using select menus with php

[geneh23]

Hey everyone,

I know this probably seems simple but for some reason I can't get my head around the correct concept. Bare with me please. I have a form in html that is for uploading photos in a to a specific category. However I want to add a select menu that gathers data from another database that holds the blogs' names. Like the select menu before the last one, I want the blog select menu to have the same purpose as the one before it - to automatically update determining that blog titles that are listed in the database. I'm not sure what I should put as far as code to help you all understand my issue but I'll do the best I can.

form

<form action="" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <p>Choose a file:<br /><input type="file" name="image" /></p>
    <p>
    Choose an album:<br />
    <select name="album_id">
        <?php 
        foreach ($albums as $album){
            echo '<option value="', $album['id'], '">', $album['name'], '</option>';
        }
        ?>
    </select><br /><br />
    Choose an blog:<br />
    <select name="blog_title">
    <?php

    $posts = get_posts();
    $pid = (int)$pid;

    $sql = "SELECT
                `post_title` AS `title` FROM `posts`
            WHERE `post_id` = {$pid}";

    $post = mysql_query($sql);
    $post = mysql_fetch_assoc($post);

    foreach ($posts as $post){
        echo '<option value="', $post['id'], '">', $post['title'], '</option>';
    }
    ?>
    </select>
    </p>
    <p><input type="submit" value="Upload" /></p>
</form>

file that contain the functions about blogs:

<?php

//checks if the given post id is in the table
function valid_pid($pid) {
    $pid = (int)$pid;

    $total = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT(`post_id`) FROM `posts` WHERE `post_id` = {$pid}");
    $total = mysql_result($total, 0);

    if ($total != 1) {
        return false;
    }else{
        return true;
    }
}

//gets a summary of all blog posts
function get_posts() {
    $sql = "SELECT
                `posts`.`post_id` AS `id`,
                `posts`.`post_title` AS `title`,
                LEFT(`posts`.`post_body`, 512) AS `preview`,
                `posts`.`post_user` AS `user`,
                DATE_FORMAT(`posts`.`post_date`, '%m-%d-%Y %H:%i:%s') AS `date`,
                `comments`.`total_comments`,
                DATE_FORMAT(`comments`.`last_comment`, '%m-%d-%Y %H:%i:%s') AS `last_comment`
            FROM `posts`
            LEFT JOIN(
                SELECT
                    `post_id`,
                    COUNT(`comment_id`) AS `total_comments`,
                    MAX(`comment_date`) AS `last_comment`
                FROM `comments`
                GROUP BY `post_id`
            ) AS `comments`
            ON `posts`.`post_id` = `comments`.`post_id`
            ORDER BY `posts`.`post_date` DESC";

    $posts = mysql_query($sql);

 $rows = array();
        while (($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($posts)) !== false) {
                $rows[] = array(
                        'id'                       => $row['id'],
                        'title'                   => $row['title'],
                        'preview'             => $row['preview'],
                        'user'                   => $row['user'],
                        'date'                   => $row['date'],
                        'total_comments' => ($row['total_comments'] === null) ? 0 : $row['total_comments'],
                        'last_comment'     => ($row['last_comment'] === null) ? 'none' : $row['last_comment']
                );
    }

    return $rows;
}

//gets a single post from the table
function get_post($pid) {
    $pid = (int)$pid;

    $sql = "SELECT
                `post_title` AS `title`,
                `post_body` AS `body`,
                `post_user` AS `user`,
                `post_date` AS `date`
            FROM `posts`
            WHERE `post_id` = {$pid}";

    $post = mysql_query($sql);
    $post = mysql_fetch_assoc($post);

    $post['comments'] = get_comments($pid);

    return $post;
}

//adds a new blog entry
function add_post($name, $title, $body) {
    $name = mysql_real_escape_string(htmlentities($name));
    $title = mysql_real_escape_string(htmlentities($title));
    $body = mysql_real_escape_string(nl2br(htmlentities($body)));

    mysql_query("INSERT INTO `posts` (`post_user`, `post_title`, `post_body`, `post_date`) VALUES ('{$name}', '{$title}', '{$body}', NOW())");
}

?>

Thanks for any help and sorry if this seems like a dumb question..I'm still learning

-GENEH23

[vlowe]

do you mean you want the second select box to automatically update once the first select box is selected?

you will need some javascript to acheive this if so.

[klemme]

Is the second select box not getting any data at all, or what is the problem?

Looks like you have an error in your foreach loop in the second select list:

$sql = "SELECT
            `post_title` AS `title` FROM `posts`
        WHERE `post_id` = {$pid}";

$post = mysql_query($sql);

// You need an s here, to make it work in your foreach loop, right?
$post = mysql_fetch_assoc($post);
// Should be: 
$posts = mysql_fetch_assoc($post);    
// so you get:

foreach ($posts as $post){
    echo '<option value="', $post['id'], '">', $post['title'], '</option>';
}

Dont know if this was your problem?, as you dont write it specific.. :-)

[geneh23]

Sorry It's been a while since I posted back. I actually fixed the issue. I was missing the $posts = get_posts(); above the form. I needed to call that function for the select menu to function properly..hehe no pun intened...well maybe a little :P but all is well. I'll be asking another question reguarding generally the same code. Thanks!

-geneh23