Checkbox submissions

Let me start by saying yes I know there are vulnerabilities in the code. What I do not understand is why the check boxes are not working in the same manner as an input text does. (the input text works fine.
What is happening is if i select three options in the middle of the form the first three records are posting. If I select two then the first two post. so on and so on



Form:



Input page:

Checkboxes are only submitted when they are checked.

Yep that is what I thought also but for some reason in this case that is not the case. If I select Chardonnay and Club Soda. Bacardi Rum and Baileys Irish Cream will post. If I select Bombay Gin and Bottled Water. Bacardi Rum and Baileys Irish Cream will post.
For testing I changed the check boxes to text fields and everything behaves as expected.

Yes it is the case. You're not understanding how your code works.

How are the quantities for the gin and Baileys?

Sorry, I dont quite understand what you are asking me. Is this what you are asking?



even if i take everything away and just have the following it is still behaving in the same manner?

echo "<input type=checkbox name=pulledQty[] value=10>";


this is the entire form:

I mean the data being saved. If I understand how your form works, the quantities saved for the gin and Baileys will be both 10. Or -10? Not 31 and 10 like I think you showed.

With two checkboxes PHP will receive something like

With three,

Either way $_POST["pulledQty"] will contain an array of 2 or 3 items, and there's nothing in there that indicates whether the checkboxes correspond to items 0, 1, 2 or 0, 3, 19. The code just pulls them out in order and so they'll be paired up with the first three items it finds (which, unlike the checkboxes, were all submitted).

Couple options:

The way I prefer to do this is to find a way to relate the checkboxes to the items they pair up with. Typically that's with an array key, like

(though it's generally an ID number and not an actual name)
Your loop over the items can then (1) look to see if there's a related quantity in the pulledQty array and (2) use that value if present or do something else (eg, use 0 or skip the item entirely) if not.

The way I do not like still uses array keys but doesn't need to actually relate the checkbox to the item. It forces there to be a value every time, regardless if the checkbox is checked.

The hidden input will always be sent thus the default is the value 0. If the user hits the checkbox then its value will overwrite the default and you'll get 31 instead.

[edit] Note that you still need array keys for this: with just "pulledQty[]" you'll only append new values to the array - not overwrite.

Okay, I understand using the key, I can use the value from ID. What I dont get is how to then relate that to submitting it

I still don not understand why if I change the checkbox to a textbox the code functions as expected.

Relate what?


Because textboxes are always submitted, even if they're empty.

I do not know how to relate that to the submission page. I know that "<input type=checkbox name=pulledQty[$id] value=10> assigns a key value to the checkbox but I dont know how then to have the information posted so it can be inserted into the database

If what's in pulledItem are those $id values you're using then sure.

Right now you have a for loop. In code it has a "while" but really it's a for loop: $i counts from 0 up to $n. Inside it grabs the quantity from $pulledQty according to $i. That $i is not the right key anymore - you have to use the value from the $pulledItem instead.

so are you saying something like this?

if(isset($_POST['pulledItem']))
{
$id = $_POST['id'];
$pulledItem = $_POST['pulledItem'];
$pulledQty = $_POST['pulledQty'];
$n = count($pulledItem);
$id = 0;
while ($id < $n)
{
$dbh=mysql_connect ($data_base_connection, $user, $password) or die ('I cannot connect to the database because: ' . mysql_error());
mysql_select_db ("hmsglobal");
$result=mysql_query("INSERT INTO unionInv (unionInvItem,unionQty) VALUES ('{$pulledItem[$id]}','{$pulledQty[$id]}')")or die("Insert Error: ".mysql_error());
mysql_close;
$date = addslashes($date);
$id++;
}
}

What is this $_POST['id'] coming from?

Actually you know what? What does your form look like?

This is what my form currently looks like. Honestly, I understand why to include a key to the array but I am clueless when it comes to apply that understanding.

I'd say try focusing your mind on 2 items. As far as when inserting into your database, what will unionInvItem,unionQty be? One a name, the other a number? If unionInvItem is a number, then the 2 items we've in mind is itemID and itemQty. For your key portion of the checkbox, make it your itemID, and the 2nd part will hold itemQty. Then, on your page to insert into database, you can do shorthand if/then to assign the submitted values to the variables being inserted.