is there a better way to check a radio button after the form is submitted

[tictike]

I'm trying to validate a form. If after it's submitted and there is a problem with the email field for example, but not this radio group, I want the page to be served with whatever radio button was select, to include "checked='checked'". I started with this markup

<div>
<input type="radio" name="rate" value="excellent" id="ex" class="radio"> 
<label for="ex">Excellent</label>
</div>
<div>
<input type="radio" name="rate" value="good" id="go">
<label for="go">Good</label>
</div>
<div>
<input type="radio" name="rate" value="fair" id="fa">
<label for="fa">Fair</label>
</div>
<div>
<input type="radio" name="rate" value="poor" id="po">
<label for="po">Poor</label>
</div>

I originally thought I would have to add this logic to every input:

<?php 
	if($_POST['rate'] == "excellent"){
echo "<input type='radio' name='rate' value='excellent' id='ex' class='radio' checked='checked'>"; 
}
else{
echo "<input type='radio' name='rate' value='excellent' id='ex' class='radio'>"; 
}
?>

something tells me there is a much better technique..

[crmalibu]

<?php if($_POST['rate'] == "excellent") echo ' checked="checked"'; ?>

If you have a lot of radio buttons, you could consider generating their html dynamically, and possibly making some functions to help.

[tictike]

Oh ok, so I could put these 4 lines of php in the input elements, respectively?

<?php if($_POST['rate'] == "excellent") echo ' checked="checked"'; ?>
<?php if($_POST['rate'] == "good") echo ' checked="checked"'; ?>
<?php if($_POST['rate'] == "fair") echo ' checked="checked"'; ?>
<?php if($_POST['rate'] == "poor") echo ' checked="checked"'; ?>

Like this?
<input type="radio" name="rate" value="poor" id="po" <?php if($_POST['rate'] == "poor") echo ' checked="checked"'; ?> >

[deepM]

Try this-

  <tr>
        <td width="30%" class="loginText">rate: </td>
        <td width="70%" class="profilText"><?php

                          if($rate== "excellent"){
                            $genderv = "excellent";
                          }
                          else if($rate== "good"){
                            $genderv = "good";
                          }
                                         else if($rate== "fair"){
                            $genderv = "fair";
                          }
                                            else if($rate== "poor"){
                            $genderv = "poor";
                          }

                          $genderval = selectVal($genderv);

                          ?>
                          <input type="radio" name="rate" value="excellent" <?=$genderval[0];?>>excellent &nbsp;&nbsp;
                           <input type="radio" name="rate" value="good" <?=$genderval[1];?>>good&nbsp;&nbsp;
 <input type="radio" name="rate" value="fair" <?=$genderval[2];?>>fair&nbsp;&nbsp;
 <input type="radio" name="rate" value="poor" <?=$genderval[3];?>>poor&nbsp;&nbsp;
                          </td>
                        </tr>

Let us know what you get with this code.

[tictike]

Thanks for the suggestion. I am just learning so I'm more comfortable with a solution similar to what crmalibu suggested.

Right now I have this:
<div>
<input type="radio" name="rate" value="excellent" id="ex" class="radio" checked="<?php if($_POST['rate'] == "excellent") echo "checked"; ?>">
<label for="ex">Excellent</label>
</div>
<div>
<input type="radio" name="rate" value="good" id="go" checked="<?php if($_POST['rate'] == "good") echo "checked"; ?>">
<label for="go">Good</label>
</div>
<div>
<input type="radio" name="rate" value="fair" id="fa" checked="<?php if($_POST['rate'] == "fair") echo "checked"; ?>">
<label for="fa">Fair</label>
</div>
<div>
<input type="radio" name="rate" value="poor" id="po" checked="<?php if($_POST['rate'] == "poor") echo "checked"; ?>">
<label for="po">Poor</label>
</div>

and the last radio button is always checked, even on first page load. What did i do wrong? If I switch the 'fair' input and label with the 'poor' input and label, then 'fair' is last and always checked..

[cranial-bore]

Most browsers will check a radio with the following markup

<input type="radio" name="blah" value="1234" checked>

Which means that checked="" is still going to result in a checked radio. The last takes precedence.

You could change your code to this:

<div>
<input type="radio" name="rate" value="poor" id="po" <?php if($_POST['rate'] == "poor") echo "checked='checked'"; ?>>
<label for="po">Poor</label>
</div>

Personally I'd build a loop though, I think the code would look a bit tidier.

[tictike]

Oh, thanks! I'm so used to giving attributes a value I forgot about just 'checked'.