make an array from checkbox values PHP - php

Question

I've many check-boxes. I'd like to pull their values into a comma separated array.
If checkbox is diselected value will be empty so:
bar,parking,,,,,tv,etc
how would I do this? after making an array I will submit into a db.
<p>
<label for="meta_box_check_bar">bar</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_bar" name="meta_box_check_bar" value="bar" />
<label for="meta_box_check_parking">parking</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_parking" name="meta_box_check_parking" value="parking" />
<label for="">accessible-for-disabled</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_accessible-for-disabled" name="meta_box_check_accessible-for-disabled" value="accessible-for-disabled" />
<label for="">air-conditioning</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_air-conditioning" name="meta_box_check_air-conditioning" value="air-conditioning" />
<label for="">frigobar </label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_frigobar" name="meta_box_check_frigobar" value="frigobar" />
<label for="">pets</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_pets" name="meta_box_check_pets" value="pets" />
<label for="">phone</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_phone" name="meta_box_check_phone" value="phone" />
<label for="">tv</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_tv" name="meta_box_check_tv" value="tv" />
<label for="">typical-local-dishes</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_typical-local-dishes" name="meta_box_check_typical-local-dishes" value="typical-local-dishes" />
</p>

Answer 1

/* make an array for all used checkbox */
$used_checkboxes = array();
/* make an array whit all options */
$avaible_checkboxes = explode(',', "bar,parking,accessible-for-disabled,air-conditioning,frigobar,pets,phone,tv,typical-local-dishes");
/* loop troguht all avaible checkboxes */
foreach($avaible_checkboxes as $current_key)
{
/* check if the checkbox was sent */
if(isset($_POST["meta_box_check_{$current_key}"]))
{
/* if sent, add key to list */
$used_checkboxes[$current_key] = $current_key;
}
else
{
/* if not sent, add empty value to list */
$used_checkboxes[$current_key] = '';
}
}
/* convert list to csv */
$used_checkboxes_csv = implode(',', $used_checkboxes);

Answer 2

Name your fields checkboxes[], then in PHP you can get a similar array with $_GET['checkboxes'].

Answer 3

Sounds like a job for ajax to me. I would consider dojo or jquery to collect and pass the data.

Answer 4

You should give them all the same name for the name field that way when you do the get on the name it'll return array of all those values that are checked.
Here's a reference you can read about:
http://www.html-form-guide.com/php-form/php-form-checkbox.html

Answer 5

If possible, i recomend you to use [] in the variable names to pass an array and retrieve their values in the PHP file. Something like this:
HTML
<p>
<label for="meta_box_check_bar">bar</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_bar" name="array[]" value="bar" />
<label for="meta_box_check_parking">parking</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_parking" name="array[]" value="parking" />
<label for="">accessible-for-disabled</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_accessible-for-disabled" name="array[]" value="accessible-for-disabled" />
<label for="">air-conditioning</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_air-conditioning" name="array[]" value="air-conditioning" />
<label for="">frigobar </label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_frigobar" name="array[]" value="frigobar" />
<label for="">pets</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_pets" name="array[]" value="pets" />
<label for="">phone</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_phone" name="array[]" value="phone" />
<label for="">tv</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_tv" name="array[]" value="tv" />
<label for="">typical-local-dishes</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="meta_box_check_typical-local-dishes" name="array[]" value="typical-local-dishes" />
</p>
PHP
// Prevent errors when nothing is checked
if( ! is_array($_POST['array']) )
$_POST['array'] = array();
// Possible items
$possible_item[] = "bar";
$possible_item[] = "parking";
$possible_item[] = "accessible-for-disabled";
$possible_item[] = "air-conditioning";
$possible_item[] = "frigobar";
$possible_item[] = "pets";
$possible_item[] = "phone";
$possible_item[] = "tv";
$possible_item[] = "typical-local-dishes";
// Starting output string
$output = '';
// Loop the possible items
foreach($possible_item as $value)
{
// If item is in POST array, add to the output string, else put just comma if needed
if( in_array($value, $_POST['array']) )
$output .= ( empty($output) ? '' : ',' ) . $value;
else
$output .= ( empty($output) ? '' : ',' );
}
echo $output;