Adding disabled option in codeigniter form_dropdown

Question

I'm trying to figure out how to add a disabled option in my dropdown, using codeIgniter. New to CI, and I've tried googling it a bit, but couldn't find an answer.

My code for a dropdown looks like this:

    echo form_dropdown('category', array('0' => 'Choose a category...')  + $categories, '0');

This gives me a dropdown with all my options from the variable $categories, with "Choose a category..." (value 0) at top. Now how to I make the first one disabled? I know how to make it select a specific one, which I've set it to do here.

Can anyone help me? Thanks

Davon

Answer 1

I know this is an old post, but in the current version of CI, I can do a little (sql-injection-like) trick by appending " disabled="disabled to the keys of the option I would like to disable.

$categories['0'] = '(Select Category)';
$categories['1'] = 'Category 1';
$categories['2" disabled="disabled'] = 'Restricted Category';
$categories['3'] = 'Category 3';

echo form_dropdown('category', $categories, '0');

I am not sure if this is a bug of CI's form_helper, since it does not do any escaping or sanitizing function for the dropdown key/values. For the mean time, to be safe, just make sure your keys and values wont be coming from any user-based input.

Physician

Will not work in CI 3.1.9, as $ key will be escaped. – Danseur

Answer 2

If you still want to use form_helper, you always can extends helper file and make 'disable' tag available. Create MY_Form_helper.php and put that under helper directory, then define function form_dropdown in that custom helper, then it will overide the form helper behaviour.

Choirboy

Answer 3

If you have a few static options only the $options variable can be a simple string too, containing the options in html format, like this:

$options = "
<option value=0 disabled>Select Category</option>
<option value=1>Category 1</option>
<option value=2>Category 2</option>";

echo form_dropdown('category', $options, '0');

Audition

Answer 4

Just add the fourth param $extra to your dropdown as a string like this 'disabled=disabled' as explained in CI Docs at https://codeigniter.com/user_guide/helpers/form_helper.html#available-functions

echo form_dropdown('category', array('0' => 'Choose a category...')  + $categories, '0', 'disabled=disabled');

Unwell

This makes the <select> disabled and not just a particular <option> as the OP specified. – Burnout

Answer 5

<?php echo validation_errors(); ?>
<?php echo form_open(''); ?>

<?php echo form_label('Gender:'); ?>
<?php echo form_dropdown(array('id'=>'selectinform', 'name'=>'gender', 'options'=>array('1'=>'Select', '2'=>'2','3'=>'3'), 'selected'=>'1')); ?>

<?php echo form_submit(array('id'=>'submit', 'value'=>'submit')); ?>
<?php echo form_close(); ?>

<script>
    $(document).ready(function(){
        $("#selectinform option:first").attr('disabled', 'disabled');
    });
</script>

Result - IMG

Hallo

Using js should be a last resort. This answer is missing its educational explanation. – Borries

Answer 6

This works because codeigniter pass the key as full string:

<?php
$field['select'] = array(
    'blah" disabled="disabled"' => 'Select some',
    '0' => 'Never',
    '1' => 'Daily',
    '7' => 'Weekly',
    '14' => 'Every 14 days',
    '30' => 'Monthly',
);
?>


<?php echo form_dropdown($field['name'], $field['select'], (!empty($field['value'])) ? $field['value'] : 'blah" disabled="disabled"', 'id="' . $field['name'] . '" class="form-control"' . $field['extra']);?>

Balakirev

Answer 7

From the CI user guide at http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/helpers/form_helper.html:

If you would like the opening to contain additional data, like an id attribute or JavaScript, you can pass it as a string in the fourth parameter:

So you code becomes:

    echo form_dropdown('category', array('0' => 'Choose a category...')  + $categories, '0', 'disabled="disabled"');

However, unless you are a PHP fanatic or are using CSRF protection through the form helper I would just type out your form html yourself. It is the same amount of text and you are using less functions.

Threadfin

Thanks for the reply. By adding 'disabled="disabled"' to the end, the whole select list becomes disabled. I just want the first option (value 0) to become disabled, so that you cannot choose the "Choose a category..." option. Yes, maybe I should type out the form myself then, unless there is a solution to this. – Davon

Try option groups, however, they are not visible when the select is not open: w3schools.com/tags/tag_optgroup.asp – Threadfin

I do the following: I don't give the first option a value '' and use the form validation library to make the select a required field. – Threadfin

Answer 8

Solution:

Change the 437th string of form_helper.php:

from

.(in_array($key, $selected) ? ' selected="selected"' : '').’>'

to

.(in_array($key, $selected) ? ' disabled="disabled"' : '').’>'

and use selected feature as disabled. Looks like an lifehack, but it works

Paid

Rather than modify the core code, it could be better to inject html or use javascript on the front-end. $('select[name=yourname]').prepend('<option selected disabled="disabled">Your choice</option>'); – Euterpe