Echoing Information From A Checkbox Into A Form

[Steve Wilkison]

Here's what I'm trying to do:

 

I have a form with a checkbox group containing four checkboxes. The "name" for each checkbox is name="storetype[]". The values for the four checkboxes are: fashion, jewelry, home and other. I am successfully collecting the information fine using this code:

 

if (!empty($_POST['storetype'])) {

$storetype = $_POST['storetype'];

} else {

$storetype = FALSE;

$errormessage .= '<p class="error">You forgot to answer what type of store you have!</p>';

}

 

What I'm trying to do now is echo the information back into the form in case they forgot to fill out a different area of the form and get an error message saying so. I don't want them to have to recheck these boxes, but have them already checked for them if they checked them the first time.

 

I'm using this code:

 

 

<input type="checkbox" name="storetype[]" value="fashion" id="fashion" <?php if (!(strcmp("fashion", "$storetype"))) {echo "checked=\"checked\"";} ?> /><label for="fashion"> Fashion Boutique</label>

 

But, alas, it's not working. The boxes don't get checked.

 

Any help or direction as to what I'm doing wrong would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[Larry]

If the name of the form element is storetype[], then $_POST['storetype'] will be an array not a string. In this code here:

$storetype = $_POST['storetype'];

you're losing all the data the user selected anyway, so you need to fix that.

In the HTML form, to make it sticky, you need to check if $_POST['storetype'] (or a local variable) is set and, if so, if the value in question, such as "fashion", is found within the array.

[Steve Wilkison]

OK, thanks, Larry, that helps. I'll see what I can come up with bearing that in mind.

[Josee]

In case this can be of any help (I used to make this mistake): remember that every time you collect several answers, from checkboxes or from a multiple-select dropdown menu, for instance, what you (should) get is an array. So you must use a foreach loop (not an "if" conditional) to get the results, and to check the boxes if you want to make them sticky.

[Antonio Conte]

Thanks, Josee. Never had to do that, but I bet it'll come in handy some day.