Thanks for the tip.
> From: Erik Price <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2002 17:05:39 -0400
> To: Mike Tuller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Cc: php mailing list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Re: [PHP] Populate Popup Menu from Database
>
>
> On Monday, July 1, 2002, at 04:22 PM, Mike Tuller wrote:
>
>> Thanks. Here is what I did for future reference.
>
> Good. What you chose to do is exactly what I do except for one
> thing... :
>
>> $sql = "select department_name from Departments";
>
> I generally grab the primary key column value as well, in the same
> query, and then I use that as the "value" attribute for the <option>
> tags:
>
>> while($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql_result))
>> {
>> $department = $row["department_name"];
>> echo "<option value = '$department'>$department</option>";
>>
>> }
>
> while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
> $dept_id = $row['department_id'];
> $dept_name = $row['department_name'];
> echo "<option value='$dept_id'>$department_name</option>\n";
> }
>
> The reason I do this is because I end up using the ID far more than the
> "name" of a database record -- while I might echo the "name" to the user
> where needed (such as in the above dropdown listbox), the ID comes in
> handy as a reference in hyperlinks, form fields, etc -- it provides
> something that I've discovered is really missing in writing HTML-based
> applications: a unique handle on an object. This is very hard to
> replicate given the statelessness of HTTP, but with a database record's
> primary key, you always have this unique identifier by which to refer to
> the object. and a number is more pithy than a name.
>
> It'll avoid situations where someone enters the same "name" value twice,
> too. But it's not really a big deal unless you're doing a lot of work
> with a lot of data.
>
>
> Erik
>
>
>
> ----
>
> Erik Price
> Web Developer Temp
> Media Lab, H.H. Brown
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
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