Post array of multiple checkbox values

Question

Why is only one value of the "db" checkbox values array being sent to the server side script?

JQUERY:

$(".db").live("change", function() {
    $(this).add($(this).next("label")).add($(this).next().next("br")).remove().insertAfter(".db:last + label + br"); 
    var url = "myurl.php";
    var db = [];
    $.each($('.db:checked'), function() {
        db.push($(this).val()); 
    });
    if(db.length == 0) { 
        db = "none"; 
    }       
    $.post(url, {db: db}, function(response) {
        $("#dbdisplay").html(response); 
    });
    return true;
});

HTML:

<input type="checkbox" name="db[]" class="db" value="track"/><label for="track">track</label></br>
<input type="checkbox" name="db[]" class="db" value="gps"/><label for="gps">gps</label></br>
<input type="checkbox" name="db[]" class="db" value="accounting"/><label for="accounting">accounting</label></br>

Edit: I ended up answering my own question, but does anyone have documentation (or an explanation) of why this is necessary? It was difficult for me to find the exact answer (thus the posthumous post).

Solution 1

I agree with @jjclarkson. Just to add, instead of pushing your ids to an array, you can use $.map:

$(".db").live("change", function() {
    $(this).add($(this).next("label")).add($(this).next().next("br")).remove().insertAfter(".db:last + label + br"); 
    var url = "myurl.php";

    var db = $('.db:checked').map(function(i,n) {
        return $(n).val();
    }).get(); //get converts it to an array

    if(db.length == 0) { 
        db = "none"; 
    }       
    $.post(url, {'db[]': db}, function(response) {
        $("#dbdisplay").html(response); 
    });
    return true;
});

Solution 2

You need to have the square brackets to specify an array [] on the submitted variable name.

{'db[]': db}

$(".db").live("change", function() {
    $(this).add($(this).next("label")).add($(this).next().next("br")).remove().insertAfter(".db:last + label + br"); 
    var url = "myurl.php";
    var db = [];
    $.each($('.db:checked'), function() {
        db.push($(this).val()); 
    });
    if(db.length == 0) { 
        db = "none"; 
    }       
    $.post(url, {'db[]': db}, function(response) {
        $("#dbdisplay").html(response); 
    });
    return true;
});

Solution 3

var checkeditems = $('input:checkbox[name="review[]"]:checked')
                       .map(function() { return $(this).val() })
                       .get()
                       .join(",");
$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: "/index.php/openItems/",   
    data: "ids=" + checkeditems,                                        
    success: function(msg) { $(".mainContainer").html(msg); }
});

Comments

[O.O]

A bit out of topic, the label's for value should be the input id, not the input value.

[jjclarkson]

Is it more efficient to use .map()?

[karim79]

@jjclarkson - not sure, but it's shorter and more sightly. That said, I had been using the $.each approach until I discovered $.map, I haven't noticed any difference, but generally, I don't think one will notice any difference for a small to medium sized data set.