Question

I have a dropdown box which is populated from a mysql table.

When viewing the box, the order of the options is the same as in the table e.g. a,b,c,d

I have a variable, and would like the dropdown box to be preset to that variable.

FOr example, if the variable was C, the dropdown box would automatically have C selected. The user could then change it if they wanted to.

This is the code for the dropdown box.

           <select name ='action'>
                <?php

                    $query = "SELECT action FROM actions";

                    $result = mysql_query($query);

                    while($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
                        $action = $myrow['action'];
                        echo "<option value='$action'>$action</option>\n";
                    }       
                ?>
            </select>

I have tried adding this line above the query….

echo "<option value='$variable'>$variable</option>\n";

…however this just adds the variable as an option to the top of the list. e.g. the list a,b,c,d and when I add the above line with the variable set to B, the dropdown displays b,a,b,c,d.

Could anyone tell me how to properly preset the displayed option? Thank you

Answer 1

Try this code:

       <select name ='action'>
            <?php
                $default = 'default_value';
                $query = "SELECT action FROM actions";

                $result = mysql_query($query);

                while($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
                    $action = $myrow['action'];
                    echo "<option value='$action'".($action == $default ? ' selected="selected"' : '').">$action</option>\n";
                }       
            ?>
        </select>

You initially set the default value you want preset. You then check with each row iteration whether the action is the default.