Re: creating an xls file from mysql data

> This is what the $_POST['selectedcontactlist'] looks like > > 121,17,97,123,243,52,138,114,172,170,64,49,60,256,176,244,201,42,95,4, First question is why do you need to pass it through like that? > it is not coming across as an array so the foreach is throwing an error I assume it always has a ',' in it if you only choose one box. if (strpos($_POST['selectedcontactlist'], ',') === false) { // no boxes were selected - or at least there is no comma. die(); } // turn it into an array $selected_contact_lists = explode(',', $_POST['selectedcontactlist']); > This number are selected in a checkbox and passed with a javascript to > the script should I be converting them to an array in the javascript. No need to do that either, just make the form variable an array: <input type="checkbox" name="selectedcontactlist[]" value="X"> The [] turns it into an array which php can then process automatically as an array. You can check that some checkboxes are ticked using an idea similar to this: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kayseycarvey/jss3p8.html Though I'd just either set a flag or counter instead of a message when you find one that is checked. If you're just checking that any are checked, as soon as you find one, return true out of the function. -- Postgresql & php tutorials http://www.designmagick.com/