Submitting multiple values to mysql database using one html option

Question

I'm having trouble with this part of my form. I'm not quite sure what's going wrong, so I thought I'd see if anyone here could throw me a hint.

My code is attempting to determine the sex of the user as well as their sexual orientation using only one option. I'm pretty sure this is possible, but I think my syntax is slightly off.

<select name="gender" title="gender" class="dropdown nextPanel <?=( $this->get('error_gender') === true ) ? 'error' : ''?>">
    <option value=""><?php echo $this->localization->get( 'form1.choose' ); ?></option><!-- Text: - - Choose - - -->
    <option value="M" <?=( $_POST['gender']['orientation'] == 'M' . 'F')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Man Seeking a Woman</option>
    <option value="F" <?=( $_POST['gender']['orientation'] == 'F' . 'M')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Woman Seeking a Man</option>
    <option value="M" <?=( $_POST['gender']['orientation'] == 'M' . 'M')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Man Seeking a Man</option>
    <option value="F" <?=( $_POST['gender']['orientation'] == 'F' . 'F')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Woman Seeking a Woman</option>
</select>

I've been crawling documentation but I think I'm overlooking something really small and stupid. I know this one will come easy to someone out there! Thanks for any tips!

Answer 1

<select name="gender" title="gender" class="dropdown nextPanel <?=( $this->get('error_gender') === true ) ? 'error' : ''?>">
    <option value=""><?php echo $this->localization->get( 'form1.choose' ); ?></option><!-- Text: - - Choose - - -->
    <option value="MF" <?=( $_POST['gender']['orientation'] == 'M' . 'F')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Man Seeking a Woman</option>
    <option value="FM" <?=( $_POST['gender']['orientation'] == 'F' . 'M')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Woman Seeking a Man</option>
    <option value="MM" <?=( $_POST['gender']['orientation'] == 'M' . 'M')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Man Seeking a Man</option>
    <option value="FF" <?=( $_POST['gender']['orientation'] == 'F' . 'F')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Woman Seeking a Woman</option>
</select>

Answer 2

I think the 'orientation' index is not needed while retrieving values from $_POST. Try this:

<select name="gender" title="gender" class="dropdown nextPanel <?=( $this->get('error_gender') === true ) ? 'error' : ''?>">     
    <option value=""><?php echo $this->localization->get( 'form1.choose' ); ?></option><!-- Text: - - Choose - - -->     
    <option value="M" <?=( $_POST['gender'] == 'M' . 'F')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Man Seeking a Woman</option>     
    <option value="F" <?=( $_POST['gender'] == 'F' . 'M')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Woman Seeking a Man</option>     
    <option value="M" <?=( $_POST['gender'] == 'M' . 'M')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Man Seeking a Man</option>     
    <option value="F" <?=( $_POST['gender'] == 'F' . 'F')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Woman Seeking a Woman</option> 
</select> 

I assume this page is posted back to self.

Answer 3

When this field is POSTED, it will will show up as:

$_POST['gender'] = 'M'

-or-

$_POST['gender'] = 'F'

You cannot tell, from that limited information, what their preference is.

Also, the term $_POST['gender']['orientation'] does not map to a valid array element, because the name of your input field is "gender" , not "gender[orientation]" .

What you should do is give the <option> tags the following values:

<option value="MF">
<option value="FM">
<option value="MM">
<option value="FF">

Then when you recieve it on the server, you can use array notation:

if($_POST['gender'][0] == 'M')
   // gender is male

if($_POST['gender'][1] == 'F')
   // seeking is female

Does that help?

Answer 4

This should work

<select name="gender" title="gender" class="dropdown nextPanel <?=( $this->get('error_gender') === true ) ? 'error' : ''?>">
    <option value=""><?php echo $this->localization->get( 'form1.choose' ); ?></option><!-- Text: - - Choose - - -->
    <option value="MF" <?=( $_POST['gender'] == 'MF')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Man Seeking a Woman</option>
    <option value="FM" <?=( $_POST['gender'] == 'FM')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Woman Seeking a Man</option>
    <option value="MM" <?=( $_POST['gender'] == 'MM')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Man Seeking a Man</option>
    <option value="FF" <?=( $_POST['gender'] == 'FF')? 'selected="selected"' : ''?>>Woman Seeking a Woman</option>
</select>