Text box limited to array contents - php

Question

I currently have a drop down box than when one of the options is selected it will echo-
"Your Favourite Car Is (option)
What I need to do now is change this so its a text box but the user can only type in one of the options within the array and if another one was chosen it would say you cannot have this as one of the choices and it would also be able to type in more than one so theoretically it could echo-
"Your Favourite Car is Mazda, Nissan, Renault!"
Here is the code i have now for the drop box that i have working.
<form method="post">
<div id="dropdown">
<?php
if(isset($_POST['cars']))
{
$mycar=$_POST['cars'];
}
else
{
$mycar="";
}
$array1 = array('Volkswagen' , 'Renault' , 'Land Rover');
echo' <select name="cars" onchange="this.form.submit()">';
foreach($array1 as $cars)
{ ?>
<option value="<?php echo $cars; ?>" <?php if($mycar==$cars) echo "
"selected='selected'"; ?> ><?php echo $cars; ?></option>
<?php
}
echo'</select>
</div></form>';
?>
<div id="result">
<?php
echo "Your favourite car is $mycar";
?>
</div>
EDIT: I have attempted this and what i currently have always echo's "this car isnt among the selection" and nothing else and nothing i enter into the text box seems to effect this
here is the code i have
<?php
$cars = array("Volkswagen","Renault","Land Rover");
?>
<form action="array.php" method="post">
<center> <input type="text" name="cars" id="cars" />
<input type="submit" /> </center>
<?php
if (in_array($_POST, $cars)) {
echo "Your Favourite Car is $_POST";
}
else {
echo "This car is not among the selection";
}
?>
</form>

Answer 1

You can easily control the user input by checking it before:
<form method="post">
<div id="dropdown">
<?php
// Car types
$carTypes = array('Volkswagen' , 'Renault' , 'Land Rover');
$wrongCarChoosen = false ;
if(isset($_POST['cars'])) {
$mycar = $_POST['cars'];
if (!in_array($mycar, $carTypes)) {
$wrongCarChoosen = true ;
}
}
else {
$mycar = "";
}
echo' <select name="cars" onchange="this.form.submit()">';
foreach($carTypes as $carName){ ?>
<option value="<?php echo $cars; ?>"
<?php
if($mycar == $carName) echo "
"selected='selected'"; ?> >
<?php echo $carName;
?></option>
<?php
}
echo'</select>
</div></form>';
?>
<div id="result">
<?php
if ($wrongCarChoosen) {
echo "Your choice ".$mycar." is not contained in ".implode($carTypes, ',') ;
}
else {
echo "Your favourite car is $mycar";
}
?>
</div>

Answer 2

You must edit the form to accept multiple values. And you can check the user values before you echo the text.
<form method="post">
<div id="dropdown">
<?php
$array1 = array('Volkswagen' , 'Renault' , 'Land Rover');
$error = false;
if(isset($_POST['cars']))
{
$mycar=$_POST['cars'];
foreach ($mycar as $car)
{
if (!in_array($car, $array1))
{
$error = $car;
}
}
}
else
{
$mycar=Array();
}
echo' <select name="cars[]" multiple="multiple">';
foreach($array1 as $cars){ ?>
<option value="<?php echo $cars; ?>" <?php if(in_array($cars, $mycar)) echo "\"selected='selected'"; ?> ><?php echo $cars; ?></option>
<?php
}
echo'</select>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit" />
</div></form>';
?>
<div id="result">
<?php
if ($error===false) echo "Your favourite car is ".implode(', ', $mycar);
else echo $error . ' is not contained by ' . implode(', ', $array1);
?>
</div>