How do I populate these fields from existing data?

Question

I'm not sure how to make a few parts of my form to populate from data from an array I'm passing from the database.

First is this <select> object. The key estimate_lead_id in the database holds the value, and I want the dropdown to auto-select based on the value from the database.

<select name="estimate_lead_id">
    <? foreach($leads->result() as $lead) { ?>
        <option value="<?=$lead->id?>"><?=$lead->lead_name?></option>
    <? } ?>
</select>

EDIT: I'll break the second part into another question.

Answer 1

For the first question, you need to use the selected attribute in the option tag.

<select name="estimate_lead_id">
    <? foreach($leads->result() as $lead) {
        echo '<option value="'.$lead->id.'"';
        if ($lead->selected)
            echo ' selected="selected"';
        echo '>'.$lead->lead_name.'</option>\n';
    } ?>
</select>

For the second, it does need some more clarification, but I suspect the answer would involve and if clause that used in_array to check if the current field is in the array of field in the estimate. You would then only print the html data when the clause is true.

Answer 2

The selected option(s) will have the attribute selected="selected", so do a check during your loop and conditionally add this attribute:

<select name="estimate_lead_id">
    <? foreach($leads->result() as $lead) { ?>
        <option value="<?=$lead->id?>" <?php echo $estimate_lead_id == $lead->id ? 'selected="selected"' : ''; ?>><?=$lead->lead_name?></option>
    <? } ?>
</select>

I could use some clarification on the second part. What defines whether or not an item is in the estimate?