POST selected value in php

Question

I am trying $_POST an UPDATE to the following mysql table:
Note: there are 3 dropdowns that are dynamically populated by indexed table id's:

• status
• category
• access
  

Referenced table

Table1: app_generalData
+----------+--------+--------------+------------------+------+----------------+
| app_id | table | status_id | category_id | tags | access_id |
+----------+--------+--------------+------------------+------+----------------+

Status Notes

See the print_r test below.

• The stored options (selected) are populating for each of the 3 dropdowns
• The form is POST'ing, but...only text inputs.

print_r($_POST)

Array (
[MAX_FILE_SIZE] => 100000
[app_id] => 2
[title] => MyZone
[status] =>
[category] =>
[tags] => MY New Tag
[access] =>
[update] => Update )

Problem:

1. The options are not changing when a new value is "selected"
2. The options are not showing up in the $_POST
3. The resulting UPDATE is creating a zero(0) in place of my existing values for the selected options.

Desired Result:

1. $_POST selected option value

Code for populating one of the select tags:

<?php

//connect to the database
require_once('connectvars.php');

// global variable for this populating this dropdown
$dropdown =         "status";
$before_var =       "app_";
$table=             $before_var.$dropdown;
$after_var =        "_title";
$column=            $dropdown.$after_var;
$id_var=            "_id";
$column_row_id=     $dropdown.$id_var;

$optionsList = array();

$dbc = mysqli_connect(DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DB_NAME)
    or die ('Error connecting to MySQL server.');

echo '<select name="' . $dropdown . '" 
          type="text" 
          class=""
          id="' . $dropdown . '">';

// See if we're viewing a selected app or are we creating a new app
if (isset($_GET['app_id'])) {
          // print_r($_GET); // GET is Successful

  // 'if' [app_id] is appended in the url

      // STEP 1: Get the stored value of the SELECTED from mysql

          // Get "selected item" (id) from app_generalData (table) with the "selected app" (id)
          $option = "SELECT  ".$column_row_id." FROM app_generalData WHERE app_id ='" . $_GET['app_id'] . "'";

          // submit the select statement
          // Get & store the value of "selected" <option>
          $selected_option = mysqli_query($dbc, $option) 
              or die(mysql_error());
          $row_1=mysqli_fetch_array($selected_option);

      // STEP 2: Build the SELECT input

          // Set the array of data to populate dropdown list <option>s
          $options = "SELECT * FROM ".$table." ORDER BY ".$column_row_id."";
                // NOTE: print_r($options)...SELECT access_title FROM app_access ORDER BY access_id
            $selected_options = mysqli_query($dbc, $options)
                or die(mysqli_error());

            $kk     = 0;   //initialize kk
           while($row_2 = mysqli_fetch_array($selected_options)) {

                $selected ='';
                if($row_1["$column_row_id"]==$row_2["$column_row_id"]) {
                $selected='selected="selected"';
                }
                $optionsList[$kk++] ='<option ' . $selected . ' value "' . $row_2["$column_row_id"] . '">' . ucwords($row_2["$column"]) . '</option>';
           }

          // Echo the <option>s
              $optionCount = count($optionsList);
              for($i=0;$i<$optionCount;$i++) {
                  echo $optionsList[$i].'\n';
              }

    }
    else {
        // Action 'if' no [app_id] is appended in the url
    };
    // close the last <select> tag
    echo '</select>';

    // close the last database
    mysqli_close($dbc); 
?>

Answer 1

select is a boolean attribute

it's not $selected='selected="selected"'; but $selected='selected';.

Just <option value="product_1" selected>pizza</option>.

See select examples: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/select

---

The form is POST'ing, but...only text inputs.

when your form is submitted, check the network tab in your browser. take a look at the POST request send. your select formelement (dropdown) is named "status". it should be populated.

in other words: fix your html.

---

Remove $kk and instead of

$optionsList[$kk++] = '<option ' . $selected . ' value "' . $row_2["$column_row_id"] . '">' . ucwords($row_2["$column"]) . '</option>';

just

$optionsList[] = '<option ' . $selected . ' value="' . $row_2["$column_row_id"] . '">' . ucwords($row_2["$column"]) . '</option>';

---

Instead of:

// Echo the <option>s
$optionCount = count($optionsList);
for($i=0;$i<$optionCount;$i++) {
   echo $optionsList[$i].'\n';
}

just

echo implode($optionsList, "\n") . "\n";

---

unrelated, but remove and move comment to the top (if..):

else {
    // Action 'if' no [app_id] is appended in the url
};