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# {html_options}

`{html_options}` is a custom function that creates the html `<select><option>` group with the assigned data. It takes care of which item(s) are selected by default as well.

Attribute Name | Type | Required | Default | Description
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
values | array | Yes, unless using options attribute | n/a | An array of values for dropdown
output | array | Yes, unless using options attribute | n/a | An array of output for dropdown
selected | string/array | No | empty | The selected option element(s)
options | associative array | Yes, unless using values and output | n/a | An associative array of values and output
name | string | No | empty | Name of select group

- Required attributes are `values` and `output`, unless you use the combined `options` instead.

- If the optional `name` attribute is given, the `<select></select>` tags are created, otherwise ONLY the `<option>` list is generated.

- If a given value is an array, it will treat it as an html `<optgroup>`, and display the groups. Recursion is supported with `<optgroup>`.

- All parameters that are not in the list above are printed as name/value-pairs inside the `<select>` tag. They are ignored if the optional `name` is not given.

- All output is XHTML compliant.

Example 8-12. Associative array with the `options` attribute
`<?php $smarty->assign('myOptions', array( 1800 => 'Joe Schmoe', 9904 => 'Jack Smith', 2003 => 'Charlie Brown') ); $smarty->assign('mySelect', 9904); ?>`
The following template will generate a drop-down list. Note the presence of the `name` attribute which creates the `<select>` tags.
    {html_options name=foo options=$myOptions selected=$mySelect}
Output of the above example would be:
    <select name="foo">
    <option label="Joe Schmoe" value="1800">Joe Schmoe</option>
    <option label="Jack Smith" value="9904" selected="selected">Jack Smith</option>
    <option label="Charlie Brown" value="2003">Charlie Brown</option>
    </select>

Example 8-13. Dropdown with seperate arrays for `values` and `ouptut`
`<?php $smarty->assign('cust_ids', array(56,92,13)); $smarty->assign('cust_names', array( 'Joe Schmoe', 'Jane Johnson', 'Charlie Brown')); $smarty->assign('customer_id', 92); ?>`
The above arrays would be output with the following template (note the use of the php `count()` function as a modifier to set the select size).
    <select name="customer_id" size="{$cust_names|@count}">
       {html_options values=$cust_ids output=$cust_names selected=$customer_id}
    </select>
The above example would output:
    <select name="customer_id">
        <option label="Joe Schmoe" value="56">Joe Schmoe</option>
        <option label="Jack Smith" value="92" selected="selected">Jane Johnson</option>
        <option label="Charlie Brown" value="13">Charlie Brown</option>
    </select>

Example 8-14. Database example (eg ADODB or PEAR)
`<?php $sql = 'select type_id, types from contact_types order by type'; $smarty->assign('contact_types',$db->getAssoc($sql)); $sql = 'select contact_id, name, email, contact_type_id from contacts where contact_id='.$contact_id; $smarty->assign('contact',$db->getRow($sql)); ?>`
Where a template could be as follows. Note the use of the `truncate` modifier.
    <select name="type_id">
        <option value='null'>-- none --</option>
        {html_options options=$contact_types|truncate:20 selected=$contact.type_id}
    </select>

Example 8-15. Dropdown's with <optgroup>
`<?php $arr['Sport'] = array(6 => 'Golf', 9 => 'Cricket',7 => 'Swim'); $arr['Rest'] = array(3 => 'Sauna',1 => 'Massage'); $smarty->assign('lookups', $arr); $smarty->assign('fav', 7); ?>`
The script above and the following template
    {html_options name=foo options=$myOptions selected=$mySelect}
would output:
    <select name="breakTime">
    <optgroup label="Sport">
    <option label="Golf" value="6">Golf</option>
    <option label="Cricket" value="9">Cricket</option>
    <option label="Swim" value="7" selected="selected">Swim</option>
    </optgroup>
    <optgroup label="Rest">
    <option label="Sauna" value="3">Sauna</option>
    <option label="Massage" value="1">Massage</option>
    </optgroup>
    </select>

See also `{html_checkboxes}` and `{html_radios}`

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