PHP - Drop Down List Default For Editing

I am working on a project that uses a drop down list to chose the category when inserting new data into the database. What I want to do now is make the drop down list default to the chosen category on the list records page and the update page. I have read several tutorials, but they all say that I have to list the options and then select the default. But since it is possible to add and remove categories, this approch won't work. I need the code to chose the correct category on the fly.

There are two tables, one that has the category ID and category name.  The second table has the data and the catid which is referenced to the category id in the first table.

Code: [Select]
--
-- Table structure for table `categories`
--

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `categories`;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `categories` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `categories` varchar(37) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=40 ;

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `links`
--

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `links`;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `links` (
  `id` int(4) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `catid` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
  `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `url` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `content` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
  KEY `catid` (`catid`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=35 ;


Then is the list records file, I have

Code: [Select]
<?php
include ("db.php");
include ("menu.php");


$result = mysql_query("SELECT categories FROM categories") or die(mysql_error()); 
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) { 
$categories=$row["categories"];
$options.= '<option value="'.$row['categories'].'">'.$row['categories'].'</option>';
};



$id = $_GET['id'];
$query="SELECT * FROM links ORDER BY catid ASC";
$result=mysql_query($query);

?>
<table width="65%" align="center" border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td>
<table width="100%" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3">
<tr>
<td colspan="7"><strong>List data from mysql </strong> </td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="center"><strong>Category ID</strong></td>
<td align="center"><strong>Category ID</strong></td>
<td align="center"><strong>Name</strong></td>
<td align="center"><strong>URL</strong></td>
<td align="center"><strong>Content</strong></td>
<td align="center"><strong>Update</strong></td>
<td align="center"><strong>Delete</strong></td>
</tr>
<?php
while($rows=mysql_fetch_array($result)){
?>
<tr>
<td>
<SELECT NAME=catid>
<OPTION>Categories</OPTION>
<?php echo $options; ?>
</SELECT>
</td>
<td><? echo $rows['catid']; ?></td>
<td><? echo $rows['name']; ?></td>
<td><a href="<? echo $rows['url']; ?>"><? echo $rows['url']; ?></a></td>
<td><? echo $rows['content']; ?></td>
<td align="center"><a href="update.php?id=<? echo $rows['id']; ?>">update</a></td>
<td align="center"><a href="delete.php?id=<? echo $rows['id']; ?>">delete</a></td>

</tr>
<?php
}
?>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<?php
mysql_close();
?>

So, how do I get this code
Code: [Select]
$result = mysql_query("SELECT categories FROM categories") or die(mysql_error());
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
$categories=$row["categories"];
$options.= '<option value="'.$row['categories'].'">'.$row['categories'].'</option>';
};

<SELECT NAME=catid>
<OPTION>Categories</OPTION>
<?php echo $options; ?>
</SELECT>

to give me an output that will be

something like if catid exactly matches categories.id echo categories.categorie  ???

so far everything I have done produces either a default category of the last category,  the catid (which is a number), all of the categories (logical since catid will always be = id, or nothing.  How do I get just the category name? 

I will keep reading and try to figure this out, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Hi. I have drop down boxes for date and time that work. The year is a problem because I am using variables instead of fixed values.

Code: [Select]
<select name="Year" style="width:60px">
<option value="2010" >Test
<option value="<?=$ThisYear?>" <? if ($Year == "<?=$ThisYear?>"){?> SELECTED <?}?> ><?=$ThisYear?>
<option value="<?=$NextYear?>" <? if ($Year == "<?=$NextYear?>"){?> SELECTED <?}?> ><?=$NextYear?>
</select>

<select name="Hour" style="width:50px">
<option value="10" <? if ($_SESSION["Hour"] == "10"){?> SELECTED <?}?> >10
<option value="11" <? if ($_SESSION["Hour"] == "11"){?> SELECTED <?}?> >11
<option value="12" <? if ($_SESSION["Hour"] == "12"){?> SELECTED <?}?> >12
<option value="13" <? if ($_SESSION["Hour"] == "13"){?> SELECTED <?}?> >13
<option value="14" <? if ($_SESSION["Hour"] == "14"){?> SELECTED <?}?> >14
<option value="15" <? if ($_SESSION["Hour"] == "15"){?> SELECTED <?}?> >15
<option value="16" <? if ($_SESSION["Hour"] == "16"){?> SELECTED <?}?> >16
<option value="17" <? if ($_SESSION["Hour"] == "17"){?> SELECTED <?}?> >17
<option value="18" <? if ($_SESSION["Hour"] == "18"){?> SELECTED <?}?> >18
<option value="19" <? if ($_SESSION["Hour"] == "19"){?> SELECTED <?}?> >19
<option value="20" <? if ($_SESSION["Hour"] == "20"){?> SELECTED <?}?> >20
</select>

however this works

Code: [Select]
<select name="Year" style="width:60px">
<option value="2010" >Test
<option value="<?=$ThisYear?>" <? if ($Year == "2011"){?> SELECTED <?}?> ><?=$ThisYear?>
<option value="<?=$NextYear?>" <? if ($Year == "2012"){?> SELECTED <?}?> ><?=$NextYear?>
</select>

Can anyone help with this please
TIA

Desmond.
   

having a problem figuring out how to change the default on a drop down box to equal the users current timezone. So when they view it the drop box default is showing what their setting is atm. The problem is the value is differant from whats displayed. Is it possible to some how say if users time offset is equal to a option value set selected=""> to yes.

if not what is the idea behind this? Cant find a guide showing an example
In other drop down boxes where the value is the same as whats displayed I just simply created another value field at the top of the list and echo it in.
Code: [Select]
<select name="gmt">

<option value="-28800">(GMT -0800) Pacific Time </option>
<option value="-25200">(GMT -0700) Mountain Time </option>
<option value="-21600">(GMT -0600) Central Time</option>
<option value="-18000">(GMT -0500) Eastern Time </option>

</select>

Hi All,

I've a loop which lists a series of options as checkboxes. What I'd like to do is set 1 as a default. But I've no idea how to do it!?

Here's the code:

<?php $i = 0; ?>
<?php if ( bp_has_groups() ) : while ( bp_groups() ) : bp_the_group(); ?>
<input type="checkbox" id="field_reg_groups_<?php echo $i; ?>" name="field_reg_groups[]" value="<?php bp_group_id(); ?>" /><?php bp_group_name(); ?>
<?php } ?>
<?php $i++; ?>

Any help is much appreciated

TIA

I have a simple form that edits student information.  I have several fields that I have a drop down list pulled as an array from a separate table.  I would like the information that is already entered on the student to be the default but still have the drop down list available if the item was entered in error. For example:  Drop down list of all the states of America, OH was entered for the student, when the edit form comes up for State in Address I would like OH to be the default but still have the list to choose if OH was entered in error. I have tried selected = $selected but then the entire drop down changed to OH.  I am very, very much a beginner in this

<?php
   // list of possible modules comes from database
         
          $state_array=get_states();
       
       
          //display as a drop down list for end user to choose
        if (!is_array($state_array))
      {
         echo "<p>No States are currently available<p>";
         return;
      }
    
             
       
          foreach ($state_array as $row)
        {
               echo "<option value=\"".($row['stateid'])."\"";
               // if existing state, put in current catgory
               echo "<strong>  ".($row['stateid'])."</strong><br />";       
               echo "<option select=\"selected\">OH";
          }
         
   ?>