Saving data from a checkbox using PHP and MySQL - php

Question

Here is my code:
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
{
$id = $row['id'];
$description = $row['description'];
$picturepath = $row['picturepath'];
$name = $row['name'];
$price = $row['price'];
$keywords = $row['keywords'];
$dynamiclist = '<table align="center" width="60%" border="0" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="8">
<tr height="20"></tr>
<tr>
<td width="70%" valign="top" align="left"> <br />' . $name . ' <br /><br />$' . $price . '<br /><br />
<form id="form1" name="form1" method="post" action="cart.php">
<input type="hidden" name="pid" id="pid" value=" ' . $name . ' - $' . $price . ' - "checkbox"/>';
echo $dynamiclist;
foreach(explode(',', $keywords) as $keyword) {
$keyword = trim($keyword);
echo "<input type='checkbox' name='checkbox' value='$keyword'>$keyword <br /><br />";
}
echo '<input type="submit" name="button" id="button" value="Add to Order"/> </form> </td></tr></table>';
}
mysqli_close($con); //close the db connection
The code pulls in an item using the items id, and then creates checkboxes and keywords for that item. A user is to click on the checkbox options they want and then submit the form which sends the information to the shopping cart. The problem is that when the form is submitted, only the name and price of the item is sent over, but not the checkbox options that were clicked. Can you help me identify why? Side note. In my database I have a column "keywords" where multiple keywords are stored. // medium, well, rare, milk, apple juice, fries. Also, on the cart.php the I have:
if(isset($_POST['pid'])){
$pid = $_POST['pid'];
which posts the data from the script using the checkboxes. I'm just stuck and can't get any further.

Answer 1

You should have different name for your checkbox:
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
{
$id = $row['id'];
$description = $row['description'];
$picturepath = $row['picturepath'];
$name = $row['name'];
$price = $row['price'];
$keywords = $row['keywords'];
$dynamiclist = '<table align="center" width="60%" border="0" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="8">
<tr height="20"></tr>
<tr>
<td width="70%" valign="top" align="left"> <br />' . $name . ' <br /><br />$' . $price . '<br /><br />
<form id="form1" name="form1" method="post" action="cart.php">
<input type="hidden" name="pid" id="pid" value=" ' . $name . ' - $' . $price . ' - "checkbox"/>';
echo $dynamiclist;
$i=0;
foreach(explode(',', $keywords) as $keyword) {
$keyword = trim($keyword);
$chkname = "checkbox{$i}";
$i = $i+1;
echo "<input type='checkbox' name='$chkname' value='$keyword'>$keyword <br /><br />";
}
echo '<input type="submit" name="button" id="button" value="Add to Order"/> </form> </td></tr></table>';
}
mysqli_close($con); //close the db connection
You need to get checkbox data in the cart.php like this:
if($_REQUEST['checkbox0']) echo $_REQUEST['checkbox0'];
if($_REQUEST['checkbox1']) echo $_REQUEST['checkbox1'];
//so on foreach checkbox

Answer 2

Your checkboxes need to have different names, otherwise the values are overwritten:
<input type="checkbox" name="keyword1" value="keyword1">Keyword1
<input type="checkbox" name="keyword2" value="keyword2">Keyword2
<input type="checkbox" name="keyword3" value="keyword3">Keyword3
You then access them in PHP like so:
if ( isset($_GET['keyword1']) ) {
}
if ( isset($_GET['keyword2']) ) {
}
if ( isset($_GET['keyword3']) ) {
}
A more logical way to manage the data is to pass the checkbox values as an array:
<input type="checkbox" name="keyword[]" value="keyword1">Keyword1
<input type="checkbox" name="keyword[]" value="keyword2">Keyword2
<input type="checkbox" name="keyword[]" value="keyword3">Keyword3
It then becomes much easier to work with the data in PHP;
if ( isset($_GET['keyword']) && is_array($_GET['keyword']) ) {
foreach ( $_GET['keyword'] as $v ) {
}
}