Re: Re: Generating an option list with a default

On 2/11/2014 4:46 PM, Jim Lucas wrote:

On 02/11/2014 01:06 PM, Jim Giner wrote:

On 2/11/2014 1:18 PM, Jim Lucas wrote:

On 02/11/2014 10:00 AM, Jim Giner wrote:

On 2/11/2014 12:54 PM, Jim Lucas wrote:

On 02/11/2014 08:55 AM, Jim Giner wrote:

On 2/11/2014 11:26 AM, Jim Lucas wrote:

On 02/11/2014 05:59 AM, Jim Giner wrote:

On 1/25/2014 3:45 PM, Jennifer wrote:

Hello all,

    We have a PHP form with a static <option> list, where

people can request a product sample. http://www.superiorshelving.com/mfg/aigner/sample.php

    There are links on multiple pages that call this page.  I

would like to send a different default option to that form from each of those pages so that the customer doesn't have to pop-up the list to choose it manually. Of course, if they go to that form directly, there shouldn't be a default.

    What would be the best way to handle this?  I'm thinking to

have code generate the list with the default undefined, and then have the links to that page pass a variable to the form to set a default. Does that sound like it would work?

    Any other ideas are appreciated!

Thank you, Jenni

    Superior Shelving Systems::::....
    http://www.SuperiorShelving.com

    The (Storage|Office|Home|Warehouse) Shelving Specialists
    Since 1984

Wire LAN Shelving: http://www.superiorshelving.com/mfg/nexel/pages/wire-shelving-chrome.php

I had your thought in mind halfway thru your question. Of course that's the way to do it. So simple, flexible and easily implemented. Set a session var that your central piece of code checks as it builds the select list and you're all set.

I see one issue with doing it this way. If a person visited a page that he didn't want to have a default for the form value, then he would have empty that session variable. So, not only are you setting a variable on each page you want it done on, you need to make sure that variable is erased/emptied on every page load that should not have a default. That to me is a headache waiting to happen.

The OP's original idea was that any specific page have a specific option in mind as the default to be selected when going to the central 'list' page. It is not meant to be the user's option, but the intermediate page's. If the user did however go directly to the list page, then there is no default.

Ok, I understand that. But, lets say that I browse one page that has a default, then another that has a default, each time doing so would update that session variable. Now, I go to a page that doesn't have/need a default but from there I click the link that takes me to the page with the form. Now, if I didn't clear the session variable on that last page that didn't have a default, then it would use the value set on the previous page instead of not having a default.

So - simply have the list-generator page unset the var.

What? I think you need to think your suggestion through a little more. So, as I laid out above, on one page (set a default), move to another page (set a default). Now I go to a page that should not have a default (but I still have the previous page default set). At this point, the session variable needs to be cleared otherwise if I go to the form page, it will use the session variable from my previous page. I can't clear it here either, otherwise I will not have anything to use when I create the list. Clearing that session variable on all the pages that should not have a default is what I said would be the PITA to maintain.

We apparently aren't seeing the task the same way. 1 - several pages all call the same "list-maker" page. 2 - those several pages each has a different desired default setting. 3 - each of those #2 pages sets the session var to the value it wants 4 - the list-maker page checks for the existence of the session var and copies to a local var (or sets local var to '') and unsets the session var. 5 - list maker page does its thing with the value of the local var set in #4 A call directly to the 'list-maker' page defaults to nothing as local var will direct. As I read the original statement, there was no reason to expect the user to be reading several pages before going to the "list-maker" page. If that is the case, then the last page obviously controls the activity. If there is a page that doesn't want the list to have a default selection, it should then set the session var accordingly, as all the other pages would be doing.

The OP did say "Of course, if they go to that form directly, there shouldn't be a default." So, to me, that says their is a possibility for a user to browse to pages that DO want a default option to be set, but then to also be able to view pages that do not require a default to be set. So, if the possibility exists that a user could land on a pages that doesn't require a default after visiting a page that does, the page that doesn't require the default would need to clear that previously set default. To me, that would be a PITA to have to make sure that each page you build would need to either set to unset that session var. Seems like one additional step that doesn't need to exist. But again - I'm assuming that the user goes directly from a page to the list-maker page and not from page1 to page2 and then to the list-maker page with the premise that the user wants the 'page1' selection. Again - if the user is browsing thru whatever set of pages that then requires the list to be built, the last one should be the determiner of what gets selected when that list is built. It's a one-to-one relationship and I see nothing in the OPs layout that would make me think of anything more complicated than this.