HTML selecting last selected dropdown value? - php

Question

I'm dealing with a registration form at the moment, specifically, I'm dealing with redisplaying any information the user enters into the inputs if there is an error in the registration verification.
Normally, when a user hits 'submit' - if there is an error, the page refreshes and they are echoed out and the form is redisplayed. The problem is there is sometimes genuinely valid information in some of the fields, and by regrabbing that data, it can be redisplayed using the value attribute and the isset() function like so (if of course that data has been POSTed, which in this case it has):
<input type="email" name="anEmail"
value=" <?php echo (isset($email)) ? $email : false; ?>" />
That works fine for the <input> element, but is the same achievable with a dropdown list through the <select> element?
I initially tried:
<select name="region"
value="<?php echo (isset($region)) ? $region : 'Auckland'; ?>" >
<!-- with 'Auckland' being the default value of the list -->
However, it doesn't seem like that value="" is a valid attribute for the <select> tag.
Any ideas on how I could accomplish this? Cheers.

Answer 1

function build_select($name, array $options = NULL, $selected = NULL)
{
foreach($options as $value => $option)
$return .= ($value != $selected)? '<option value="'.$value.'">'.$option.'</option>': '<option selected="selected" value="'.$value.'">'.$option.'</option>';
return '<select name="'.$name.'">'.$return.'</select>';
}
echo build_select('region', array('Lorem' => 'Ipsum', 'Auckland' => 'Auckland', 'Ipsum' => 'Lorem'), 'Auckland');
HTML
<select name="region">
<option value="Lorem">Ipsum</option>
<option selected="selected" value="Auckland">Auckland</option>
<option value="Ipsum">Lorem</option>
</select>

Answer 2

You have to add selected="selected" to specific option. Like so:
<select name="region">
<option value="opt1">Option 1</option>
<option value="opt2" selected="selected">Option 2</option>
<option value="opt3">Option 3</option>
<option value="opt4">Option 4</option>
</select>
With this code Option 2 is selected
And in pehe you have to check if specific option equals the input.
<option value="opt4"<?php if ($region == "opt2"){ echo ' selected="selected"'; } ?>>Option 4</option>

Answer 3

it's selected="selected", i think. or just "selected".
a quick example of how you might implement that:
case "value0":
$selected0 = "selected";
break;
case "value1":
$selected1 = "selected";
break;
<option value="value0" <?php echo $selected0;?>></option>
<option value="value1" <?php echo $selected1;?>></option>

Answer 4

function __selected($ctrlName,$value)
{
if(isset($_REQUEST[$ctrlName]) && trim($_REQUEST[$ctrlName]) == trim($value))
return "selected='selected'";
else
return false;
}
use like
<select name="cmbCondition">
<option value="Excellent" <?php echo __selected('cmbCondition',"Excellent")?>>Excellent</option>
<option value="Good" <?php echo __selected('cmbCondition',"Good")?>>Good</option>
<option value="Poor" <?php echo __selected('cmbCondition',"Poor")?>>Poor</option>
</select>

Answer 5

One way you can do this if number of options are not much:
In every option put the code:
<select>
<option selected="<?php echo (isset($region) && $region=='Volvo') ? $region : ''; ?>">Volvo</option>
<option selected="<?php echo (isset($region) && $region=='Saab') ? $region : ''; ?>">Saab</option>
<option selected="<?php echo (isset($region) && $region=='Mercedes') ? $region : ''; ?>">Mercedes</option>
<option selected="<?php echo (isset($region) && $region=='Audi') ? $region : ''; ?>">Audi</option>
</select>
But if options are much in number javascript code is needed to be written..
if(isset($region))
{
echo '
<script>$("#id option").each(function()
{
if($(this).val()=='.$region.')
$(this).attr("selected", "selected");
});
</script>';
}

Answer 6

Dynamiclly creating options basod on array.
Usage should be pretty straightforward.
<?php
function rennder_options($options = array(), $selection = null) {
if (!is_array($options)) {
return false;
}
$result = "";
foreach($option as $option) {
$option_str = '<option value="'.$option['value'].'"';
if ($selection !== null && $option['value'] == $selection){
$option_str .= ' selected="selected"';
}
$option_str .= '>'.$option['name'].'</option>';
$result .= $option_str;
}
return result;
}
$options = array(
array( "value" => "opt1", "name" => "Option 1" )
array( "value" => "opt2", "name" => "Option 2" ),
array( "value" => "opt3", "name" => "Option 3" ),
);
?>
<select name="region">
<?php echo render_options($options, $_POST['region']); ?>
</select>