PHP html Form value found in array

Question

Hi I am trying to store values chosen in a forms array. I use the form values as index to find the values in an array that has the actual word. ex "nf" => Newfoundland

<!-- PROVINCES CHOICE -->
Province (Multiple Select) <font style="color:red;">*</font>
     <select name="province[]" multiple = "multiple" style = "background-color:<?php echo $colorProvince; ?>">                                      
        <!-- Option select for province -->
        <option value="--" disabled="disabled">--Please Select Provinces--</option>
        <option value="nf">Newfoundland</option>
        <option value="pe">Prince Edward Island</option>
        <option value="nb">New Brunswick</option>
        <option value="ns">Nova Scotia</option>
        <option value="qc">Quebec</option>
        <option value="on">Ontario</option>
        <option value="mb">Manitoba</option>
        <option value="sk">Saskatchewan</option>
        <option value="ab">Alberta</option>
        <option value="bc">British Columbia</option>
        <option value="nt">Northwest Territories</option>
    </select>

    <?PHP $PROVINCES = array(
        "--"=>"---Please Select Provinces---",                
        "nf"=>"Newfoundland",
        "pe"=>"PrinceEdwardIsland",
        "nb"=>"New Brunswick",
        "ns"=>"Nova Scotia",
        "qc"=>"Quebec",
        "on"=>"Ontario",
        "mb"=>"Manitoba",
        "sk"=>"Saskatchewan",
        "ab"=>"Alberta",
        "bc"=>"British Columbia",
        "nt"=>"Northwest Territories");

    {
        foreach($PROVINCES as $prov => $selectedProvince)               
        {
            $province = $province . $selectedProvince . " , ";              

        }
        echo $province;
   ?>

I think I am just filling the variable wrong using the province array and the forms array. Any help and explanation you can provide is excellent. Thank you.

Answer 1

At the moment, you are not searching for the values that were selected in your form in the keys in $PROVINCES, so you're not getting the results you want.

When you are processing the form data, you need to correlate the values from $_POST['province'] (or $_GET['province'] if it's a GET form), and then translate them using your array of abbreviations and full titles. However, since you have this list of abbreviations and titles, you can also use them to populate the select element when you create the form. Here is some code to demonstrate that.

Early in the script, declare the array of provinces and abbreviations:

$p_arr = array(
    "ab"=>"Alberta",
    "bc"=>"British Columbia",
    "mb"=>"Manitoba",
    "nb"=>"New Brunswick",
    "nf"=>"Newfoundland",
    "nt"=>"Northwest Territories",
    "ns"=>"Nova Scotia",
    "on"=>"Ontario",
    "pe"=>"Prince Edward Island",
    "qc"=>"Quebec",
    "sk"=>"Saskatchewan",
);
?>

Later on, in the form creation code:

<label for="province_select">Province (multiple select) <em class="rqd">*</em></label>
<select id="province_select" name="province[]" multiple="multiple">
    <option value="--" disabled="disabled">--Please Select Provinces--</option>
<?php
    # add the options using the keys and values from the abbreviation/province
    foreach ($p_arr as $pk => $pv) {
        echo
'       <option value="' . $pk . '">' . $pv . "</option>\n";
    }
?>

And in the code where you're processing input from the form:

<?php
    # this function gets the province name from $p_arr when given an abbreviation
    function get_province( $p ) {
        if (isset($GLOBALS['p_arr'][$p])) {
            return $GLOBALS['p_arr'][$p];
        }
    }

    if ($_POST) {  // or $_GET
        # if 'province' is set in the form
        if ($_POST['province']) {
            # create $prov_str by applying the function "get_province" to all the
            # values in $_POST['province'], and join them with ", "
            $prov_str = implode(", ", array_map( "get_province", $_POST['province'] ) );
            echo "$prov_str\n";
        }
    }

Sample input: bc, nf, ns, qc

Output: British Columbia, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec