A better solution to handle PHP and HTML <option> logic - php

Question

Wondering if you can show me a better way to handle this logic? I wrote this and am very ashamed of it. Can you show me a better optimized version of this logic?
P.S $result["item"]; returns an integer.
$type = $result["item"];
switch ($type){
case "1":
$type_output = '
<option value="1" selected>Cash</option>
<option value="2">Cheque</option>
<option value="3">Debit Card</option>
<option value="4">Credit Card</option>';
break;
case "2":
$type_output = '
<option value="1">Cash</option>
<option value="2" selected>Cheque</option>
<option value="3">Debit Card</option>
<option value="4">Credit Card</option>';
break;
case "3":
$type_output = '
<option value="1">Cash</option>
<option value="2">Cheque</option>
<option value="3" selected>Debit Card</option>
<option value="4">Credit Card</option>';
break;
case "4":
$type_output = '
<option value="1">Cash</option>
<option value="2">Cheque</option>
<option value="3">Debit Card</option>
<option value="4" selected>Credit Card</option>';
break;
}
html
<td>
<select style="width:200px;" name="payment_type">
<option value=""> </option>
'.$type_output.'
</select>
</td>
Thank you

Answer 1

I would use this approach
$type = $result["item"];
$type_output = "";
$options =array(
"1"=>"cash",
"2"=>"Cheque",
"3"=>"Debit Card",
"4"=>"Credit Card",
);
foreach($options as $value=>$text) {
$type_output .= "<option value=\"$value\"".($type==$value? " selected" : "").">$text</option>\n";
}

Answer 2

you could do it this way and only once
<option value="1" <?php if ($type == 1) echo "selected"; ?>>Cash</option>
<option value="2" <?php if ($type == 2) echo "selected"; ?>>Cheque</option>
<option value="3" <?php if ($type == 3) echo "selected"; ?>>Debit Card</option>
<option value="4" <?php if ($type == 4) echo "selected"; ?>>Credit Card</option>

Answer 3

You're repeating a lot of stuff here. You can do something like
<option value="..." <?php if($type == 1) { print "selected"; } ?> >Something</option>
This would work, however you're probably better off using a template engine and letting it handle this sort of stuff for you.
http://www.smarty.net/docsv2/en/language.function.html.options.tpl

Answer 4

Try this
type_output = '
<option value="1"'.($type == 1 ? " selected" : "").'>Cash</option>
<option value="2"'.($type == 2 ? " selected" : "").'>Cheque</option>
<option value="3"'.($type == 3 ? " selected" : "").'>Debit Card</option>
<option value="4"'.($type == 4 ? " selected" : "").'>Credit Card</option>';

Answer 5

Try this in your document:
<option value="1" <?php if ($type == 1) echo 'selected="selected"' ?>>Cash</option>
<option value="2" <?php if ($type == 2) echo 'selected="selected"' ?>>Cheque</option>
<option value="3" <?php if ($type == 3) echo 'selected="selected"' ?>>Debit Card</option>
<option value="4" <?php if ($type == 4) echo 'selected="selected"' ?>>Credit Card</option>'
Bear in mind that selected on its own is invalid, at least in XHTML. You might get away with it in HTML5, but personally I'd do it properly, as above. Either way, make sure you check your HTML output against the W3C validator.
Also, I tend not to wrap large blocks of HTML in PHP strings, as you have done; it is better to use HTML mode and break into PHP where dynamic output is required. This allows your IDE to understand the structure of your document, and allows syntax colouration and auto-complete to work.

Answer 6

Ashamed)))
sel = document.getElementById("select_id");
if($type>=0&&$type<sel.options.length)
sel.options[$type].selected=true;
do it onLoad or better onDomReady... or just after you options code. Don't forget to assign an id:
<select id="select_id">...
if you're controlling an input, then it would be JUST ONE LINE of JS:
document.getElementById("select_id").options[$type].selected=true;

Answer 7

You could use a function like this:
function selected($selected, $current) {
if($selected == $current)
return "selected";
}
And then:
$options = array(
1 => 'Cash',
2 => 'Cheque',
3 => 'Debit Card',
4 => 'Credit Card'
);
foreach($options as $value => $option)
echo '<option value="'.$value.'" '.selected($value, $type).'>'.$option.'</option>';
Note that the selected function is applicable in other similar cases too.

Answer 8

Here's how I'd do it.
$options = array(
"1"=>"Cash",
"2"=>"Cheque",
"3"=>"Debit Card",
"4"=>"Credit Card"
);
$type = $result['item'];
$type_output = "";
foreach($options as $value=>$text) {
if($value==$type){
$selected = " selected";
}
else {
$selected = "";
}
$type_output .= '<option value="'.$value.'"'.$selected.'>'.$text.'</option>';
}
Just noticed Chumkiu had a similar answer, but I'll post mine anyway in case this is clearer to some folk than the ternary if statement