[RESOLVED] PHP/HTML Pull down box

[modpluz]

pls, can somebody show me how to read in the values of a multi-select pull down menu.

if a user should select multiple values from a pull down box, how do i read it in?

[visualAd]

You need to append [] to the name of the list box. PHP will then load all the select values into an array on the server:

<input type="hidden" name="multi" value="" />
<select name="mutli[]" multiple="multiple" size="10">
    <option value="1">Option 1</option>
    <option value="2">Option 2</option>
    <option value="3">Option 3</option>
    <option value="4">Option 4</option>
    <option value="5">Option 5</option>
    <option value="6">Option 6</option>
    <option value="7">Option 7</option>
    <option value="8">Option 8</option>
    <option value="9">Option 9</option>
    <option value="10">Option 10</option>
</select>

The hidden field is optional. It just ensures the presence of a multi varaible in the $_POST array, even if nothing was selected.

To find out what was selected, if any, do the following:

if (isset($_POST['multi']) && is_array($_POST['multi'])) {
    foreach($_POST['multi'] as $item) {
        /* do stuff here */
    }
} 

[modpluz]

thanks...help appreciated

[modpluz]

i got that working fine...but i now have a problem in using the checkbox/listbox with javascript
e.x.this results in an error

<script>
document.all.multi[].value;
</script>

how can i overcome this?

[visualAd]

Give the form an ID and you can access it as follows:

var theForm = document.getElementById('theForm');

Var value = theForm.elements['multi[]'].value;

Suare brackets are Jvascript meta characters, you therefore need to access the element via the elements array of the form object.

[modpluz]

thanks but i found another error when i do this

theForm.elements[''multi[]'].selectedIndex;

the error say it is null or not an object.

[visualAd]

Did you give the form an ID?

ie:

<form id="theForm">

[modpluz]

yes i did

[modpluz]

got it... the problem is that the javascript in in an external .js, which means saying something like

document.frmForm.elements['multi[]'];

will pop up an error(i guess)
but thanks its now working fine