Question

I run a query that returns the first word only from a particular field, this field has multiple words separated by spaces. The result of the query will be value of the select box I create dynamically. I have 3 select boxes that are created dynamically depending on the selection of the other.

Problem is query returns entire sentence and that is displayed in select box as well. I tried running the query solely in database and it seems to give me the correct result.

Here is the code snippet. How can i resolve it??

<?php
  //**************************************
 //     First selection results     //
//**************************************
if(isset($_GET['func'])&& $_GET['func'] == "drop_1") {
   drop_1($_GET['drop_var']); 
}

function drop_1($drop_var)
{
$result = mysql_query("SELECT DISTINCT SUBSTRING_INDEX(`h_name` ,' ', 1 ) AS name FROM hypermarket_em") or die(mysql_error());
echo '<select name="drop_2" id="drop_2"><option value=" " disabled="disabled" selected="selected">Select City</option>
        <option value="ALL" >ALL</option>';
while($drop_2 = mysql_fetch_array( $result )) 
{
      echo '<option value="'.$drop_2['name'].'">'.$drop_2['name'].'</option>';
}
echo '</select>';
echo "<script type=\"text/javascript\">
    $('#wait_2').hide();
    $('#drop_2').change(function(){
    $(this).parent().parent().find('.drop2').val($(this).val());
    $('#wait_2').show();
    $('#result_2').hide();
    $.get(\"func.php\", {
    func: \"drop_2\",
    drop_var: $('#drop_2').val()
    }, function(response){
    $('#result_2').fadeOut();
    setTimeout(\"finishAjax_tier_three('result_2', '\"+escape(response)+\"')\", 400);
    });
    return false;
    });
    </script>";
}
?>

Any ideas much appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

You are setting the substring

SUBSTRING_INDEX(`h_name` ,' ', 1 ) AS name

but still referencing the full original string $drop_2['h_name']. Try changing to –

while($drop_2 = mysql_fetch_array( $result )) 
{
  echo '<option value="'.$drop_2['name'].'">'.$drop_2['name'].'</option>';
}

EDIT–

If you are correctly using the alias name in $drop_2['name'], I am not sure why it is still echoing the full string. You could use the explode() that I first answered with, as a fail safe

while($drop_2 = mysql_fetch_array( $result )) 
{
  $firstWord = explode(' ',trim($drop_2['name']));
  echo '<option value="'.$firstWord[0].'">'.$firstWord[0].'</option>';
}