need some input on how to do this

[scriptjet]

i'm not sure how to ask this question on google, so i'm going to ask for your help.

 

here's the code that i have the question about

 

<form action='findMovie.php' method='post'>
<table>
<?php
$result = mysql_query ("SELECT genre FROM genres ORDER BY genre");
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
$genre = $row['genre'];
echo "<tr><td>" .$genre ."</td><td><input type='hidden' name='" .$genre ."' value='" .$genre ."'><input type='submit' name='listMovies'></td></tr>";
}
?>
</table>
</form> 

 

so i have this form that creates a list of submits from a table that i have created.  the form works perfectly fine (i realize the design is not that great... i'm just going for functionality now)

 

what i need is to turn the value of the hidden field (which is dynamically created by a variable) into a variable in the handler so that I can search my movie table and get the movies by genre. 

 

does this make sense?  and any help is greatly appreciated.  i'm not a great programmer, but i do it in my spare time as a hobby.  so go easy on my coding, it works and that's the most i'm concerned with at the moment. 

 

thanks ahead of time

[btherl]

When you submit that form you will get every hidden element submitted, and you won't be able to tell which was selected.  I would do some basic form tutorials first.  There's a number of ways you could do it - a drop-down list, a radio button, or submit buttons which identify which genre was selected.

[AtomicRax]

Instead of a hidden element, why not just assign the value to the button?

 

<form action='findMovie.php' method='post'>
<table>
<?php
$result = mysql_query ("SELECT genre FROM genres ORDER BY genre");
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {

$genre = $row['genre'];

echo "<tr><td>" .$genre ."</td><td><input type='submit' name='listMovies' value='" . $genre ."'></td></tr>";
}
?>
</table>
</form> 

 

That way when you click a button, the genre (value of the button) can be read from $_POST['listMovies']

 

 

 

Or like btherl said with a drop down list...

 

<form action='findMovie.php' method='post'>
<select name="listMovies">
<?php
$result = mysql_query ("SELECT genre FROM genres ORDER BY genre");
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {

$genre = $row['genre'];

echo "<option value='" .$genre ."'>" . $genre ."</option>";
}
?>
</select>
</form> 

[scriptjet]

awesome -- i was playing with this stuff for like 16 hours yesterday.  i knew the answer would be something simple like that, thanks a million guys