select menu option variable carried to new php page

[cscheck]

I need a bit of help understanding what I should do here.

I have an .php page called view that has the following drop down form code in it.

        $sql = "SELECT DISTINCT dept FROM sw_lic WHERE dept != ''"; // (1)
        $result2 = mysql_query($sql);
        echo "<form action='NB_sw_lic/filter_view.php?$nt' method='POST'>"; // (2)
        echo "<select name='dept'>"; // (3)
        while($nt=mysql_fetch_array($result2))
        {
        echo "<option value=$nt[dept]>$nt[dept]</option>";
        }
        echo "</select>";
        echo "<input type='submit' name='submit' value='Submit'>";

I This automatically populates the dropdown menu with values from the MySQL database. What I would like to have happen is that when the user selects an option and clicks the select button, the option they selected is transmitted to another page called filtered_View.php that would then populate a table with all records that match that previous pages selection. Here is the code for filter_view.php

// get results from database
        $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM sw_lic WHERE dept = $nt") 
                or die(mysql_error());  

        // display data in table
        echo "<table border='1' cellpadding='10' background-color='#000066' color='#FFFFFF'>";
        echo "<tr> <th>Username</th> <th>System Name</th> <th>Dept.</th> <th>Software Name</th> <th>Software Ver.</th> <th>Software Origin</th> <th>LIC Key</th> <th></th> <th></th></tr>";

        // loop through results of database query, displaying them in the table
        while($row = mysql_fetch_array( $result )) {

                // echo out the contents of each row into a table
                echo "<tr>";

                echo '<td>' . $row['username'] . '</td>';
                echo '<td>' . $row['sysname'] . '</td>';
                echo '<td>' . $row['dept'] . '</td>';
                echo '<td>' . $row['sw_name'] . '</td>';
                echo '<td>' . $row['sw_ver'] . '</td>';
                echo '<td>' . $row['origin'] . '</td>';
                echo '<td>' . $row['sw_key'] . '</td>';
                echo '<td><a href="edit.php?sw_id=' . $row['sw_id'] . '">Edit</a></td>';
                echo '<td><a href="delete.php?sw_id=' . $row['sw_id'] . '">Delete</a></td>';
                echo "</tr>"; 
        }
        // close table>
        echo "</table>";

I have no clue how to pass the variable from the dropdown menu to this page, can anyone help me out?

Thanks soo much in advance for your assistance.

[fobos]

Hello, i redid your coding and took out the $nt in the action and added a name tag to ur option. Also, just noting, you hae to have a ? mark when passing variables through a URL.

 <?php
 $sql = "SELECT DISTINCT dept FROM sw_lic WHERE dept != ''"; // (1)
 $result2 = mysql_query($sql);
 ?>
 <form action="NB_sw_lic/filter_view.php" method="POST"> // (2)
 <select name="dept"> // (3)
 <?php
 while($nt=mysql_fetch_array($result2))
 {
 echo "<option name='dept' value=$nt[dept]>$nt[dept]</option>";
 }
 ?>
 </select>
 <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit">

Now when the form gets submitted filter_view.php, use $_POST['dept'] to get the value.

$nt = $_POST["dept"];
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM sw_lic WHERE dept = $nt")

Let me know if this works

[cscheck]

$nt = $_POST["dept"];
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM sw_lic WHERE dept = $nt")

That seemed to do it perfectly. I had to tweak a few things to get it just right, such as the action and some formatting preferences, but it definately works. Now I understand it and can re-implement similar functions later in the application.

Thanks again so much for the assistance!!!

[cscheck]

OK, I would liek to take this a step further and require assistance once again. I implemented the field above and it works great, but what I wanted to do was add another drop down field that functions similarly. Just as the nt variable is passed so I would like the st variable passed to the .php file to be included in the select command.

Here is the code for my drop down menus.

<?php
       $sql2 = "SELECT DISTINCT dept FROM sw_lic WHERE dept != ''";
       $sql3 = "SELECT DISTINCT sw_name FROM sw_lic WHERE sw_name != ''";
       $result2 = mysql_query($sql2);
       $result3 = mysql_query($sql3);
?>
       <form action="filter_view.php" method="POST">
       <select name="dept">
<?php
       while($nt=mysql_fetch_array($result2))
       {
       echo "<option name='dept' value=$nt[dept]>$nt[dept]</option>";
       }
?>
       </select>
       <select name="sw_name">
<?php
       while($st=mysql_fetch_array($result3))
       {
       echo "<option name='sw_name' value=$st[sw_name]>$st[sw_name]</option>";
       }
?>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit">

and here is my php script the variables should be passed to.

<?php

        // connect to the database
        include('connect-db.php');

        // get results from database
        $nt = $_POST["dept"];
        $st = $_POST["sw_name"];
        $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM sw_lic WHERE dept='$nt' AND sw_name='$st'")
                or die(mysql_error());  

        // display data in table
        echo "<table border='1' cellpadding='10' background-color='#000066' color='#FFFFFF'>";
        echo "<tr> <th>Purchased for</th> <th>Installed On</th> <th>Dept.</th> <th>Software Name</th> <th>Software Ver.</th> <th>Software Origin</th> <th>LIC Key</th> <th></th> <th></th></tr>";

        // loop through results of database query, displaying them in the table
        while($row = mysql_fetch_array( $result )) {

        // echo out the contents of each row into a table
        echo "<tr>";

        echo '<td>' . $row['username'] . '</td>';
        echo '<td>' . $row['sysname'] . '</td>';
        echo '<td>' . $row['dept'] . '</td>';
        echo '<td>' . $row['sw_name'] . '</td>';
        echo '<td>' . $row['sw_ver'] . '</td>';
        echo '<td>' . $row['origin'] . '</td>';
        echo '<td>' . $row['sw_key'] . '</td>';
        echo '<td><a href="edit.php?sw_id=' . $row['sw_id'] . '">Edit</a></td>';
        echo '<td><a href="delete.php?sw_id=' . $row['sw_id'] . '">Delete</a></td>';
        echo "</tr>"; 
        }
        // close table>
        echo "</table>";
 ?>

I understand that my code is probably the sloppiest around and that is largely due to me being self taught. If there is a better way to condense the code then by all means lay it on me, or link me to a resource that might shed some light on this subject.

Thanks in advance!

C.S.

[fobos]

So any errors yet?