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

[Joel Shapiro]

Hi Anders

I might not be understanding something here, because it doesn't seem  
like it should be so complicated.  I'm assuming that there is a one- 
to-one correspondence between District Name & Number.  This is what  
I'd do:

Sort the Districts by name (so that the drop-down displays in  
alphabetical order), then something like:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

if ( !isset($_SESSION['distDropdown'] ) ) {
	
	// If distDropdown is not yet created, find and process the 300 records
	// This way you only need to do this the first time the page is loaded

	// Perform Find Here
	// same query as you currently have,
	// but I'd sort by Dist name so dropdown is in alpha order
	
	$distName = '';

	$_SESSION['distDropdown'] = '<select name="dist"  
onchange="this.form.submit()">'. "\n";

	foreach ($distResult['data'] as $key => $distData) {

		if ($distName != $distData['District name'];) {
			$_SESSION['distDropdown'] .= '<option value="'. $distData 
['dist_Num'] .'">' . $distData['District name'] . '</option>'."\n";
		}

		$distName = $distData['District name'];

	}

	$_SESSION['distDropdown'] .= '</select>';
	
}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To display the dropdown in the form, it's just a simple:
echo $_SESSION['distDropdown'];

Then the submission of this form (via a selection from the dropdown)  
would perform a new query of Campuses based on the dist_Num  
selected.  This form submission would be great for AJAX, but a  
regular form submission and a full-page reload shouldn't be so bad  
since you don't need to find and compile the distDropdown again.

etc.

Or am I missing something?

HTH,
-Joel


On Nov 19, 2008, at 8:46 AM, Anders Monsen wrote:

> 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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