Dynamically Populated Drop Down List Box

[goldensunrise]

Can anyone help me out?? I can't seem to get this to work right. It always goes back to the first item in the list. I would be greatful for any help.

to see it (not) working, go here:

http://malleyz.com/photoalbum/category.cgi

***********
THE CODE
***********

print start_form({-enctype=>'multipart/form-data', -method=>'POST', -action=>'category.cgi'});

open ( CATEGORY, "category.txt" ) or die ( "Error opening category.txt" #Opens text file for read
open ( SUB, $catfile ) or die ( "Error opening $catfile" #Opens text file for read
#GENERATES CODE FOR MAIN CATEGORY DROP DOWN LIST BOX
print ('<SELECT name=&quot;mainCat&quot;>');
while ( <CATEGORY> ) {
$category = $_;
chomp $category;
print ('<CENTER><OPTION>', $category, '</OPTION></CENTER>', br);
}
print ('</SELECT>');
print (br, br);
#GENERATES CODE FOR SUB CATEGORY DROP DOWN LIST BOX
print ('<SELECT name=&quot;subCat&quot;>');
while ( <SUB> ) {
$sub = $_;
chomp $sub;
print ('<CENTER><OPTION>', $sub, '</OPTION></CENTER>', br);
}
print ('</SELECT>');
print (br, br);
close( SUB ) or die( &quot;Cannot close $catfile&quot; ); #Close text file
close( CATEGORY ) or die( &quot;Cannot close category.txt&quot; ); #Close text file
print (input({-type=>'submit'}), br);
print end_form;

 

[Haunter]

open ( SUB, $catfile ) or die ( &quot;Error opening $catfile&quot; #Opens text file for read

open ( SUB, [red]&quot;[/red]$catfile[red]&quot;[/red] ) or die ( &quot;Error opening $catfile&quot; #Opens text file for read

Are you sure this file is populated? Sometimes little typos like this will make the difference. Try it an see... next is $catfile define properly. Try adding a few print statments for debugging like
$debug = 1;
print &quot;SUB source location: $catfile&quot; if ($debug == 1);

 

[rosenk]

You don't need to put quotes around [tt]$catfile[/tt].

Your problem is that you're not actually saying which option should be selected. Here's what you'd do for the main category to make it work:

[tt]while (<CATEGORY>) {
$category = $_;
chomp $category;
print '<CENTER><OPTION value=&quot;$category&quot;';
print ' selected' if ((param('mainCat') &&
(param('mainCat') eq $category));
print '>$category</OPTION></CENTER>', br;
}[/tt]

This would result in the <OPTION> for the selected main category (say &quot;Books&quot looking like:
[tt]<OPTION value=&quot;Books&quot; selected>Books</OPTION>[/tt]

 

[goldensunrise]

rosenk,

Thanks for the help.
With a little tweaking that bit of code works perfect.