Call all the value from DB to dropdown list - php

Question

I have a material table where the all materials are being inserted in the desc column. desc values can be as many as possible.
sample:
desc
poly canvass
metal
washer
knot
Here's the code i did.
<?php
$resource=mysql_query("Select * from material",$con);
while($result2=mysql_fetch_array($resource))
{
?>
<select>
<option value="<?php echo $result2[desc] ?>"><?php echo $result2[desc] ?></option>
</select>
</tr>
<?php };?>
But it generates four dropdown that corresponds each of the four values in my db
like:
dropdown1 dropdown2 dropdown3 dropdown4
polycanvass metal washer knot
How can I make all of the values in the desc column to appear in one dropdown?

Answer 1

<?php
$resource=mysql_query("Select * from material",$con);
?>
<select>
<?php
while($result2=mysql_fetch_array($resource))
{
?>
<option value="<?php echo $result2[desc] ?>"><?php echo $result2[desc] ?></option>
<?php
}
</select>
?>
select should be out of while loop because for each value it also gets repeated and you will end up having as many drop downs as the number of total records.

Answer 2

Take out the select tag from the while loop and put it outside.
I would recommend you to use mysqli instead of mysql
PHP MySQLi = PHP MySQL Improved!
Note: The MySQLi extension is designed to work with MySQL version 4.1.13 or newer
<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("host","username","password","dbname");
// Check connection
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
}
$resource= mysqli_query($con,"SELECT * FROM material");
echo "<select>";
while($result = mysqli_fetch_array($resource)){
echo '<option value="'.$result[desc].'">'.$result[desc].'</option>';
}
echo "</select>";
mysqli_close($con);
?>

Answer 3

<?php
$resource=mysql_query("Select * from material",$con);
?>
<select>
<?php
while($result2=mysql_fetch_array($resource))
{
echo '<option value="'.$result2[desc].'">'.$result2[desc].'</option>';
}
?>
</select>
Select out of loop and shorter way to output <option>