How can I set multiple default values in an HTML select control using the values in a PHP array?

Question

This is sort of an extension of the problem solved here: Set default value for HTML select control in PHP however I would like to fill in Multiple values that match, with the values to fill in stored in an additional array:

This is my code so far:

<select name="genres[]" id="genres_edit" multiple>
<?php
$genrelist = array(  
'Action',  
'Adventure',
'Comedy',
'Cooking',
'War',
'Western');
for($i = 0;$i < count($genrelist);$i++) {
    echo "<option value=\"$genrelist[$i]\"";
    for ($g = 0; $g < count($genre);$g++) {
        if ($genrelist[$i] == $genre[$g]) {
            echo "selected=\"selected\"";
        }
    echo ">$genrelist[$i]</option>";
    }
}
?>
</select>

$genrelist is the array of all possible genres that will be used to fill up the select control, and the array of actual genres is stored in $genre.

Basically I want it to highlight the values in the selectbox that match any of the values in the $genre array.

i.e. if the genres stored in $genres are: Adventure, Cooking, Western, then those 3 values will be highlighted in the select box, out of the 6 available genres in the box.

@AndreiP.No, you can have multiple selected values in a select statement, as ive indicated with mine. — John Bergqvist
– John Bergqvist, Commented Feb 6, 2015 at 13:58
Instead of going for second loop why don't you use "in_array" function of php. — Purushottam zende
– Purushottam zende, Commented Feb 6, 2015 at 14:01

designosis · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-06 14:03:37Z

0

Here's how I'd do it ...

$genres = array(
    'Action',
    'Western'
    );

$genrelist = array(
    'Action',  
    'Adventure',
    'Comedy',
    'Cooking',
    'War',
    'Western');

foreach ($genrelist as $k=>$v) {
    $sel = (array_search($v,$genres) !== false) ? ' selected' : '';
    echo '<option value="'. $k .'"'. $sel .'>'. $v .'</option>';
}

Here's the sandbox ... http://sandbox.onlinephpfunctions.com/code/e4f2ca28e0fd43513b694f5669329cc1db328598

answered Feb 6, 2015 at 14:03

designosis

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3 Comments

John Bergqvist Over a year ago

That works great @neokio! Can I ask why you're using !== false and not == true? I've noticed that if I do != instead, it doesn't select the first genre (in this case, Action) in the selection box, why is that?

designosis Over a year ago

well, 0 does not == true, it == false. but it doesn't === false :) coding is very specific.

designosis Over a year ago

so basically ... $genres[0] is 'action', and array_search will return 0 for 'action'. and 0==false, but does not === false.

CD001 · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-06 14:06:16Z

Assuming your form in being set with method="get" then the $_GET superglobal should have an array in it called genres (as defined by the fact that your multiple select box is called genres[]).

So when looping through your output you should be able to check if the current genre (from the $genrelist array) exists in the $_GET['genres'] array ... like so:

<?php
$genrelist = array(  
    'Action',
    'Adventure',
    'Comedy',
    'Cooking',
    'War',
    'Western');
?>

<select name="genres[]" id="genres_edit" multiple="multiple">
<?php foreach($genrelist as $genre): ?>
<?php $sThisSelected = in_array($genre, $_GET['genres']) ? " selected=\"selected\"" : ""; ?>
<option value=\"<?= $genre; ?>\"<?= $sThisSelected; ?>><?= $genre; ?></option>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</select>

There's no sanity checking or sanitisation in this but that's the theory anyway.

Jaay · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-06 14:08:17Z

0

If you want multiple selection you must specify your select tag with multiple option

<select multiple="1">
  <option selected>option1</option>
  <option selected>option1</option>
  <option selected>option1</option>
</select>

The drawback is that the select menu is no more a dropdown, if that matter for you, let me know and I will try to tune in the solution.

answered Feb 6, 2015 at 14:08

Jaay

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