HTML list boxes are a popular way to display a list of options for users to choose from. However, when it comes to submitting the selected values from a list box, things can get a bit tricky. In this article, we will guide you through the process of posting multiple selected values from an HTML list box.
Step 1: Setting up the HTML list box
To begin, we need to create an HTML list box. This can be done by using the <select> tag, followed by the <option> tags for each item in the list. For example:
<select name="fruits">
<option value="apple">Apple</option>
<option value="orange">Orange</option>
<option value="banana">Banana</option>
<option value="grape">Grape</option>
</select>
This will create a list box with four options - Apple, Orange, Banana, and Grape.
Step 2: Enabling multiple selections
By default, list boxes only allow users to select one option at a time. To enable multiple selections, we need to add the "multiple" attribute to the <select> tag. This will allow users to select multiple options by holding down the Ctrl key (for Windows) or the Command key (for Mac) while clicking on the desired options.
<select name="fruits" multiple>
<option value="apple">Apple</option>
<option value="orange">Orange</option>
<option value="banana">Banana</option>
<option value="grape">Grape</option>
</select>
Now, users can select more than one option from the list.
Step 3: Posting the selected values
To post the selected values from the list box, we need to add a name attribute to the <select> tag, as shown in the previous steps. This will create a variable with the same name as the list box, which will hold the selected values.
In the form action page, we can use the $_POST['variable_name'] to retrieve the selected values. For example, in PHP:
$fruits = $_POST['fruits'];
This will store the selected values in an array called $fruits.
Step 4: Processing the selected values
Now that we have retrieved the selected values, we can process them as per our requirement. For example, we can use a loop to display each selected value:
foreach($fruits as $fruit){
echo $fruit . "<br>";
}
This will display the selected fruits in a list format, with each fruit on a new line.
Step 5: Styling the selected values
By default, the selected values will be displayed in a plain text format. However, we can use CSS to style the selected values as per our preference. For example, we can give them a different color or font style.
Conclusion
In this article, we have learned how to post multiple selected values from an HTML list box. By following these steps, you can easily retrieve and process the selected values from a list box in your web application. Keep in mind that this method will work for both single and multiple select list boxes. Happy coding!
