How to pass an array of checked/unchecked checkbox values to PHP email generator?

Here's my solution:

With an array of checkboxes in the html like so...

<input type="hidden" name="something[]" value="off" />
<input type="checkbox" name="something[]" />
<input type="hidden" name="something[]" value="off" />
<input type="checkbox" name="something[]" />
<input type="hidden" name="something[]" value="off" />
<input type="checkbox" name="something[]" />

I then fix the posted array with this function...

$_POST[ 'something' ] = $this->fixArrayOfCheckboxes( $_POST[ 'something' ] );
function fixArrayOfCheckboxes( $checks ) {
    $newChecks = array();
    for( $i = 0; $i < count( $checks ); $i++ ) {
        if( $checks[ $i ] == 'off' && $checks[ $i + 1 ] == 'on' ) {
            $newChecks[] = 'on';
            $i++;
        }
        else {
            $newChecks[] = 'off';
        }
    }
    return $newChecks;
}

This will give me an array with values of either 'on' or 'off' for each (and every) checkbox.

Note that the hidden input MUST be BEFORE the checkbox input in order for the function to work right.

To get checked and unchecked both values in POST place a hidden field with exactly the same name but with opposite value as compared to the original chkbox value such that in this case the value will be '0'

<input type="hidden" name="chk_name[]" value="0" />
<input type="checkbox"  name="chk_name[]"  value="1"/>
 <input type="hidden" name="chk_name[]" value="0" />
<input type="checkbox"  name="chk_name[]"  value="1"/>

<?php 
function getAllChkboxValues($chk_name) {
    $found = array(); //create a new array 
    foreach($chk_name as $key => $val) {
        //echo "KEY::".$key."VALue::".$val."<br>";
        if($val == '1') { //replace '1' with the value you want to search
            $found[] = $key;
        }
    }
    foreach($found as $kev_f => $val_f) {
        unset($chk_name[$val_f-1]); //unset the index of un-necessary values in array
    }   
    final_arr = array(); //create the final array
    return $final_arr = array_values($chk_name); //sort the resulting array again
}
$chkox_arr = getAllChkboxValues($_POST['chk_name']); //Chkbox Values
echo"<pre>";
print_r($chkox_arr);
?>

Change the value for each checkbox to something unique:

<input type="checkbox" name="mailing[]" value="Yes-1"> 
<input type="checkbox" name="mailing[]" value="Yes-2"> 

etc. In order to do this from your jQuery code, add another line that assigns the value to the new checkbox:

x.find('input:checkbox').each(function() { this.value='Yes-'+n; }); 

You'll have to define n on the initial page load. Assuming you start with only one "person", just add right above your $(".add").click handler:

var n=1;

And then:

• in your $(".add").click handler, increment the value of n
• in your $(".remove").click handler, decrement the value of n

$mailing = array();
foreach($_POST as $v){
    $mailing[] = trim(stripslashes($v));
}

To handle unchecked boxes it would be better to set each checkbox with a unique value:

<input type="checkbox" name="mailing[1]" value="Yes">
<input type="checkbox" name="mailing[2]" value="Yes">

or

<input type="checkbox" name="mailing[a]" value="Yes">
<input type="checkbox" name="mailing[b]" value="Yes">

Then have a list of the checkboxes:

$boxes = array(1,2,3);
$mailing = array();
$p = array_key_exists('mailing',$_POST) ? $_POST['mailing'] : array();
foreach($boxes as $v){
    if(array_key_exists($v,$p)){
        $mailing[$v] = trim(stripslashes($p[$v]));
    }else{
        $mailing[$v] = 'No';
    }
}

print_r($mailing);

You could also use this with a number of checkboxes instead:

$boxes = 3;
$mailing = array();
$p = array_key_exists('mailing',$_POST) ? $_POST['mailing'] : array();
for($v = 0; $v < $boxes; $v++){
    if(array_key_exists($v,$p)){
        $mailing[$v] = trim(stripslashes($p[$v]));
    }else{
        $mailing[$v] = 'No';
    }
}

print_r($mailing);