PHP strings and concatenation

Question

I have changed my code and now I have a new error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '<' in
 /webroot/c/o/..../...../www/a/drop_down_car_test.php on line 19

here is the code:

<?php

//////connecting to our sql server
$db_connect=mysql_connect("xxxx", "xxxxxxxxx", "xxxxxxxxxx")     or die("not logged in");
//////now selecting our database
$db_select=mysql_select_db("coden003_car") or die(mysql_error());
////this query is used the first time the page loads
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM car "); 

echo '<form action="drop_down_car_test.php?" method="GET">';
echo '<table border = \"1\">';
echo '<tr><td>id</td><td>car</td><td>name</td>';

while($row=mysql_fetch_array($query)){
echo "<tr><td>";
echo $row['id'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo "<select name='carDropDown." . $row['id'] . "' >";
<option value="1">ford</option>;  <---------line 19
<option value="2">toyota</option>;
<option value="3">gmc</option>;
</select>";
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['name'];
echo "</td><td>";
}////end while
echo"<table>";

echo '<td bgcolor=#7FFF00><input type="submit" value="Update"></td>';
echo "</form>";

?>

im use to C++ usage of quotes and PHP confuses me.

the html at the top should have a <?php ?> tag for the PHP part, and in your PHP code at the bottom, you have a syntax error in $_GET[]. what are you trying to do and what's "not working?" — kennypu
– kennypu, Commented Dec 4, 2012 at 23:33
The problem is how you output the id_field in your html, you must switch to php: <select name="carDropDown<?php print $row['id_field']; ?>">. When you have a problem like this try printing out the contents of the array to see what's going on: print_r($_GET); — Cyclonecode
– Cyclonecode, Commented Dec 4, 2012 at 23:34
That's a poor name for select, but what you want is $_GET['carDropDown.$row[\'id_field'\]'] — Squazic
– Squazic, Commented Dec 4, 2012 at 23:55

imkingdavid · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-05 00:32:01Z

1

In your code:

echo '<select name="carDropDown.$row['id']">

You need to make it:

echo "<select name=\"carDropDown.{$row['id']}\">

You were not escaping the ', but also you can't use a variable inside single quotes, but you can use one inside double quotes (array calls must be wrapped in { and }).

And of course the closing ' at the end of that string needs to be changed to "

And you're missing a semicolon at the end of that string.

And you didn't close the block (you forgot a closing }).

answered Dec 5, 2012 at 0:32

imkingdavid

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Comments

Ardavan Kalhori · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-05 00:38:27Z

0

Try these:

echo "<select name='carDropDown." . $row['id'] . "' >";

OR

echo "<select name=carDropDown.$row['id'] >";

In PHP you can CONCAT strings like this:

echo "hello" . "world" . $yourVariable . " Something else ";

http://php.net/manual/en/internals2.opcodes.concat.php

answered Dec 5, 2012 at 0:38

Ardavan Kalhori

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Comments

Sean · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-05 01:05:47Z

0

Another way to do the <select> name, which will make it a little easier to read on the $_GET[] is to make carDropDown an array with the $row['id'] as the array key.

echo '<select name="carDropDown['.$row['id'].']">

Now on the php side you can do -

foreach ($row['id'] as $id){
$carName=$_GET['carDropDown'][$id]];
echo $carName;}

answered Dec 5, 2012 at 1:05

Sean

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