Newbie Question re: Select boxes

1) I thought that PHP automatically created variables for all form elements on a page. When I run this, the dropdown box contains the first item, but $Report evaluates as null. I am unclear why. <select name="Report"><BR> <option value=>1 Test Report A</option> <option value=>2 Test Report B</option> <option value=>3 Test Report C</option> </select> <? echo ("the value is $Report"); ?> 2) Is there any way for PHP to detect the change even on the dropdown, or do I need to use javascript? Thanks in advance, still trying to get a grip on this. lb