使用PHP从MYSQL填充的动态html / javascript下拉列表

Question

I think I must be missing something very simple here (and apologies if I am).

I have a html doc with javescript in it, and in that html doc, I want to create a dropdown list whose values are automtically populated from the result of a mysql query.

I'm guessing that I need to run a php script to get the info from the database, but then how to get that info into the dropdown is a mystery to me.

Please could someone point me in the wright direction - perhaps an example where someone has already done this.

I can't just write the dropdown in PHP as it would mean going away from the html page that I have everything else on.

Many thanks,

Rob.

Answer 1

This a very broad question, so I can give you a broad answer. Simple guidelines.

You have some options:

Put PHP in the HTML

• rename your .html to .php or change your webserver settings (through .htaccess probably if you use Apache) to let php process .html files
• put something like this into the HTML code at the appropriate place:

xy.php/html

<select name="fos">
<?php
  //php code to get data from mysql
  //foreach/while to iterate through elements
    echo '<option value="'.$key.'">'.$value.'</option>';
  //end of foreach/while
?>
</select>

Use Ajax to load data

• leave the HTML as it is now
• write a PHP script to output the dropdown
• write Javascript to get the output of the PHP script with Ajax, then insert it to the DOM in the appropriate place
• the downside is that people without JS won't see the dropdown

EDIT: or Take the approach that Haza suggested

Whichever you choose, I've given you the keywords to search for or ask further questions on