Get values from select multiple and get them in to database - php

Question

What is the best way to get the all values of one multiple select box, and then i want to save those values in one row in the database, then from that row i want to get each value separate. What is the best way to do such a thing ? My goal is to save the values and then get each separate.

Answer 1

You could do it this way
<select name="foo[]" multiple="multiple">
<option value="dog">Dog</option>
<option value="cat">Cat</option>
<option value="fish">Fish</option>
</select>
<?php
$pets = $_POST['foo'];
//sanitize and verify the input here. Escape properly and what not
$query = mysql_query("INSERT INTO `pets` (`pet1`, `pet2`, `pet3`) VALUES ('".$pets[0]."', '".$pets[1]."', '".$pets[2]."')");
?>
But to be honest it's an awful way to go about building a database. It'll be very annoying or difficult to do anything meaningful with.
Why not have the following database setup:
users:
id | name
----------
1 | Tim
pets:
id | user_id | type
-------------------
1 | 1 | Fish
2 | 1 | Cat
3 | 4 | Kakapo
And then you would have a much more easily searchable and manipulatable database that's consistent.

Answer 2

I believe you should receive the value selected as an array in the $_POST variable so say your select has a name="products"
The values selected will be in $_POST["products"] assuming you are submitting the form via POST.
Then you can use the implode function to generate a string. For example:
$myProducts = implode("|", $_POST["products"]); //This will give you a pipeline delimeted string like : computer|laptop|monitor
$myProducts = mysql_real_escape_string($myProducts); //Just to santize before inserting in DB
Then just insert that string into the DB.
When retrieving the data you can reverse the process by using the explode function:
$myProducts = explode("|" , [The value retrieved from the database]); //This will give you an array which you can iterate and thus accessing the values individually.
Hope this helps :)

Answer 3

if i understand your question well...
$dataFromMultipleBox = array('data1', 'data2', 'data3');
$data = implode("||", $dataFromMultipleBox);
/*
After that,
write $data into database
fetch from the database again
*/
$pieces = explode("||", $rowFromDatabase);
foreach($pieces as $value) {
echo $value;
echo '<br>';
}

Answer 4

What is the best way to get the all values of one multiple select box,
Since it is PHP. Give the select element a name ending in [], then you can access them as $_POST['foo'][]
and then i want to save those values in one row in the database, then from that row i want to get each value separate.
Don't do that. Have a second table with two columns. The id (as a foreign key) of the row in the other table (where you were planning to store the data) and the value itself.