retail values in form php

[SLEE]

I want to retain the values of a form so they user doesnt have to keep filling them out but I have some select boxes that have  a lot of values is there a way to loop thorugh them with the value posted and then select the one that is the same?

[JasonD]

<select name="foo">
<option value="bar" <?php if ($_POST['foo'] == 'bar') { echo 'selected="selected"'; } ?>>Bar</option>
...
</select>

[SLEE]

thanks Jason, so I would need to put that in every option is there any other quicker way?

[sarahA]

I usually use an array. Put the value and label in that and then loop through with a foreach and just compare the key to the posted item. useful then for also data/security checking so you can check if the item submitted is in the array too using in_array().

[SLEE]

thanks Sarah thatw bas quick! Do you have an example you can show me?

[sarahA]

Code:

<select id="selectlist" name="selectlist">
<?php
$somearray = array("option1" => "label1", "option2" => "label2", etc);
foreach ($somearray AS $key => $value) :
    echo "<option value='".$key."'".($key == $_POST['selectlist'] ? ' selected="selected"' : '').">".$value."</option>\n";
endforeach;
?>

Then if you put the array at the top of the page (or in a config file if it's used on multiple pages), you could, in your form processing/checks do

Code:

if (!empty($_POST['selectlist']) && in_array($_POST['selectlist'], $somearray)) :
// okay to proceed
endif;

Am sure there is probably a better way to do all of this but it cuts down large chunks of html and unnecessary repeats with long select lists (anything over 3 options I tend to use the above method).

[SLEE]

thanks Sarah