Hi I have a form and I have a list of checkboxes I am trying to check 2 or all of them and get them to insert into one sql column in my database. When I select them it submits ok but in the cloumn on the database is storing it as Array not the values I have checked.

Here is the form and the code.

<form name="padform" method="post" action="catsubmit.php" />
<input name="userID" type="hidden" id="userID" value="<?=$userID?>">
    
<table width="540" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="0" border="0"> 
<tr>
<td width="300"  id="t_category1">
<input type="checkbox" name="vccategory[]" value="Quality Control &amp; Consultants">Quality Control &amp; Consultants</td></tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="checkbox" name="vccategory[]" value="Quilting Materials &amp; Supplies">Quilting Materials &amp; Supplies</td></tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="checkbox" name="vccategory[]" value="Quilts &amp; Quilting">Quilts &amp; Quilting</td></tr>
<tr>
<td><input name="submit" type="submit" class="button" value="Submit Ad" /><input class="button" type="reset" name="reset" value="Reset" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>

the submit file

<? 
session_start();
error_reporting(apsolutions);
?>
<?PHP
	include("../secure/global/connection.php");
	include("../secure/global/mail.class.php");
	error_reporting(7);

            $vccategory             =    ($_POST['vccategory']);
		$intUserID    		=    ($_POST["userID"]);

		{
			$insertsql = " insert into tbladvertdetails (intUserID, vccategory, dtCreatedOn) values ('".addslashes($intUserID)."','".addslashes($vccategory)."','".date("Y-m-d h:m:s")."')";
			
			$DB_site->query($insertsql);
			$accountid = mysql_insert_id();
			
}
?>

		<script>
			alert("Profile UPdated")
			document.location.href="adcat.php"
		</script>

Any help with this wil be appreciated

right, because you are submitting it as an array and trying to enter it directly in the db that way.

When you say

$array = array("val1", "val2");
echo $array;

Your output will be just "array".

The following will process the array and create a comma separated list of selected values.

$vccategory = "";
foreach($_POST['vccategory'] as $value)
{
	$vccategory .= $value . ", ";
}
$vccategory = substr($vccategory, 0, -2); //to get rid of the final ", "

Yes you are right i managed to just solved the problem myself quite simple really this is what i used it posts all the values to the database now here is the updated version of my script for others to use.

<form name="padform" method="post" action="catsubmit.php" />
<input name="userID" type="hidden" id="userID" value="<?=$userID?>">
    
<table width="540" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="0" border="0"> 
<tr>
<td width="300"  id="t_category1">
<input type="checkbox" name="vccategory[]" value="Quality Control &amp; Consultants">Quality Control &amp; Consultants</td></tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="checkbox" name="vccategory[]" value="Quilting Materials &amp; Supplies">Quilting Materials &amp; Supplies</td></tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="checkbox" name="vccategory[]" value="Quilts &amp; Quilting">Quilts &amp; Quilting</td></tr>
<tr>
<td><input name="submit" type="submit" class="button" value="Submit Ad" /><input class="button" type="reset" name="reset" value="Reset" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>

the submit script

<? 
session_start();
error_reporting(apsolutions);
?>
 
<?PHP
	include("../secure/global/connection.php");
	include("../secure/global/mail.class.php");
	error_reporting(7);

            $vccategory             =    ($_REQUEST['vccategory']);
		$intUserID    		=    ($_POST["userID"]);

		{
			$insertsql = " insert into tbladvertdetails (intUserID, vccategory, dtCreatedOn) values ('".addslashes($intUserID)."','".addslashes($vccategory[0]).",".addslashes($vccategory[1]).",".addslashes($vccategory[2])."','".date("Y-m-d h:m:s")."')";
			
			$DB_site->query($insertsql);
			$accountid = mysql_insert_id();
			
}
?>

		<script>
			document.location.href="adcat.php"
		</script>

hope this helps someone in the future

but how does your script determine count($array)?

hi it doesn't but then i tried your script it didn't work? returned a parse error.

I only want the user to be able to select a maximum of 3 values but one thing that is a bit annoying is that when ithe user only selects 1 value it stores in the database like this Quilts,,
not sure how to get rid of the 2 commas? but at the end of the day it works.

tested, works fine for me

$_POST['vccategory'] = array("one", "two");
$vccategory = "";
foreach($_POST['vccategory'] as $value)
{
	$vccategory .= $value . ", ";
}
$vccategory = substr($vccategory, 0, -2); //to get rid of the final ", "
echo $vccategory;
<form name="padform" method="post" action="<? echo $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']; ?>" />
<input name="userID" type="hidden" id="userID" value="<?=$userID?>">
    
<table width="540" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="0" border="0"> 
<tr>
<td width="300"  id="t_category1">
<input type="checkbox" name="vccategory[]" value="Quality Control &amp; Consultants">Quality Control &amp; Consultants</td></tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="checkbox" name="vccategory[]" value="Quilting Materials &amp; Supplies">Quilting Materials &amp; Supplies</td></tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="checkbox" name="vccategory[]" value="Quilts &amp; Quilting">Quilts &amp; Quilting</td></tr>
<tr>
<td><input name="submit" type="submit" class="button" value="Submit Ad" /><input class="button" type="reset" name="reset" value="Reset" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
<?
$vccategory = "";
foreach($_POST['vccategory'] as $value)
{
	$vccategory .= $value . ", ";
}
$vccategory = substr($vccategory, 0, -2); //to get rid of the final ", "
echo $vccategory;
?>

sorry so how does that work it doesn't link to my submit to database script which is on another page

"sorry so how does that work it doesn't link to my submit to database script which is on another page"

<form ... action="<? echo $_SERVER; ?>" />

This submits the form back to the same URL you're currently viewing without destroying any variables that may be in the address bar...
(more info can be found here: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/understanding-_serverphp_self-php_self-_serverrequest_uri-and-_serverscript_name-in-php-and-when-to-use-what/)

You just have to set the page to retrieve the variables from the POST.

<?
$vccategory = $_POST
?>

This will set the variable '$vccategory' to whatever form field was submitted with that name

eg:
<input type="text" name="vccategory" value="this is vccategory!" />
...would mean $vccategory = "this is vccategory!";

hope this helps :)

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