Get form checkbox values and pass them through pagination?

Question

Hello.

I need to get values from selected checkboxe's and pass that values through pagination witch is done by php/mysql. And if on another page user select other checkboxes add their values to array of earlier seleced.

I need this for product compare page. In short i get checkbox values store them add checkbox values from other pages in pagination and when user selects compare send that array to compare page.

Anybody know how to do this? Or any related examples would be appriciated?

Answer 1

There are different ways to maintain state across pages, including cookies, session variables, hidden inputs, passing them in the querystring, persisting to database, etc. In this case I would probably use a session variable.

For more info on PHP session see PHP Sessions.

Answer 2

One solution would be to load all of the pages at once in their own divs inside of a form. When you click on a new page link, hide all divs except the one you need to show. That way all checkboxes are submitted in the same form, making it easier to handle server-side. That of course depends on how heavy each individual page is and how many pages there are.

Another solution would be to keep a session variable, tracking what was clicked. Each time someone clicks to go to another page. POST to the server a list of the checkboxes.

Answer 3

You could do it by using javascript to store the checkbox selection in a cookie. Here's some sample code to get you going in the right direction.

var aa_checkbox;

function init_checkbox(){
  //setup blank cb cookie
  if(!Cookie.read('cb')){
    Cookie.write('cb', JSON.encode({}));
  }

  //setup "associative array" to match what is currently in the cookie
  aa_checkbox = JSON.decode(Cookie.read('cb'));


  //set up each checkbox with class="remember_cb"
  $$('input.remember_cb').each(function(el){

    //mark checked if it is in the cookie
    if(aa_checkbox[el.name]){
      el.checked = 'checked'
    }

    //setup onclick event to put checkbox status in the 
    el.addEvent('click', function(){
      if(el.checked){
        aa_checkbox[el.name] = 1;
      }else{
        delete(aa_checkbox[el.name]);
      }   
    })
  })

  //save aa_checkbox back into cookie upon leaving a page
  window.onbeforeunload = function(){Cookie.write('cb', JSON.encode(aa_checkbox));};

  setup_form();

  return true;
}

function setup_form(){
  //set up form so that it adds the inputs upon submit.
  $$('form.remember_cb_form').each(function(form){
    form.addEvent('submit', function(ev){
      //clean up previously inserted inputs
      var aa_hidden_insert = $$('input.hidden_insert');
      $each(aa_hidden_insert, function(el){ 
        el.parentNode.removeChild(el);
      })

      var el_form = this;

      //insert hidden elements representing the values stored in aa_checkbox
      $each(aa_checkbox, function(i_value, s_name){
        if(i_value){ 
          var el_input = document.createElement('input');
          el_input.type = 'hidden';
          el_input.value = i_value;
          el_input.name = s_name;
          el_input.setAttribute('class', 'hidden_insert');
          el_form.appendChild(el_input);
        }
      });
    });
  });
}

window.addEvent('domready', init_checkbox);

There is a working demo here and a more thorough explanation here

Answer 4

Unfortunately you don't have any real obstacle you cannot resolve. Actually you do not want to think about your very simple task or to read any manual. You just want that somebody gives you a full working solution for your complex problem.

I guess it is not good. This resource is not for lazy people, but for sharing of experience and knowledge of some tricks and technologies.