Select values based on database result - php

Question

I have a form with a multi select which presents the user with a list of groups to chose from,which is then saved in the database. My aim is that when the user wants to edit his information, the groups saved in the database to be selected and the others not to be selected. Please, see my code and advise.
I populate the saved groups to a variable
$groups = array($row['groups']); // This outputs the groupId from the db eg 1,2,3,6
Populate groups to a multi select
<div class="form-group">
<!-- <label>Church Groups: </label> -->
<select name="groups[]" class="form-control mandatory" id="groups" multiple="multiple" >
<?php
$sql="SELECT ID,UCASE(groupName) AS groupName FROM tblgroups WHERE (congregationId=?)";
$stmt=mysqli_stmt_init($con);
mysqli_stmt_prepare($stmt,$sql);
mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt,'i',$congId);
mysqli_stmt_execute($stmt);
$result = mysqli_stmt_get_result($stmt);
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
$selected = "";
if(in_array($row['ID'],$groups)){
$selected = "selected";
}
echo '<option value='.$row['ID'].' '.$selected.'>'.$row['groupName'].'</option>';
}
?>
</select>
Thats my code but it doesn't work. If the first group in the list was saved, only that group is selected all others remain unselected whether in the db or not.

Answer 1

<div class="form-group">
<!-- <label>Church Groups: </label> -->
<select name="groups[]" class="form-control mandatory" id="groups" multiple="multiple" >
<?php
$sql="SELECT ID,UCASE(groupName) AS groupName FROM tblgroups WHERE (congregationId=?)";
$stmt=mysqli_stmt_init($con);
mysqli_stmt_prepare($stmt,$sql);
mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt,'i',$congId);
mysqli_stmt_execute($stmt);
$result = mysqli_stmt_get_result($stmt);
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
$selected = "";
if(in_array($row['ID'],$groups)){
$selected = "selected";
}
echo '<option value='.$row['ID'].' '.$selected.'>'.$row['groupName'].'</option>';
}
?>
</select>
Using your code, I have uncommented the line you commented out and introduced a variable that will be blank if the value is not in the group, otherwise it will have the value "selected", which achieves the same functionality as selected = "selelected"

Answer 2

First of all, assuming that your $result element is correct, you need something like this.
<?php
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
$isSel = in_array($row['ID'],$groups)? "selected" : "";
echo "<option value=\"".$row['ID']."\" $isSel >".$row['groupName']."</option>";
}
?>
It is just a matter of order and linearity:
Populate a $isSel variable that contains the selected string only when your conditions are met
Print all the options, and always append $isSel. It will just contain selected only when it is required
But there are other two issues preventing your drop-down menu to be shown as expected:
Remove the square brackets [] from the select name. They are preventing the correct parsering of the multiple attribute
You don't need to specify multiple="multiple". Just multiple is enough (see here). You did also the same mistake with selected="selected": just selected is enough
So, your <select> tag definition becomes
<select name="groupsABC" class="form-control mandatory" id="groups" multiple >
instead of
<select name="groups[]" class="form-control mandatory" id="groups" multiple="multiple" >