7 Replies Latest reply: Mar 18, 2012 3:20 PM by whatalotofrubbish RSS

    setting dynamic default values in a list/menu

    whatalotofrubbish Community Member
    whatalotofrubbish Feb 6, 2012 1:21 AM

      To save problems with inserting dates into a Mysql database, I have split the input fields on the file insert form into three drop down lists containing the day, month and year.

      In order to make it easy for users, I wish to take the current date, split it into day (dd) month (mm) and year (yyyy), and use one of these values as the default option for each of the three fields.

      In html you would use :

       

      <option value="2012" selected>2012</option> for the default, but this is a fixed default.

       

      I want it to change depending on the actual year., so that if today is 21-02-2012, (thats how we use dates in the UK)  the three fields default to 21 (dd) 02 (mm)  2012 (yyyy).

      I can re-format them into MySql date format mmddyyyy no problem later to insert them into the database

       

      Any ideas?

       

      Or is there a better way to do this?

        • 1. Re: setting dynamic default values in a list/menu
          bregent CommunityMVP
          bregent Feb 6, 2012 1:56 PM (in response to whatalotofrubbish)

          In ASP/VBScript you would:

           

          <option value=<%=DatePart("yyyy",Now())%> selected><%=DatePart("yyyy",Now())%></option>

           

          In PHP, you could use the getdate() function to return the current date in an array and reference the year using the [year] subscript.

          • 2. Re: setting dynamic default values in a list/menu
            whatalotofrubbish Community Member
            whatalotofrubbish Feb 7, 2012 3:51 AM (in response to bregent)

            That's a good idea. I filled my date options from a snippet, and never thought of typing the code into the options box.

            Will work on it.

            Thanks

             

            Howard Walker

            • 3. Re: setting dynamic default values in a list/menu
              David_Powers CommunityMVP
              David_Powers Feb 7, 2012 5:26 AM (in response to whatalotofrubbish) 
              <option value="2012" <?php if (date('Y') == '2012') echo 'selected'; ?>>2012</option>
              • 4. Re: setting dynamic default values in a list/menu
                whatalotofrubbish Community Member
                whatalotofrubbish Feb 7, 2012 8:12 AM (in response to bregent)

                This is what I came up with.

                <?php $thedate = getdate(); 

                $d=$thedate[mday]; 

                $m=$thedate[mon];

                $y=$thedate[year];

                echo "Today's Date: ". $d .'/' .$m. '/'. $y;

                ?>

                /* the form and the rest of the select items not shown */

                <option value="<?php echo($m)

                   ?>" selected>Current Month</option>

                 

                Seems to work with no problems, though the first time I tried it, it returned the current month + 1.

                Since then I remembered to put <selected> in the code and now it works every time.

                Put it in position 1 in the list, else the list looks odd.

                 

                Message was edited by: Howard Walker Fixed a small problem.

                • 5. Re: setting dynamic default values in a list/menu
                  bregent CommunityMVP
                  bregent Feb 7, 2012 12:13 PM (in response to whatalotofrubbish)

                  Take a look at Davids solution too. His would eliminate duplicate values from appearing in the list (the static value plus the dynamic one). Duplicates shouldn't cause a problem, however.

                  You can do the same for the rest of the fields, using the condition test for each possible value.

                  • 6. Re: setting dynamic default values in a list/menu
                    whatalotofrubbish Community Member
                    whatalotofrubbish Feb 9, 2012 4:40 AM (in response to bregent)

                    I had another look and must agree that David's idea is a lot more elegent than the way I did it. Bit more code, but it does get rid of the duplicate values in each list.

                    Will use that one. Thanks to you both.

                    • 7. Re: setting dynamic default values in a list/menu
                      whatalotofrubbish Community Member
                      whatalotofrubbish Mar 18, 2012 3:20 PM (in response to David_Powers)

                      <option value="2012" <?php if (date('Y') == '2012') echo 'selected'; ?>>2012</option>

                      The above solution works well for that item.

                       

                      I now have another one which may help others.

                      I populate a drop down list with the values 1 to 12, with the default being set to 6 and insert a record.

                      This represents the number of months that the record will be displayed until it is deleted.

                      When I pull the record back from the database to update it, I need to show the current value of the field, which is stored in $row_eventset['event_expiry'] ready for it to be updated.

                      Code as follows:

                       

                      <select name="event_expiry" size="1" tabindex="5" title="select from the list">

                       

                      <?php for ($i = 1; $i <= 12; $i++) { // loop through the months

                                echo "<option value= '$i' " ;

                            if ($i == $row_eventset['event_expiry']) {                               //check if this is the same as the record being edited

                             echo 'selected="selected" ' ;                                                 // if so select it

                             }

                                  echo ">$i</option <br>";                                                  // the <br> is essential in a browser, though it works without it in live view.

                              }

                      ?>

                      </select>

                       

                      I hope that it saves someone some time.

                       

                      When I first tried this, it worked fine in live view. However in a browser, all the months appeared on the same line. I had to insert the <br> command to make it work properly.