php - inserting values from multipe selected checkboxes into database

Question

So the whole scenario is as follows:

I have a form on my website which has multiple values of checkboxes. For example, "price" has four checkboxes. The user can select anywhere from none to all four checkboxes.

I am unable to insert the "SELECTED" checkbox value into the table of the database. I have tried all the methods that I could find on Google and Stackoverflow.

I am relatively new into PHP, so I know very little about it. But to get this problem right, I have gone through various documentations, many in fact.

Anyways, here is what I am doing right now, and it works. But it's a bad method and I know there would be a much more efficient way of doing that.

<div class="panel-body">
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price1" value="Less than 10,000, "> Less than 10,000</label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price2" value="10,001 to 15000, "> 10,001 - 15000</label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price3" value="15,001 to 25000, "> 15,001 - 25000 </label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price4" value="25,001 to 35000, "> 25,001 - 35000 </label>
     <label class="checkbox-inline"><input type="checkbox" name="price5" value="35,001 and more, "> 35,001 and more </label>
</div>

So basically each of the individual checkboxes for the price has its own independent name.

The corresponding PHP is as follows

            <?php
        session_start();

        $_SESSION["f1"]=$_REQUEST["price1"];
        $_SESSION["f2"]=$_REQUEST["price2"];
        $_SESSION["f3"]=$_REQUEST["price3"];
        $_SESSION["f4"]=$_REQUEST["price4"];
        $_SESSION["f5"]=$_REQUEST["price5"];
        $_SESSION["f"]=$_SESSION["f1"].$_SESSION["f2"].$_SESSION["f3"].$_SESSION["f4"].$_SESSION["f5"];


        $z6=$_SESSION["f"];

        require_once('ConnectDB.php');
        $conn=mysql_connect(SERVER,USER,PASSWORD);
        mysql_select_db(DATABASE,$conn);

        query="insert into mobile_frm values('".$z6."')";
        mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());


        echo"Thanks for using us";
        header('Location: gadget.html');
        mysql_close($conn);

        ?>

This is the PHP script that writes the form value in the Database. I have only included a part of it to keep it plain and simple.

Here I am just taking all the individual values and making one string out of them.

Please give me some direction into it.

Answer 1

You can send an array of form elements, just change your markup to:

<input type="checkbox" name="prices[]" value="Less than 10,000, ">
<input type="checkbox" name="prices[]" value="10,001 to 15000, "> 
// etc...

Then, PHP side:

$prices = $_POST['prices'];   // this is now an array, work on it