PHP code to get selected text of a combo box

Question

I have a combo box named "Make". In that combo box I'm loading vehicle manufacturer names. When I click SEARCH button I want to display the selected manufacturer name. Below is part of my HTML code.

<label for="Manufacturer"> Manufacturer : </label>
<select id="cmbMake" name="Make" >
   <option value="0">Select Manufacturer</option>
   <option value="1">--Any--</option>
   <option value="2">Toyota</option>
   <option value="3">Nissan</option>
</select>

<input type="submit" name="search" value="Search"/>

Below is my PHP code so far I've done.

 <?php

if(isset($_POST['search']))
{
    $maker = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['Make']);
    echo $maker;
    }
 ?>

If I select Toyota from the combo box and press SEARCH button, I'm getting the answer as '2' . It means it gives me the value of the 'Toyota'. But I want to display the name 'Toyota'. How can I do that? Please help me ....

Answer 1

Try with this. You will get the select box value in $_POST['Make'] and name will get in $_POST['selected_text']

<form method="POST" >
<label for="Manufacturer"> Manufacturer : </label>
  <select id="cmbMake" name="Make"     onchange="document.getElementById('selected_text').value=this.options[this.selectedIndex].text">
     <option value="0">Select Manufacturer</option>
     <option value="1">--Any--</option>
     <option value="2">Toyota</option>
     <option value="3">Nissan</option>
</select>
<input type="hidden" name="selected_text" id="selected_text" value="" />
<input type="submit" name="search" value="Search"/>
</form>


 <?php

if(isset($_POST['search']))
{

    $makerValue = $_POST['Make']; // make value

    $maker = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['selected_text']); // get the selected text
    echo $maker;
}
 ?>

Answer 2

Put whatever you want to send to PHP in the value attribute.

  <select id="cmbMake" name="Make" >
     <option value="">Select Manufacturer</option>
     <option value="--Any--">--Any--</option>
     <option value="Toyota">Toyota</option>
     <option value="Nissan">Nissan</option>
  </select>

You can also omit the value attribute. It defaults to using the text.

If you don't want to change the HTML, you can put an array in your PHP to translate the values:

$makes = array(2 => 'Toyota',
               3 => 'Nissan');

$maker = $makes[$_POST['Make']];