PHP dropdown only selecting the last item in list

Question

I created a drop down list in PHP and it's selecting the last item of the list and I can't figure out why it's doing this.

When I echo the event_id (the value that is returned), it's the last item every time. The list is populated correctly.

$forms = mysql_query("select events.event_title, events.event_id, saved_forms.id from events
                     INNER JOIN saved_forms on saved_forms.id = events.event_id
                    where saved_forms.form_type = 'e' and events.event_by = '$my_username'");   

while($form = mysql_fetch_array($forms)){
    $form_id = $form['event_id'];
    $selection.="<OPTION VALUE=\"$form_id\">".$form['event_title']."</OPTION>";
}

?>
<div id="saved_forms">
<tr><td><select name ="saved_form" value ="<? echo $form_id; ?>" onchange="showUser(<? echo $form_id; ?>)">
<Option value="$form_id"><? echo $selection; ?></Select></td><td>Select Existing Form</td></tr>
</div>

What does the generated HTML look like? You should also remove the space between your attributes and values in <select>, and not use the mysql_* extensions as they have been deprecated - go with mysqli or PDO instead. — doublesharp
– doublesharp, Commented Nov 9, 2012 at 3:26
It's done through an ajax request, so I'm not sure how to check the html. However, when I echo the event_id (the output), it's the last item of the list. — user1406951
– user1406951, Commented Nov 9, 2012 at 3:30
I'm not totally sure what you are doing, but to select a value you put "selected" on the option, not a value on the select box, and you should be passing something like JSON if it's and AJAX request, not HTML. — doublesharp
– doublesharp, Commented Nov 9, 2012 at 3:32

quentinxs · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-09 03:31:50Z

1

Your problem is here

<select name="saved_form" value="<? echo $form_id; ?>" onchange="showUser(<? echo $form_id; ?>)">

By giving the select tag a value of $form_id you have a high chance of overriding the value set in the options. And you shouldn't hardcode the value into the onchange event. Try removing the value from select and let the option tags do the work.

<select name="saved_form" onchange="showUser(this.value)">

answered Nov 9, 2012 at 3:31

quentinxs

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5 Comments

doublesharp Over a year ago

value isn't even a valid attribute for <select>

quentinxs Over a year ago

I know, but I'm not about to get into random browser quirks

user1406951 Over a year ago

Thanks, this worked perfectly but I'm a bit confused. Where is javascript acquiring the value for this.value? Does it just inherit the value from the name of the div (saved_form)?

quentinxs Over a year ago

"this" refers to the current tag, and "value" is an attribute assigned to the tag, and the select tag gets its value from the value of whichever option is currently selected.

user1406951 Over a year ago

Ok, so basically it just relates it to the option tag, right? I don't use javascript much so I really apprecaite the explanation.

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