Capturing data from form drop down list when form has not been submitted

Hello All,

I am just developing my PHP skills and was wondering if anyone can answer a problem i'm having...

I've got a PHP page that includes a form, and one of the elements on the form is a drop down list. When the user selects an option I would like the value of the option selected to go into a PHP variable, so that I can send it in a URL link.

[The Code]
<?php
$contactResults = mysql_query("SELECT * from contacts order by contactname");
?>
<td width="33%" align="center" class="place_center">
<b>Contact Details</b><br>
<select name="companycontact" onChange="">
<option value="test" selected>Contact Name</option>

<?php

do {
$options = $myrow["contactname"] . ", " . $myrow["companyname"];
printf("<option value=\"%s\">%s</option>\n", $myrow["contactid"], $options);
} while ($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($contactResults));
?>

</select><br>

<?php

echo "<a href=\"#\" onClick=\"window.open('view.contact.php?conid=" . $companycontact . "','newwindow','HEIGHT=400,WIDTH=250,left=0,top=110 ,scrollbars=1,location=1')\"><b>View Contact</b></a>";
?>

[/The_Code]

I haven't included any of my connections to the DB and the main form tag, but i don't think this is required. If this will be beneficial, please let me know and I shall post this as well...

Thanks for your help,

Harvey

It automatically will be as when the form is submitted, the script will be able to get the value using $_POST or $_GET -> whichever your form method is set to.

So, if your 'Form Select Menu' is named 'menu' and you have an option in the 'menu' that says 'cheeseburger' and the value of that option is '1' -> when the user selects 'cheeseburger' and your form method is 'get', your php scalar will look like this ->


PS: Not sure if that is what you are looking for...

Thanks for the reply, but...

...I would like to recieve the [form] option selected before the form has been submitted. I was thinking if I could get the option selected into a PHP varable in the onChange event for the [form]SELECT menu??

Thanks for your help...

Harvey

Why would you want to recieve the value of the form before it is submitted? Are you wanting to have dynamic code so that if you choose one thing, say, cheeseburger, it will make another form visible for toppings, or if you choose a taco if it gives the option of hotsauce?

The only way I could imagine for you to recieve the value is if you were using javascript and an on change to make the other form visible, if thats what you're wanting to do..

Ya - I think he might be looking for 'livescript' - asp thing, but not sure if that is exactly what it is called. I remember seeing an article on it somewhere - but can't remember where. One site that uses it is progressive.com; when filling out the auto insurance forms - the livescript tags the db to draw the info for the automobile specifics based on the selections prior...

Thats what I thought but I couldn't quite place it..