making filled dropdown values readonly - php

Question

I tried making dropdown readonly if the data exists in database. But when even if i make it readonly, user can change the values i mean dropdown values. so i changed it to disabled. but in this, i cannot receive the values after submission. Here is my code
<select name="sign" <?php echo empty($row['sign']) ? '' : 'readonly' ?> class="form-control">
<option value="<?php echo $row['sign']; ?>"><?php echo $row['sign']; ?></option>
<?php $m1 = mysqli_query($con, "SELECT * FROM signs");
while($m2 = mysqli_fetch_array($m1)) { ?>
<option value="<?php echo $m2['sign']; ?>"><?php echo $m2['sign']; ?></option>
<?php } ?>
</select>
how can i solve it?

Answer 1

i think the problem is this <?php echo empty($row['sign']) ? '' : 'readonly' ?>
maybe u can do this <?php echo (empty($row['sign']) ? '' : 'readonly'); ?>

Answer 2

One solution is when you make it disabled, to add another hidden input with the same name and value.
Other solution is to prevent user from changing the select, there are many javascript options, try this:
http://jsfiddle.net/qk2Pc/
HTML:
<select id="my_select">
<option>Option 1</option>
<option>Option 2</option>
</select>
JS:
my_condition = true;
var lastSel = $("#my_select option:selected");
$("#my_select").change(function(){
if(my_condition)
{
lastSel.attr("selected", true);
}
});
$("#my_select").click(function(){
lastSel = $("#my_select option:selected");
});