Interpreting check boxes in a PHP form
I think what you're trying to get at is how to dynamically handle the checkboxes for values you might not be able to predict (IE those created on the fly). Check boxes do not need unique names as Peter suggests - you can as you are already doing submit them as an array and process them dynamically. You don't even need to know the values and do a in_array() check either. Both Gabe and Peters examples assume you know how many checkboxes will be in the form - and in reality you could have hundreds on each page. As long as you know the name of the array being submitted you can process any number of checkboxes dynamically using my method:
As you can see my code simply loops through the array allowing you to handle any value for any item even if you don't know what the value will be to search for it. As long as you know the name of the array being submitted (EG multisite) then this will work for you.
EDIT: I forgot to say this also works for textboxes and textareas etc which are also submitted using a array_name[]. For example you can have someones name in a textbox called name[] and then their comments in a textarea called comments[]. When processing in php you simply refer both arrays whilst in the loop at the same time by using:
You're not limited to just checkboxes
//Put $_GET and $_POST into one array for easy access
$_HTTP = $_GET + $_POST;
//Note you don't have to do the above if you don't want - just use $_GET or $_POST below instead
//Check for multisite being an array
if (is_array($_HTTP['multisite']))
{
//Get number of items in array
$Count = count($_HTTP['multisite']);
//Iterate through array and do something with each submitted item / value
for ($i = 0; $i < $Count; $i++)
{
//Print value of each item in the array just to demonstrate it works
print $_HTTP['multisite'][$i] .'<br>';
//Enter into database or do something else
}
}
As you can see my code simply loops through the array allowing you to handle any value for any item even if you don't know what the value will be to search for it. As long as you know the name of the array being submitted (EG multisite) then this will work for you.
EDIT: I forgot to say this also works for textboxes and textareas etc which are also submitted using a array_name[]. For example you can have someones name in a textbox called name[] and then their comments in a textarea called comments[]. When processing in php you simply refer both arrays whilst in the loop at the same time by using:
$Name = $_POST['name'][$i];
$Comments = $_POST['comments'][$i];
You're not limited to just checkboxes
No I'm not saying no to whitelisting but what I am saying is that the OP hasn't explicitly said that the form will be limited to just 6 checkboxes. I prefer whitelisting (especially when it comes to email - and yes i have a email work in progress which uses whitelisting for incoming mail) but you must admit it does mean that you have to know what you're adding to the whitelist in the first place Obviously if it is just hardcoded to 6 checkboes then no problem either way but the impression I got was that the OP wanted to know how to handle them dynamically in case there were more (EG say the script pulls out content dynamically from a db). The OPs initial code showed the use of an array[] so I thought I would expand on this.
.htm pages can be generated and parsed by php. While it is unusual it's not something I would rule out as you never know what the persons project is or how their system is setup. Thats why I assumed that its still possible the form is generated dynamically. No apologies needed - we're all just trying to help
You're not missing anything with the foreach() vs for count arguement no. The op asked for something in "nice easy words" so I did it that way with full comments to show it in simple terms and how it works. It might be a line or two less efficient but it does the same job. foreach() still does a similar job internally (it still needs to know how many items are in the array) but you don't see the code for that and thus don't worry about it.
It would be nice to know if we've managed to help though!
Obviously if it is just hardcoded to 6 checkboes then no problem either way but the impression I got was that the OP wanted to know how to handle them dynamically in case there were more (EG say the script pulls out content dynamically from a db). The OPs initial code showed the use of an array[] so I thought I would expand on this..htm pages can be generated and parsed by php. While it is unusual it's not something I would rule out as you never know what the persons project is or how their system is setup. Thats why I assumed that its still possible the form is generated dynamically. No apologies needed - we're all just trying to help
You're not missing anything with the foreach() vs for count arguement no. The op asked for something in "nice easy words" so I did it that way with full comments to show it in simple terms and how it works. It might be a line or two less efficient but it does the same job. foreach() still does a similar job internally (it still needs to know how many items are in the array) but you don't see the code for that and thus don't worry about it.
It would be nice to know if we've managed to help though!
Er ... 
oh, never mind 
Gabe
oh, never mind Gabe