Fetch Bootstrap Dropdown Value OnSubmit - php

Question

Dropdown made using Bootstrap
<form id="search" action="" method="post" >
<div class="dropdown">
<button data-toggle="dropdown" id="dropdownMenu1" type="button" class="btn btn-default dropdown-toggle">Fixed <span class="caret"></span></button>
<ul aria-labelledby="dropdownMenu1" role="menu" class="dropdown-menu">
<li role="presentation">Florida</li>
<li role="presentation">Texas</li>
<li role="presentation">Washington</li>
<li role="presentation">New York</li>
<li role="presentation">Ohio</li>
</ul>
</div>
</form>
jQuery to keep dropdown option selected
var jQee = jQuery.noConflict();
jQee(".dropdown-menu li").click(function(){
var selText = jQee(this).text();
jQee(this).parents('.dropdown').find('.dropdown-toggle').html(selText+' <span class="caret"></span>');
//jQee('#search').submit();
});
HTML Dropdown
<select onchange="form.submit()" name="template">
<option value="F" selected="true">Florida</option>
<option value="T">Texas</option>
<option value="W">Washington</option>
<option value="N">New York</option>
<option value="O">Ohio</option>
</select>
For the above dropdown, I am fetching the option value based on user selection.
While doing it with Bootstrap, I am able to keep the the dropdown value selected, but as I am using it with PHP, I also need the value in $_POST variable in order to execute SQL query and display results based on what value is selected from dropdown.
How can I achieve it?

Answer 1

Use a hidden field and populate it when the user selects a state.
HTML
<form id="search" action="" method="post" >
<input type="hidden" name="selection">
<div class="dropdown">
<button data-toggle="dropdown" id="dropdownMenu1" type="button" class="btn btn-default dropdown-toggle">Fixed <span class="caret"></span></button>
<ul aria-labelledby="dropdownMenu1" role="menu" class="dropdown-menu">
<li role="presentation">Florida</li>
<li role="presentation">Texas</li>
<li role="presentation">Washington</li>
<li role="presentation">New York</li>
<li role="presentation">Ohio</li>
</ul>
</div>
</form>
JavaScript
$(document).ready(function() {
$("ul li a").click(function() {
text = $(this).closest("li").text();
$("input[name='selection']").val(text);
$(this).parents('.dropdown').find('.dropdown-toggle').html(text+' <span class="caret"></span>');
$("#search").submit();
});
});
See jsfiddle Use inspect element to check the value of the hidden field.