[Examples} Populating Dropboxes, Checkboxes and Radio Boxes using a MySQL Table.

## PLEASE NOTE: I am still learning php and mysql
so this may not be the most accurate or the best
way to do this but it works.

This code allows you to stick this into any form and
allow you to populate a dropdown box with all categories
and thier values. Since I also use "ORDER BY and DESC,
the drop down contents are sorted by the category names
alphabeticly.

I am posting this simply because most if the tutorials
that I found do not work if you have a seperate category
table. Therefore, they won't work when you need to
associate the category ID with the Category itself.

The code below simply allows you to replace any existing
or new select area to have it populated from the db.

<SELECT>
<?
include("../includes/db.php");

MYSQL_CONNECT(HOST,USER,PASS) OR DIE("Unable to connect to database");
@mysql_select_db(DB) or die( "Unable to select database");

$query=("select * from categories order by category, category desc");

$result=mysql_query($query) or die ("Unable to Make the Query:" . mysql_error() );

while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result)){

echo "<OPTION VALUE=".$row['cid'].">".$row['category']."</OPTION>";
}
?>
</SELECT>

###################################
This is what the db.php looks like:
###################################

<?php
define("HOST", "localhost");
define("USER", "your_username");
define("PASS", "your_password");
define("DB", "your_mysql_db_name");
?>

###################################
Here is the table structure I have for my Categories:
###################################

CREATE TABLE `categories` (
`cid` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
`category` varchar(55) NOT NULL default '',
PRIMARY KEY (`cid`)
) TYPE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=15 ;

###################################
Here is some example data if you want to try this out:
###################################

INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (1, 'Appraisers');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (2, 'Auctions');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (3, 'Education');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (4, 'Sale By Owner');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (5, 'Inspections');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (6, 'Land');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (7, 'Mortgages');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (8, 'Commercial');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (9, 'Referral');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (10, 'Apartments');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (11, 'Relocation');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (12, 'Rentals');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (13, 'Residential');
INSERT INTO `categories` VALUES (14, 'Agents');

Using the example above, You can also populate check boxes the same way with a few modifications.


<?
include("includes/db.php");

MYSQL_CONNECT(HOST,USER,PASS) OR DIE("Unable to connect to database");
@mysql_select_db(DB) or die( "Unable to select database");

//$query=("select * from categories");
$query=("select * from categories order by category, category desc");

$result=mysql_query($query) or die ("Unable to Make the Query:" . mysql_error() );

while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result)){
$category = @$row["category"];
$cid = @$row["cid"];

echo "<input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"$category\" value=\"$cid\"> $category:";
echo "<br>";
}
?>

And for this one using radio boxes, it appears to work although I'm not sure on this.

<?
include("includes/db.php");

MYSQL_CONNECT(HOST,USER,PASS) OR DIE("Unable to connect to database");
@mysql_select_db(DB) or die( "Unable to select database");

//$query=("select * from categories");
$query=("select * from categories order by category, category desc");

$result=mysql_query($query) or die ("Unable to Make the Query:" . mysql_error() );

while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result)){
$category = @$row["category"];
$cid = @$row["cid"];

echo " <input type=\"radio\" name=\"category[]\" value=\"$cid\"> $category:";
echo "<br>";
}
?>