[Speechist]

Our new app is to have more than one drop-down (say 3) that would not "process" the page until a "Go" button was pushed (like on may travel sites that let you pick a variety of parameters, then "Go" to see the results).

I've done a few forms that pass the value of a single drop-down, but the app we're working on will require a multiple-filter feature like this. CFAjax doesn't really seem to be the trick. We'll be working in DWMX and querying against a SQL dB. Any ideas? Much Grass.

[Amadeus]

Is this a web based application? If so, you can likely pull all the info you need from a db, then do the filtering in javascript, based on values chosen from dropdowns 1,2, etc...

[skyhawk133]

If the page is a short and you don't mind refreshing a couple times, you can do an onchange="Submit()" action on each drop down and when an option is selected, they will be sent to the server and the other drop downs can re-query. This is ideal on an intranet. CFAjax will accomplish the same thing but I haven't used it as we don't support javascript 100% at work.

[Speechist]

Thanks you guys....that's sorta what I had in mind. I was hoping that I could allow visitors to make a selection on each (or any) of 3 (maybe 4) drop-downs, then click a "Filter" button that would return a page with their selections. Like doing a "SORT BY" SQL on multiple values but without having to wait for the page to refresh after each drop-down selection is made. But you know, this will be on a big server in a relatively small network environment...the refresh probably wouldn't be that long. Any further ideas?

[Speechist]

UPDATE: Ok, we've updated to CFMX 7 and have started our application. I've got the multiple drop-down thing going (I built a version using the CFFORM format="flash" thing and it created a few tabs and the rest of the form in Flash---very cool--not sure we'll use it right away). Question: we decided to dummy-proof the form and need the second and third drop-downs to change based on choices made in the first (and then second) drop-downs. In other words, based on the choice the user makes in the first drop-down, the second drop-down will display a different set of choices. Then when the second drop-down choice is made, the third drop-down will display "narrowed" set of choices based on what was chosen in drop-down #2. This sort of "drill down" is really central to how the app works and will be used in multiple places, so I need to get it right. I've considered using Sky's suggestion for using onchange="Submit()" for each of the fields, but just haven't tried it yet. Is this JS that you would put into the field definition, and will this result in the next field automatically changing or am I stuck with a page reload?

The queries are fairly straight forward, but I'm thinking I may need to pass a variable/parameter to the subsequent drop-down fields, but haven't done this before, and I don't want to have the whole page refresh after each choice, but will do this if necessary. I'm also looking at CFAjax. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

This post has been edited by Speechist: 19 July 2005 - 06:00 PM

[Speechist]

Ok, for all of you following this....

I talked with someone on the MM site and they pointed me toward a Custom Tag called "CF_ThreeSelectsRelated" that accomplishes what I'm trying to do here. I haven't had a chance to implement it yet, but it looks like a heavy mix of JS and CF. The MM forums had some folks complaining the tag wouldn't work in certain situations, but I'll see how it goes and report back. The attached zip file contains the downloaded Custom Tag from the MM Developers Exchange site. There is also a CF_TwoSelectsRelated that is available. Check it out here: Macromedia Developers Exchange

Attached File(s)

•  ThreeSelectsRelated.zip (9.84K)
  Number of downloads: 293