How to process results from checkboxes and retrieve them from MySQL using PHP

[tutur]

Hi everybody!
Please,help!
My problem is as following:
in a file XXX1.php we have a form with checkboxes:
{
echo '<form action ="XXX2.php" method= "post">
What you are looking for: <br />
<p><input type="checkbox" name = "wordprop[]" value ="Option1" >Option1<br/>
<p><input type="checkbox" name = "wordprop[]" value ="Option2" >Option2<br/>
<p><input type="checkbox" name = "wordprop[]" value ="Option3" >Option3<br/>
<input type= "submit" name ="s" value="Submit">
</form>';
}

What I whould like to have is:
After user presses the button <Submit>, the results should be processed in file XXX2.php. The program should:
1.check which checkboxes were chosen
2.then connect to the database and retrieve the stored values from the database
3.display the values

I can connect to the database, the problem is how to verify which checkboxes were chosen and then query the database.

[nonshatter]

You can use the isset() function in XXX2.php to check which boxes were or were not selected.

in XXX2.php

//first check the submit was pressed
if (isset($_POST['s']))
{
   //then check if a checkbox was selected.
   if (isset($_POST['name-of-checkbox1']))
   {
      echo "checkbox 1 was selected";
      // execute database action here
   }
   if (isset($_POST['name-of-checkbox2']))
   {
      echo "checkbox 2 was selected";
      // execute database action here
   }
   if (isset($_POST['name-of-checkbox3']))
   {
      echo "checkbox 3 was selected";
      // execute database action here
   }
}

You will need to give your checkboxes unique names for this to work properly.

[cossay]

Here is another way of doing the same thing as the code above. The only difference is that you don't need multiple if-statements to do your processing. To make it easier for you to understand what is going on, do the following.
Create a table and name it fruits. This table should have the two columns, fruit and price. Now populate you table with the following: orange, 10; apple, 5; banana, 15; pear, 20; guava, 2.

Now try this code. I have only one page instead of two.

<?php
if(!isset($_POST['send']))
{
?>
<form method = "post" action = "ppp.php">
<input type = "checkbox" name = "mycheck[]" value = "orange">ORANGE<br>
<input type = "checkbox" name = "mycheck[]" value = "apple">APPLE<br>
<input type = "checkbox" name = "mycheck[]" value = "banana">BANANA<br>
<input type = "checkbox" name = "mycheck[]" value = "pear">PEAR<br>
<input type = "checkbox" name = "mycheck[]" value = "gauva">GUAVA<br>
<input type = "submit" name = "send" value = "SEND">
</form>
<?php
}
else
{
	if(sizeof($_POST['mycheck']) == 0)
	{
		//User hasn't made any selection, display error message
		echo "You must select an item";
	}
	else
	{	
		//User has selected at least one item, use the selected item(s) in your query
		
		///////////////////////////////////////////////////
		// foreach ($_POST['mycheck'] as $index => $value)
		//{
		//	echo "$index => $value<br>";
		//}
		//If you use the code enclosed here, you will realise that the array
		//<B>mycheck</B> has numeric index, however you cannot rely on the indices
		//but only the values. This is because the index of the elements will be 
		//different based on the number of items the user selects.
		//////////////////////////////////////////////////
		
		$con = mysql_pconnect("localhost", "root", "password") or die (mysql_error());
		mysql_select_db("database_name") or die(mysql_error());
		$total = 0; //Variable to store total cost of selected items
		
		echo "<table width = '200' border = '1'>";
		echo "<tr><td>FRUIT</td><td>PRICE (GHC)</td></tr>";
		foreach($_POST['mycheck'] as $value)
		{
			//echo "$key = $value <br>";
			$query = "SELECT * FROM fruits WHERE fruit = '".$value."'";
			$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
			$fruit = mysql_fetch_object($result);
			echo "<tr><td>".ucfirst($fruit->fruit)."</td><td>".$fruit->price."</td></tr>";
			$total += $fruit->price;
		}
		echo "<tr><td>Total cost : </td><td><b> $total</b></td></tr>";
		echo "</table>";
	}
}
?>

[tutur]

Here is another way of doing the same thing as the code above. The only difference is that you don't need multiple if-statements to do your processing. To make it easier for you to understand what is going on, do the following.
Create a table and name it fruits. This table should have the two columns, fruit and price. Now populate you table with the following: orange, 10; apple, 5; banana, 15; pear, 20; guava, 2.

Now try this code. I have only one page instead of two.

<?php
if(!isset($_POST['send']))
{
?>
<form method = "post" action = "ppp.php">
<input type = "checkbox" name = "mycheck[]" value = "orange">ORANGE<br>
<input type = "checkbox" name = "mycheck[]" value = "apple">APPLE<br>
<input type = "checkbox" name = "mycheck[]" value = "banana">BANANA<br>
<input type = "checkbox" name = "mycheck[]" value = "pear">PEAR<br>
<input type = "checkbox" name = "mycheck[]" value = "gauva">GUAVA<br>
<input type = "submit" name = "send" value = "SEND">
</form>
<?php
}
else
{
	if(sizeof($_POST['mycheck']) == 0)
	{
		//User hasn't made any selection, display error message
		echo "You must select an item";
	}
	else
	{	
		//User has selected at least one item, use the selected item(s) in your query
		
		///////////////////////////////////////////////////
		// foreach ($_POST['mycheck'] as $index => $value)
		//{
		//	echo "$index => $value<br>";
		//}
		//If you use the code enclosed here, you will realise that the array
		//<B>mycheck</B> has numeric index, however you cannot rely on the indices
		//but only the values. This is because the index of the elements will be 
		//different based on the number of items the user selects.
		//////////////////////////////////////////////////
		
		$con = mysql_pconnect("localhost", "root", "password") or die (mysql_error());
		mysql_select_db("database_name") or die(mysql_error());
		$total = 0; //Variable to store total cost of selected items
		
		echo "<table width = '200' border = '1'>";
		echo "<tr><td>FRUIT</td><td>PRICE (GHC)</td></tr>";
		foreach($_POST['mycheck'] as $value)
		{
			//echo "$key = $value <br>";
			$query = "SELECT * FROM fruits WHERE fruit = '".$value."'";
			$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
			$fruit = mysql_fetch_object($result);
			echo "<tr><td>".ucfirst($fruit->fruit)."</td><td>".$fruit->price."</td></tr>";
			$total += $fruit->price;
		}
		echo "<tr><td>Total cost : </td><td><b> $total</b></td></tr>";
		echo "</table>";
	}
}
?>

Thank you very much!I'll try, though, if-statements are fine for me as I don't have many checkboxes anyways.

[tutur]

You can use the isset() function in XXX2.php to check which boxes were or were not selected.

in XXX2.php

//first check the submit was pressed
if (isset($_POST['s']))
{
   //then check if a checkbox was selected.
   if (isset($_POST['name-of-checkbox1']))
   {
      echo "checkbox 1 was selected";
      // execute database action here
   }
   if (isset($_POST['name-of-checkbox2']))
   {
      echo "checkbox 2 was selected";
      // execute database action here
   }
   if (isset($_POST['name-of-checkbox3']))
   {
      echo "checkbox 3 was selected";
      // execute database action here
   }
}

You will need to give your checkboxes unique names for this to work properly.

Nonshatter, thank you so much!! I got it to work:)