How to display multilevel dynamic form field in PHP? - php

Question

My HTML Form, generated by PHP from MySQL database:
`
<!-- 1st product -->
<input name="product[]" value="Speaker" />
<!-- 3 components & its values of 1st product -->
<input name="component_name[]" value="Color" />: <input name="value_name[]" value="Black" />
<input name="component_name[]" value="Diameters" />: <input name="value_name[]" value="10" />
<input name="component_name[]" value="Brand" />: <input name="value_name[]" value="Pokijan" />
<!-- 2nd product -->
<input name="product[]" value="Desktop PC" />
<!-- 6 components & its values of 2nd product -->
<input name="component_name[]" value="Brand" />: <input name="value_name[]" value="Tulkiyem" />
<input name="component_name[]" value="OS" />: <input name="value_name[]" value="Linux" />
<input name="component_name[]" value="Processor" />: <input name="value_name[]" value="Intel " />
<input name="component_name[]" value="RAM" />: <input name="value_name[]" value="16 GB" />
<input name="component_name[]" value="HDD" />: <input name="value_name[]" value="-" />
<input name="component_name[]" value="SSD" />: <input name="value_name[]" value="1600 GB" />
<input type="submit" value="Send" />
</form>`
CONDITIONS:
The words "Speaker", "Desktop PC" are take from mysql product category table
The words "Colors", "Diameters", "Brand", "RAM", etc are taken from product component table
I want to create unlimited components and its value under each product/category
I want to post the form-datas into 2 different MySQL tables: transaction & transaction_components.
THE QUESTION ARE, (USING PHP):
How to post it all into correct array like this (think I'm right):
$product=array("Speaker"=> ["color"=>"Black", "Diameters"=>"10", "Brand"=>"Pokijan"], "Desktop PC"=>["Brand"=>"Tulkiyem", "OS"=>"Linux", "Processor"="Intel", "RAM"=>"16 GB", "HDD"=> "-", "SSD"=>"1600 GB"]);
OR
Display the data like this:
` Speaker:
color: Black
Diameters: 10
Brand: Pokijan
Desktop PC
Brand: Tulkiyem
OS: Windows
Processor: Intel
RAM: 16 GB
HDD: -
SSD: 1600 GB
`
This doesn't work for me:
`<?php
$cid=$_POST['cid'];
$komponen=$_POST['komponen'];
$opsi=$_POST['opsi'];
echo "<ul>";
$jb=count($cid);
for($i=0; $i<$jb;$i++)
{
if($cid[$i]<>"")
{
$jk=count($komponen);
echo "<li>Product-$i: $cid[$i]
<ol>";
for($x=0;$x<$jk; $x++)
{
echo "<li>$komponen[$x]: $opsi[$i][$x]</li>";
}
echo "</ol></li>";
}
}
echo "</ul>";
?>`

Answer 1

Instead of trying to heavily reformat upon submission, you should make sure you get as close as possible to your desired array structure when generating the form. You can't get exactly what you're looking for, but explicitly generating the keys in the names like this:
<input name="products[0][name]" value="Speaker" />
<!-- 3 components & its values of 1st product -->
<input name="products[0][component_names][0]" value="Color" />: <input name="products[0][component_values][0]" value="Black" />
<input name="products[0][component_names][1]" value="Diameters" />: <input name="products[0][component_values][1]" value="10" />
<input name="products[0][component_names][2]" value="Brand" />: <input name="products[0][component_values][2]" value="Pokijan" />
<!-- 2nd product -->
<input name="products[1][name]" value="Desktop PC" />
<!-- 6 components & its values of 2nd product -->
<input name="products[1][component_names][0]" value="Brand" />: <input name="products[1][component_values][0]" value="Tulkiyem" />
<input name="products[1][component_names][1]" value="OS" />: <input name="products[1][component_values][1]" value="Linux" />
<input name="products[1][component_names][2]" value="Processor" />: <input name="products[1][component_values][2]" value="Intel" />
<input name="products[1][component_names][3]" value="RAM" />: <input name="products[1][component_values][3]" value="16 GB" />
<input name="products[1][component_names][4]" value="HDD" />: <input name="products[1][component_values][4]" value="-" />
<input name="products[1][component_names][5]" value="SSD" />: <input name="products[1][component_values][5]" value="1600 GB" />
will produce an array like this:
array(
'products' => array(
0 => array(
'name' => 'Speaker',
'component_names' => array(
0 => 'Color',
1 => 'Diameters',
2 => 'Brand',
),
'component_values' => array(
0 => 'Black',
1 => '10',
2 => 'Pokijan',
),
),
1 => array(
'name' => 'Desktop PC',
'component_names' => array(
0 => 'Brand',
1 => 'OS',
2 => 'Processor',
3 => 'RAM',
4 => 'HDD',
5 => 'SSD',
),
'component_values' => array(
0 => 'Tulkiyem',
1 => 'Linux',
2 => 'Intel',
3 => '16 GB',
4 => '-',
5 => '1600 GB',
),
),
),
)
Performing the output now becomes much easier:
<ol>
<?php foreach ($_POST['products'] as $product): ?>
<li><?= $product['name'] ?></li>
<ul>
<?php foreach ($product['component_names'] as $key => $componentName): ?>
<li><?= $componentName.': '.$product['component_values'][$key] ?></li>
<?php endforeach ?>
</ul>
<?php endforeach ?>
</ol>
Since we've explicitly defined the keys, we know the value corresponding to the component name will be at the same key under 'component_values'.
Also note that I have used the alternative syntax to output HTML, as this allows IDEs and advanced text editors to properly highlight your HTML elements and offer autocomplete values for them, unlike printing the HTML as a string.