fun with <select> via DB...

darkhalf · June 7th, 2009, 03:40 PM

Hey,

I'm populating form elements with data from a DB, but how do I select the <select tag with the the entry?

For example - I have this:
<select name="fruit">
<option value="Apple">Apple</option>
<option value="Orange">Orange</option>
<option value="Banana">Banana</option>
</select>

in the DB, the data saved is Orange... so how can I get so that when the form loads, the value of Orange is selected instead of Apple (default).

Old Pedant · June 8th, 2009, 03:49 PM

The most basic way is the simplest:

Code:

<%
Set RS = yourConnection.Execute( "SELECT fruit FROM sometable WHERE something = " & somevalue )
fruit = RS("fruit")
%>
<select name="fruit">
    <option <%if fruit = "Apple" response.write "selected"%>>Apple</option>
    <option <%if fruit = "Orange" response.write "selected"%>>Orange</option>
    <option <%if fruit = "Banana" response.write "selected"%>>Banana</option>
</select>
....

If you only have a few <option>s this works fine.

Now, if you are *ALSO* getting the <option>s from the database, there's a much better way. Ask again if you are doing that.

Of if you have dozens and dozens of <option>s there are other ways that might be better. Again, ask again if so.

darkhalf · June 12th, 2009, 03:24 PM

Yeah, I agree that the aforementionned method woudl work, but I happen to have quite a few <option> tags... for multiple <select>.... I'm not pulling the option from the table, though that woudl make things a lot simpler... I have a form that the elements are already all written... just need to plop the information in there...

So if you have a better way of selecting the correct slected... I'm all ears!

Old Pedant · June 12th, 2009, 06:42 PM

Well, one way is to rewrite you page:

Code:

<select name="fruit">
<%
fruitopts = Array("apple","banana","orange")
priorFruit = RS("fruit") 
For f = 0 To UBound(fruitopts)
    fruit = fruitopts(f)
    If fruit = priorfruit Then  sel = " SELECTED " Else sel = ""
    Response.Write "<option " & sel & ">" & fruit & "</option>" & vbNewLine
Next
%>
</select>

The other way is to use JS code. Problem is, you have to delay the use of the JS code until the <FORM> is fully loaded, at least.

But anyway:

Code:

<script>
function matchPriorSelect( sel, value )
{
    for ( var o = 0; o < sel.options.length; ++o )
    {
        var opt = sel.options[o];
        var optval = opt.value;
        if ( optval == "" ) optval = opt.text;
        if ( optval == value ) 
        {
            opt.selected = true;
            return;
        }
    }
}
</script>

and then somehow you have to do something like this:

<body onload="matchPriorSelect(document.FormName.fruit, '<%=RS("fruit")%>' );">

Except you probably don't want to dump that into the onload, in case you are using various JS libraries that could overwrite it, so probably you just want to dump the call at the end of your page, after the </form> tag.

darkhalf · June 18th, 2009, 11:44 AM

Thanks for the info...