" What's parsing your POST data? Neither CGI.pm nor CGI::Lite gives you a hash for a multiple select." Hmmmm.. I used CGI.pm to retrive the post variables. If it returns a list, it is a big problem for me because i need keys to keep options highlighted in the menu in case of any error, missing values... I posted my code below... Inside the check function I included php functions (i have no idea about their perl equivalents) named "is_array" and "empty" to indicate where i need to check the post variable... I am new to Perl, and I translated this code from a php class that i have created for my projects. So it might have a lot of flaws that i am not aware of... THanks a lot for the responses... 
# this is the sub that creates the select menu

sub elementSelect {
  my($self,$nm)=@_;
  # unique keys are data/sql, default
  # I use data key to create static select menus
  # sql key to create dynamic menus from tables
  my $data_array;
  my $row;
  my $multiple="no";
  my $select=undef;
  if($self->{ELEMENTS}->{$nm}->{data}){
    $data_array=$self->{ELEMENTS}->{$nm}->{data};
  }elsif($self->{ELEMENTS}->{$nm}->{sql}){
    my $sql=$db->prepare($self->{ELEMENTS}->{$nm}->{sql});
    $sql=$db->execute();
    while($row=$sql->fetchrow_arrayref){
      $data_array->[$row->[0]]=$row->[1];
    }
  }
  $multiple="yes" if defined $self->{ELEMENTS}->{$nm}->{attributes}->{
+multiple};
  $select="<select name='".$nm;
  if($multiple eq "yes"){
    $select.="[]";
  }
  $select.="' ".$self->getAttributes($nm).">";
  if($multiple eq "no"){
    $select.="<option value=''>select ".$self->{ELEMENTS}->{$nm}->{def
+ault}."</option>";
  }
  if($multiple eq "yes"){
    while(my($key,$value)=each(%{$data_array})){
      my $selected;
      if(($self->{PVARS}->{$nm} && $self->{PVARS}->{$nm}->{$key}) || (
+!$self->{PVARS}->{$nm} && $self->{VARS}->{$nm}->{$key})){
        $selected="selected";
      }else{
    $selected="";
      }
      $select.="<option value='".$key."' ".$selected.">".$value."</opt
+ion>";
    }
  }else{
    while(my($key,$value)=each(%{$data_array})){
      my $selected;
        if(($self->{PVARS}->{$nm} && $key eq $self->{PVARS}->{$nm}) ||
+ (!$self->{PVARS}->{$nm} && $key eq $self->{VARS}->{$nm})){
          $selected="selected";
        }else{
      $selected="";
    }
    $select.="<option value='".$key."' ".$selected.">".$value."</optio
+n>";
    }
  }
  $select.="</select>";
  return $select;
}
    

#####################################################
# DATA VALIDATION FUNCTIONS
# this is where i have the problem, the checkRequired sub
# should be compatible with both single values and lists in
# case of multiple selects
######################################################
    
sub checkRequired {
  my($self,$nm)=@_;
  my $o="";
  if(is_array($self->{POST}->param($nm))){ # check for multiple select
    if(empty($self->{POST}->param($nm))){
      # check the array has any values in it
      # maybe if(self->{POST}->param($nm))???
      push @{$self->{ERRORS}},"Please enter ".$self->{ELEMENTS}->{$nm}
+->{message}."!";
    }else{
      $o=$self->{POST}->param($nm);
    }
  }else{
    # value is scalar
    if($self->{POST}->param($nm) eq ""){
      push @{$self->{ERRORS}},"Please enter ".$self->{ELEMENTS}->{$nm}
+->{message}."!";
    }else{
      $o=$self->{POST}->param($nm);
    }
  }
  return $o;
}

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In reply to Re^2: hashes by Anonymous Monk
in thread Detect and reset hashes by Anonymous Monk

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