dependent select menus

[abracad_1999@yahoo.com]

I would like to create a form in which a 2nd select box appears
depending on the value selected in the 1st select box. The values of
the 2nd select box will come from a database.

My question is how to create this in php? One way is to re-load the
page depending on what's chosen in the first box, or alternatively to
use frames or an iframe?

Is there another, better way that can dynamically change the initial
page?

[Myron Turner]

Re: dependent select menus

abracad_1999@ya hoo.com wrote:

I would like to create a form in which a 2nd select box appears
depending on the value selected in the 1st select box. The values of
the 2nd select box will come from a database.
>
My question is how to create this in php? One way is to re-load the
page depending on what's chosen in the first box, or alternatively to
use frames or an iframe?
>
Is there another, better way that can dynamically change the initial
page?
>

The way to do this without reloading the page is with Ajax and
javascript. When the user makes the first selection, the page makes a
call to the server which sends back the 2nd set of selections, which can
then be plugged into the second selection box.

The script on the server can be written in PHP. It can send back a
javascript array with the new set of selection values. I would suggest
creating an empty javascript array in the original page and then
populating it with the results returned from the server.

--

_______________ ______
Myron Turner

http://www.room535.org

http://www.bstatzero.org

http://www.mturner.org/XML_PullParser/

[Michael]

Re: dependent select menus


<abracad_1999@y ahoo.comschreef in bericht
news:1169596058 .014364.123160@ l53g2000cwa.goo glegroups.com.. .

>I would like to create a form in which a 2nd select box appears
depending on the value selected in the 1st select box. The values of
the 2nd select box will come from a database.
>
My question is how to create this in php? One way is to re-load the
page depending on what's chosen in the first box, or alternatively to
use frames or an iframe?
>
Is there another, better way that can dynamically change the initial
page?

You could use Javascript to either
a) hide all select boxes except the one corresponding to the choice (by
editing the display property), and have the PHP script generate a SELECT for
each possible choice with "display: none" set by default
b) have the PHP generate a Javascript which will clear the second box and
re-fill it with the appropriate entries onChange of the first select

I think you need Javascript one way or another, if you want to get around
reloading the page (whether it be the main page or an (i)frame).

Regards

Michael