Question

I want to create a php variable depending on what was selected in a drop down.

This is the drop down:

  <td width="5" rowspan="2"><select id="ddlTime">
      <option selected="selected" value="perhour" name="perhour">per hour</option>
      <option value="perannum" name="perannum">per annum</option>
    </select></td>

Depending if “per hour” or “per annum” was selected, I want to do the following (I’m not quite sure syntax wise if this is correct and this part is on another page):

// if per hour is selected:
$result_pharmacist = $_POST["pharmacist"];
$result_dispenser = $_POST["dispenser"];

// if per annum is selected:
$user_pharmacist = $_POST["pharmacist"];
$result_pharmacist = $user_pharmacist/37.5/52;
$user_dispenser = $_POST["dispenser"];
$result_dispenser = $user_dispenser/37.5/52;

How can this be done?

Here’s my full form:

<form action="<?php the_permalink(); ?>calculations" method="post">
  <h2>Savings calculator</h2>
  <div class="calculator-divide"></div>
  <table border="0">
    <tr>
      <td colspan="3"><h3>Current service costs</h3></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td width="440"><p>Pharmacist</p></td>
      <td><p style="padding-left:5px!IMPORTANT;">&pound;
          <input style="width:145px!IMPORTANT;" value="22.00" type="text" name="pharmacist" />
        </p></td>
      <td width="5" rowspan="2"><select id="ddlTime">
          <option selected="selected" value="perhour" name="perhour">per hour</option>
          <option value="perannum" name="perannum">per annum</option>
        </select></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><p>Dispenser / Technician</p></td>
      <td><p style="padding-left:5px!IMPORTANT;">&pound;
          <input style="width:145px!IMPORTANT;" value="8.00" type="text" name="dispenser" />
        </p></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td colspan="3"><h3>Time taken to carry out manual dispensing tasks</h3></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><p>Measure 50mls dose by hand including Pharmacist check</p></td>
      <td colspan="2"><p style="padding-left:5px!IMPORTANT;">
          <input value="1" type="text" name="measure-check" />
          Minute(s)</p></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><p>Preparing labels from dispensary system</p></td>
      <td colspan="2"><p style="padding-left:5px!IMPORTANT;">
          <input value="0.5" type="text" name="labels" />
          Minute(s)</p></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><p>Write up CD register</p></td>
      <td colspan="2"><p style="padding-left:5px!IMPORTANT;">
          <input value="2" type="text" name="cd-register" />
          Minute(s)</p></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td colspan="3"><div class="estimate">
          <input style="margin-bottom:20px;" type="submit" value="Estimate my savings" />
        </div></td>
    </tr>
  </table>
</form>

Answer 1

<select id="ddlTime" name="ddlTime">

and

if( $_POST['ddlTime']=='perhour' ){
    // if per hour is selected:
    $result_pharmacist = $_POST["pharmacist"];
    $result_dispenser = $_POST["dispenser"];
}elseif( $_POST['ddlTime']=='perannum' ){
    // if per annum is selected:
    $user_pharmacist = $_POST["pharmacist"];
    $result_pharmacist = $user_pharmacist/37.5/52;
    $user_dispenser = $_POST["dispenser"];
    $result_dispenser = $user_dispenser/37.5/52;
}