Ho do I retain selected option in a select list with a for loop?

Question

I created a list of countries using the ACF Wordpress plugin. The plugin allows for creation custom post meta fields so each post got an additional meta data namely the country name.

I get the country list with a WP_Query and store it in the

$result

variable:

$myquery = new WP_Query($myargs);

if ($myquery -> have_posts()) :

    while ($myquery -> have_posts()) : 

        $myquery -> the_post();

        array_push($arr, get_field('country'));

    endwhile;

endif;



wp_reset_postdata();

$result = array_unique($arr);

What I would now need is to pick a country and then retain it when the search for the posts with that country meta field returns. (The blue button to the right.)

How do I go about it? So far I’ve tried this:

<select name="countries" id="countries" class="form-control">

<?php 

for ($i = 0; $i < count($result); $i++) : 

    $selected = (isset($_POST['countries']) && $result[$i] == $_POST['countries']) ? 'selected' : ''; 

    $selected = ($result[$i] == @$_POST['countries']) ? 'selected' : ''; 

    echo '<option value="' . $result[$i] . '" ' . $selected . '>' . $result[$i] . '</option>'; 

endfor; 

?>

</select>

Which will not retain the country selected. Neither will

<?php 

    $selected = (isset($_GET['country']) && $result[$i] == $_GET['country']) ? 'selected="selected"': ''; 

?>

On top of this I need to add the ‘all’ value to allow to select all countries:

<option value="all">all</option>

. The ‘all’ value will have to retain too.

BTW could anybody explain the need for

$_POST

here for me please? I don’t believe there is a need for a

<form>…</form>

for this app.

The app can be found at http://elanonimo.dp.ua/ Please ignore the green dropdown button.
(The complete WP theme source code is at http://www.filedropper.com/package1467207510)

Recommended for you: Get network issues from WhatsUp Gold. Not end users.

Answer 1

array_unique($arr) does not reindex the keys of the array, so the for ($i = 0; $i < count($result); $i++) loop does not work. You can either

$result = array_values(array_unique($arr));

or

foreach ($result as $country) {
    $selected = (isset($_GET['countries']) && $country == $_GET['countries']) ? ' selected' : ''; 
    echo '<option value="' . $country . '"' . $selected . '>' . $country . '</option>', "\n";
}

Working code: http://phpfiddle.org/main/code/fuy5-6f3c

Ho do I retain selected option in a select list with a for loop?

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