Question

So, I have this HTML form:

<form id="search_form" class="form_wrapp"
    accept-charset="utf-8" method="get" action="http://testing.com/results">
    <input class="inputbox" type="text" name="search_query">
    <input class="ic_search" type="submit" value="">

    <input type="checkbox" value="checkbox1" name="search_filter[]">
    <label for="Checkbox1">Checkbox1</label>
    <input type="checkbox" value="checkbox2" name="search_filter[]">
    <label for="Checkbox2">Checkbox2</label>
</form>

and it redirects to this URL upon submit with the 2 checkboxes checked

results?search_query=dreams&search_filter[]=checkbox1&search_filter[]=checkbox2

It works like this (inside codeigniter I get the data with $this->input->get('search_filter')), but my question is: I am doing something wrong inside the form, or this is how it’s supposed to work?
And I mean about: &search_filter[]=checkbox1&search_filter[]=checkbox2. Shouldn’t it be something like: &search_filter[]=checkbox1,checkbox2 ? And if not, how can I make it work like that?

Answer 1

If you want it in the comma format you can do the following:

$filters = (array) $this->input->get('search_filter');
$filters = implode(',',$filters);

If you want to alter the format in which the form is submitted, assuming jquery for js:

$('#search_form').submit(function() {
   var $hidden = $('<input type="hidden" name="search_filter" />').appendTo($(this)),
       $filters = $('input[name^=search_filter]'),
       value = '';

      //loop through the filters check if there checked and add them to the value

      $hidden.val(value);

      $filters.remove();       
});

Of course if the user doesn’t have js enabled it will submit natively