Question

I am having difficulties grasping the concept of echoing a variable from a database through php. Instead getting a variable in string format i get an integer. How can i display the category string variable through the select box?

here is the info in my database:

CREATE TABLE `category` (
   `c_id` tinyint(4) not null auto_increment,
   `category` varchar(30) not null,
   PRIMARY KEY (`c_id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=5;

INSERT INTO `category` (`c_id`, `category`) VALUES ('1', 'Animals >');
INSERT INTO `category` (`c_id`, `category`) VALUES ('2', 'Humans >');
INSERT INTO `category` (`c_id`, `category`) VALUES ('3', 'Technology >');
INSERT INTO `category` (`c_id`, `category`) VALUES ('4', 'Oceans >');
INSERT INTO `category` (`c_id`, `category`) VALUES ('5', 'Desert >');
INSERT INTO `category` (`c_id`, `category`) VALUES ('6', 'Jungles >');

Here is my php:

<select name="category" size="6" onChange="autoSubmit();">
        <?php

        //POPULATE DROP DOWN MENU WITH CATEGORIES
        $conn = new PDO($DSN, $USERNAME, $PASSWORD);
        $sql = "SELECT * FROM category ORDER BY c_id";

        while($row = mysql_fetch_array($categories))
        {        
            echo ("<option value=\"$row[c_id]\" " . ($category == $row["c_id"] ? " selected" : "") . ">$row[category]</option>");        
        }

        ?>


    <option value="1" <?php if($category == 1) echo " selected"; ?>><? echo $category; ?></option>
    <option value="2" <?php if($category == 2) echo " selected"; ?>><? echo $category; ?></option>
    <option value="3" <?php if($category == 3) echo " selected"; ?>><? echo $category; ?></option>
    <option value="4" <?php if($category == 4) echo " selected"; ?>><? echo $category; ?></option>
    <option value="5" <?php if($category == 5) echo " selected"; ?>><? echo $category; ?></option>
    <option value="6" <?php if($category == 6) echo " selected"; ?>><? echo $category; ?></option>
    </select>

Answer 1

(Upgrading to an answer)

1. The <select></select> tags should be on either side of your PHP codeblock;
2. You should remove the WHERE clause from your SQL; and
3. You do not need to manually include the <option>..</option> code because that is all constructed/output by the PHP.

For example, using PDO:

<select name="category" size="6" onChange="autoSubmit();">
<?php
  $dbh = new PDO($DSN, $USERNAME, $PASSWORD);
  $qry = $dbh->query('SELECT * FROM category ORDER BY c_id');

  while ($row = $qry->fetch()) {
    echo '<option value="' . $row['c_id'] . '"';
    if ($row['c_id'] == $category) echo ' selected';
    echo '>' . htmlentities($row['category']) . '</option>'
  }
?>
</select>