storing values from dynamic checkboxes and retrieving later

Question

Amaina 14 Newbie Poster

10 Years Ago

hello folks

I'm a greenhorn in PHP so excuse me if i'm being dumb.

I have set up a page that is pulling records out of a database table, the user viewing the page is intended the choose a number of the records on the page (using checkboxes) and download as CSV to use for referencing.The problem is that i dont know the technique to do this.

the code looks like this

<?php

include 'data.php';

try{
    $con = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=abc', $user, $pass);
    $con->SetAttribute (PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);

        $sql=$con->prepare('select id, title, author, secondary_title, year, volume, number, pages from refs');
        $sql->execute();

        $sql->setFetchMode(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);?>
<!doctype html>
<html style="width:100%;height:100%">

<head>


<title>Scholar</title>
<link href="authors.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>

</head>
<body>

<div id = "container">
<form action = "<?Php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>" method = "post">
<?php

    while ($row = $sql->fetch()){
        $id = $row ['id'];
        $title = $row ['title'];
        $author = $row ['author'];
        $secondary_title = $row ['secondary_title'];
        $year = $row ['year'];
        $volume = $row ['volume'];
        $number = $row ['number'];
        $pages = $row ['pages'];
        //$ref = $row["'$volume' . '($number)' . '$pages'"];

        echo "<input type = 'checkbox' name='checkbox[]' value=''>$id <a href =''>$title \n </a> </br>  $author \n </br> $secondary_title $year $volume($number):$pages </br><p>";
        }?>
    <input type = "submit"   name="submit">
</div>
</body><?php
}

catch (PDOException $e){
echo 'ERROR:'. $e->getMessage();

}
$con = null;
?>

you can view the attached thumbnail.

checkbox dynamic php

5 Contributors
11 Replies
902 Views
3 Days Discussion Span
Latest Post 10 Years Ago Latest Post by Amaina

minitauros 151 Junior Poster

10 Years Ago

So the user has to check some checkboxes, of which the values will then be converted to .csv and offered as a download? Or are there multiple .csv's available for download, and does the user have to select which of those he wants to download?

Edited 10 Years Ago by minitauros

gabrielcastillo 40 Web Developer

10 Years Ago

Here is what I would do to improve your code a bit.

database data output:

echo '<table border="1">
            <thead>
                <tr>
                    <th>&nbsp;</th>
                    <th>ID</th>
                    <th>TITLE</th>
                    <th>AUTHOR</th>
                    <th>SECONDARY TITLE</th>
                    <th>YEAR</th>
                    <th>VOLUME</th>
                    <th>NUMBER</th>
                    <th>PAGES</th>
                </tr>
            </thead>
            <tbody>';
            while($row = $sql->fetch()){
                echo '<tr>';
                echo '<td><input type="checkbox" name="checkbox[]" value="'.$row['id'].'" /></td>';
                echo '<td>'.$row['title'].'</td>';
                echo '<td>'.$row['author'].'</td>';
                echo '<td>'.$row['secondar_title'].'</td>';
                echo '<td>'.$row['year'].'</td>';
                echo '<td>'.$row['volume'].'</td>';
                echo '<td>'.$row['number'].'</td>';
                echo '<td>'.$row['pages'].'</td>';
                echo '</tr>';
            }
            echo '</tbody>
        </table>';

Data to csv file: (this is just a example may need to changed to your needs)

if(isset($_POST['save_csv'])){

    $id = trim($_POST['id']);

    if(!empty($id) && is_numeric($id)){

        $con = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=abc', $user, $pass);
        $con->SetAttribute (PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);

        $sql=$con->prepare('select id, title, author, secondary_title, year, volume, number, pages from refs where id={$id}');
        $sql->execute();
        $sql->setFetchMode(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
        $data = $sql->fetch();

        $fp = fopen('php://output', 'w');
        if ($fp) {
            header('Content-Type: text/csv');
            header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="export.csv"');
            fputcsv($fp, $data);
        }
    }
}

Edited 10 Years Ago by gabrielcastillo because: need to add some php tags

minitauros 151 Junior Poster

10 Years Ago

Nice piece of code :). @topic starter: Just don't forget to contain your database code within a try-catch block if you set PDO's errmode to PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION, as in gabrielcastillo's example.

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Amaina 14 Newbie Poster · Answer 1 · 2013-10-31T16:17:47+00:00

The user has to check some (random) checkboxes, of which the values will then be converted to .csv and offered as a download.
The user can choose not to download. Store the selected values temporarily in a variable/session.

*

Amaina 14 Newbie Poster · Answer 2 · 2013-11-01T09:58:34+00:00

Thanks all. Still trying to decifer @gabrielcastillo code

minitauros 151 Junior Poster Featured Poster · Answer 3 · 2013-11-01T10:09:06+00:00

A little help with that code:

header('Content-Type: text/csv');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="export.csv"');

These headers are sent to the browser, invisible to the end user. A browser always receives headers from a web server, telling it what kind of stuff it is working with. In this case the headers tell the browser that a text/csv file is being given to it, and that it should be offered to the user as a download called export.csv.

Amaina 14 Newbie Poster · Answer 4 · 2013-11-01T10:09:52+00:00

@gabrielcastillo...Just to clarify some few issues

I take it that we have a form with a submit button named "save.csv".

on line no.10 in your second posting, why do you use {} to enclose id??

Once again forgive me for my greenhorn questions

diafol · Answer 5 · 2013-11-01T12:33:29+00:00

Sorry to jump in, the {} are not really needed for $id. The {braces} are usually reserved for array items or properties or to separate variables when placed directly before most characters within double quoted strings.

I imagine that the submit button would be named 'save_csv' not 'save.csv'

Eagle.Avik 0 Junior Poster in Training · Answer 6 · 2013-11-01T12:35:10+00:00

@gabrielcastillo. thnx, i was looking some thing like this, the code is really helpfull. :)

gabrielcastillo 40 Web Developer · Answer 7 · 2013-11-01T18:05:17+00:00

sorry braces are not needed.. and yes the submit button would have the name of save_csv, but the code is just an example of on method of solving the problem. You would need to wrap the table in a form as well.

Amaina 14 Newbie Poster · Answer 8 · 2013-11-04T06:33:24+00:00

Amaina 14 Newbie Poster

10 Years Ago

Thank you very much everyone.