html dropdown list options - php

Question

I have the following drop down menu on my website
<select name="Templates" onchange="document.sendform.message.value = 'some text here'; return false;">
<option value="#" selected>----Templates----</option>
<option value="#">Absense</option>
<option value="#">Lates</option>
</select>
This currently sends text to a text area named "message" however I would like the text to be different for each option selected. Is there an easy way to do this at all?
Thanks!

Answer 1

Here it is:
http://jsfiddle.net/sinisake/3NQH7/
<form name="sendform">
<select name="Templates" onchange="document.sendform.message.value = this.value; return false;">
<option value="#" selected>----Templates----</option>
<option value="absense">Absense</option>
<option value="lates">Lates</option>
<input type="text" value="" name="message" />
</select>
</form>

Answer 2

the onchange event handler is what sends the text; if you want to send text based on the value of the selected option you should use a more advanced event handler:
document.TemplateForm.Templates.onchange = function () {
var value = this.value;
if (value === 'absence') {
setMessage('Absence message');
} else if (value === 'laters') {
setMessage('Laters message');
} else {
setMessage('Default message');
}
return false;
};
function setMessage(message) {
document.sendform.message.value = message;
}
I wrapped your select element in a form to be able to adress it simply in the JavaScript above:
<form name="TemplateForm">
<select name="Templates">
<option value="#" selected>----Templates----</option>
<option value="absence">Absense</option>
<option value="laters">Lates</option>
</select>
</form>
In order to see what value is selected I also added unique values for the options elements.
Live example: http://jsfiddle.net/fRB3s/1/