color=blue]
> This works because only those checkboxes that are actually checked are
> sent to your script.[/color]
[color=blue]
> Ken[/color]

or another way is:

-----------begin cut here------------------
<?php
if (isset($_POST['cb']))
{
$cb = implode(",",$_P OST['cb']);
echo 'You chose catagory ' . $cb . '<br>';
}
else {
?>
<html><head><ti tle>test </title></head><body>
<h2><center>tes t </h2></center><p>
<form method=post>
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb[]" VALUE="123">CB 123<br>
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb[]" VALUE="133">CB 133<br>
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb[]" VALUE="143">CB 143<br>
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb[]" VALUE="153">CB 153<br>
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="cb[]" VALUE="167">CB 167<br>
<input type=hidden name=flag value=1><input TYPE=submit value=Submit>
<input TYPE=reset value=Reset></form>
</body></html>
<?php } ?>

-----------end cut here------------------
If you checked the appropriate boxes you get:

You chose catagory 123,133,153

[fiziwig]

Re: Category checkboxes problem

There's more than one way to skin a cat!

These are all interesting, and food for future thought. To tell the
truth I wasn't aware that you could send an arrray as a POST variable.

I tried Andy's solution first, and it works fine. The number of
categories is small, and will probably never grow to more than 15 or
20.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

--gary

[Andy Jeffries]

Re: Category checkboxes problem

On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 09:19:13 -0800, fiziwig wrote:[color=blue]
> Perfect! Thank you.
>
> As a newbie so far I've only used regexps to validate an email address. I
> hadn't really explored their full potential yet.[/color]

No problem mate, more than welcome.


Andy


--
Andy Jeffries MBCS CITP ZCE | gPHPEdit Lead Developer
http://www.gphpedit.org | PHP editor for Gnome 2
http://www.andyjeffries.co.uk | Personal site and photos