Problem With Drop Down Options From Mysql Database

[niche]

This code produces a drop down box, but no options. I thought the problem would be solved with htmlspecialchars(). Please help. Thanks.<?php$sql="SELECT department_id, name FROM department";$result=mysql_query($sql);$options="";while ($row=mysql_fetch_array($result)) { $thing=$row["name"]; $options.=htmlspecialchars("<OPTION>".$thing."</OPTION>");}?><SELECT NAME="name"><OPTION>Choose One</OPTION><?php=$options?></SELECT>

[Synook]

you would use htmlspecialchars() if you ididn't want the browser to parse the <option> tags.

[niche]

It didn't work without the htmlspecialchars() either. Is the problem in my php or html or both?

[smerny]

<?php=$options?>try<?phpecho $options;?>

[smerny]

this is how i would do it though

<SELECT name="name"><?php$sql="SELECT department_id, name FROM department";$result=mysql_query($sql);while ($row=mysql_fetch_array($result)) {$thing=$row["name"];echo "<OPTION>".$thing."</OPTION>";}?></SELECT>

[niche]

We're pretty close to each other's thinking. Here's what I'm using:<?php$sql = mysql_query("SELECT department_id, name FROM department");$options = '';echo '<select name="name"><option>CHOOSE ONE</option>';while($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql)) {$id = $row['department_id'];$thing = $row['name'];echo '<option value='.$id.'>'.$thing.'</option>';}echo '</select>';?>