selectgender2.php

<?php

/**
 * Create a select box
 * @param string $name the name of the select box
 * @param array $options the options, associative array array('val_1'=>'opt_1' ... )
 * @param string $selected the option that is selected
 * @param array $attributes associative array of attributes for the select box array('attr_1'=>'val_1', 'attr_2'=>'val_2')
 */
function html_select($name, array $options, $selected=null, array $attributes = array()) {
	$select = '<select name=".'.$name.'" ';
	foreach ($attributes as $a=>$v) {
		$select .= $a .'="' . $v . '"';
	}
	$select .= ' >';
	foreach($options as $oid => $option) {
		$select .= '<option ';
		if($selected == $oid) {
			echo ' selected="selected" ';
		}
		$select .= ' value="'.$oid.'">.'.$option.'</option>';
	}
	$select .= '</select>';
	echo $select;
}


$options = array(
	1 => "Male",
	2 => "Female"
);
$attributes = array(
	'class'=>'simple_selectbox',
	'disabled'=>'disabled',
);

html_select('gender', $options, '1', $attributes);

That's how Drupal does it, with the attributes array. Except with Drupal you create a huge mulidimensional $form array with all your elements and then form_render($form) to output.

Ya, I think that might be excessive... I like simple in and out functions that do one thing.

Do you really have to say "array $options" and "array $attributes = array()" ?

I usually just say "$options" and "$attributes = array()".

I guess it would increase readability.

If you don't do the "array" part I can pass in anything I want, it is just an extra check that php will automagically do for me instead of me having to make sure it is by calling is_array().

It works even better if you have something like:

function (myObject $object){ ... }

If you pass anything other than myObject in it will not work.