inserting values from multipe selected checkboxes

Question

So the whole scenario is as follows:

I have a form on my website which has multiple values of checkboxes. For example, "price" has four checkboxes. The user can select anywhere from none to all four checkboxes.

I am unable to insert the "SELECTED" checkbox value into the table of the database. I have tried all the methods that I could find on Google and Stackoverflow.

I am relatively new into PHP, so I know very little about it. But to get this problem right, I have gone through various documentations, many in fact.

Anyways, here is what I am doing right now, and it works. But it's a bad method and I know there would be a much more efficient way of doing that.

<div class="panel-body">
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price1" value="Less than 10,000, "> Less than 10,000</label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price2" value="10,001 to 15000, "> 10,001 - 15000</label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price3" value="15,001 to 25000, "> 15,001 - 25000 </label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price4" value="25,001 to 35000, "> 25,001 - 35000 </label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price5" value="35,001 and more, "> 35,001 and more </label>
</div>

So basically each of the individual checkboxes for the price has its own independent name.

The corresponding PHP is as follows

            <?php
        session_start();

        $_SESSION["f1"]=$_REQUEST["price1"];
        $_SESSION["f2"]=$_REQUEST["price2"];
        $_SESSION["f3"]=$_REQUEST["price3"];
        $_SESSION["f4"]=$_REQUEST["price4"];
        $_SESSION["f5"]=$_REQUEST["price5"];
        $_SESSION["f"]=$_SESSION["f1"].$_SESSION["f2"].$_SESSION["f3"].$_SESSION["f4"].$_SESSION["f5"];


        $z6=$_SESSION["f"];

        require_once('ConnectDB.php');
        $conn=mysql_connect(SERVER,USER,PASSWORD);
        mysql_select_db(DATABASE,$conn);

        query="insert into mobile_frm values('".$z6."')";
        mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());


        echo"Thanks for using us";
        header('Location: gadget.html');
        mysql_close($conn);

        ?>

This is the PHP script that writes the form value in the Database. I have only included a part of it to keep it plain and simple.

Here I am just taking all the individual values and making one string out of them.

Please give me some direction into it.

Answer 1

You can send an array of form elements, just change your markup to:

<input type="checkbox" name="prices[]" value="Less than 10,000, ">
<input type="checkbox" name="prices[]" value="10,001 to 15000, "> 
// etc...

Then, PHP side:

$prices = $_POST['prices'];   // this is now an array, work on it

Answer 2

use square bracket([]) after name of the checkbox.

<label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price1[]" value="Less than 10,000, "> Less than 10,000</label>

In PHP you can use

$price1 = $_POST['price1'];

Answer 3

Below is the code showing that how to use multiple checkbox fields in PHP.

First change the checkbox name to price[].

<div class="panel-body">
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="Less than 10,000, "> Less than 10,000</label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="10,001 to 15000, "> 10,001 - 15000</label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="15,001 to 25000, "> 15,001 - 25000 </label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="25,001 to 35000, "> 25,001 - 35000 </label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="35,001 and more, "> 35,001 and more </label>
</div>

How to take value in PHP?

Ans: You can directly take value: $prices = $_POST['prices']; In this case you can get your value as an array. If you want delimiter then use $price = implode(', ', $_POST['price']);.

Answer 4

    <div class="panel-body">
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="Less than 10,000, "> Less than 10,000</label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="10,001 to 15000, "> 10,001 - 15000</label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="15,001 to 25000, "> 15,001 - 25000 </label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="25,001 to 35000, "> 25,001 - 35000 </label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="35,001 and more, "> 35,001 and more </label>
</div>
<?php
$price = $_REQUEST['price'];
//for single cell value separte by ,  
$p = implode(',',$price);
// for each value
for($i = 0;count($price)<$i;$i++){
    
    // put insert query and value of selected price
    $p = $price[$i];
}
?>

Answer 5

First of all you are using the deprecated library mysql. Should switch to Mysqli or better PDO. Then you have a typo here:

query="insert into mobile_frm values('".$z6."')";

This should be:

$query="insert into mobile_frm values('$z6')";

assuming that your table has only one column. Then, as other said before each checkbox should have the same name prices[] (that is the array notation). In the prices array you will have only the checked checkboxes. SIDENOTE: you are using $_REQUEST array but you should use $_POST or $_GET depending on what method you define in your form. I also assume that you need to use $_SESSION to store the posted values (to use them elsewhere). In any other cases your code should be revised not to use $_SESSION just to assign the stored value to a variable.