[FX.php List] Conditional value lists with PHP and FileMaker

[Anders Monsen]

Thanks. Here is the link.

http://pastebin.com/m11a42e0c

Anders

On Nov 19, 2008, at 10:48 AM, Gjermund Gusland Thorsen wrote:

> Please use pastebin.com with appropriate syntax coloring and please
> leave for a month,
> and then paste the link here.
>
> ggt667
>
> 2008/11/19 Anders Monsen <andersm at alamark.com>:
>> Has anyone on the list worked on this issue? I spent most of  
>> yesterday
>> putting together a process that works, but may not be the most  
>> efficient
>> process. I was wondering if anyone would be open to looking at my  
>> code (the
>> snippet is 130 lines long at minimum, so I didn't just want to  
>> throw it out
>> there) to see if there are ways I can improve the process. It  
>> certainly made
>> me appreciate how easy FileMaker makes this process...
>>
>> (I just discovered and read Jonathan Stark's article in July
>> FileMakerAdvisor after writing this email. It uses Ajax, so I may  
>> try to
>> incorporate his techniques, although I'm using FX.php and no  
>> existing value
>> lists from FileMaker, just existing data.)
>>
>> Here's the scenario. I have a table with four fields: district  
>> number,
>> district name, campus number, and campus name. I want the district  
>> and
>> campus to be drop down menus, where the user sees the name but  
>> submits the
>> number into another FileMaker database/table. Also, when the user  
>> selects a
>> district, I need the value list of campuses to correspond just to  
>> their
>> appropriate district.
>>
>> My first issue was to find a way to create an associative array with
>> district numbers=>district names. Apparently I took the hard route in
>> dynamically building associative arrays... After several failed  
>> attempts, I
>> used a function that I found on php.net in the section on  
>> "array_push" to
>> create this array. The first problem I ran into was that the list  
>> currently
>> contains 270 records. For now I had to manually change the  
>> groupsize in the
>> query to above 300, but I plan to first query all records to get a  
>> count,
>> then make this the groupsize. The reason for this is that the  
>> district array
>> becomes unique only after all records have been loaded into the  
>> array, so
>> the default groupsize of 50 has to be modified.
>>
>> Is there a way to 1) build a better array and 2) make the district  
>> array
>> unique in the initial query? The database is structured as one  
>> file, with
>> all four fields, and so the district numbers and names are  
>> repeated. I
>> didn't create the database, and I can't change it.
>> Distnum |       Distname        | CampusNum     |       Campus Name
>> 10                      The ISD         2                        
>> School
>> 10                      The ISD         2.1                      
>> OtherSchool
>> etc.
>>
>> Additionally, after several failed attempts to get the Javascript  
>> onchange
>> function to work when the form changed, I resorted to DreamWeaver's
>> JumpMenu, which seems to work fine. Has anyone been able to get a  
>> working
>> onchange form and what is the correct syntax? When the user selects a
>> district from the dropdown, the page reloads with the district  
>> number in the
>> URL.
>>
>> Given all of the above, my process *does* work, and the page does  
>> not appear
>> to load with delays. I have not used conditional values lists with
>> PHP/Javascript in about three years, so I am a little unsure of best
>> practices.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Anders
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