using an array to propagate a CGI menu

newatperl has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I want to use an array of values to fill in a pull down menu selection of a CGI menu; however, when I try to use an array, it only lists the first value. Looking at the CGI input, the menu usually takes something like

        print "<tr><td><B>Category:</B></td><td>";
        print $query->popup_menu(
                          -name=>'pubcategory',
                    -values=>['a', 'b', 'c'],
                    -default=>'None');
        print "<td></tr>\n";
[download]

I'm trying to put in:

        print "<tr><td><B>Category:</B></td><td>";
        print $query->popup_menu(
                          -name=>'pubcategory',
                    -values=>@publication_categories,
                    -default=>'None');
        print "<td></tr>\n";
[download]

(@publication_categories is simply generated from http://devo.wi.mit.edu/~dzhao/cgi-bin/pub_cat.txt) However, no matter what I do, it only lists the first value of the array. Should I hack the array into a giant string that looks like ['a','b','c'...]? That seems like an ugly solution. Can anyone help? Thanks

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Re: using an array to propagate a CGI menu by bjelli (Pilgrim) on May 14, 2001 at 23:55 UTC
The problem is that popup_menu demands a reference to an array, not an array. There are two common ways of creating a reference to an array: you quote the man page of CGI, where a reference to an anonymous array is used: `-values=>['a', 'b', 'c']` [download] But what you want is to use an existing (named) array, and create a reference to it: `-values=>\@publication_categories` [download] There's a lot about refernces in the standard perl documentation: perlre is about references, perldsc about various intresting data structures you can build with them. -- Brigitte 'I never met a chocolate I didnt like' Jellinek http://www.horus.com/~bjelli/ http://perlwelt.horus.at	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: using an array to propagate a CGI menu by boo_radley (Parson) on May 14, 2001 at 22:59 UTC
try `-values=>\@publication_categories` [download] instead. this is CGI's POD. The link is to the online version located on CPAN, so it may be a different one than what you've got on your system, but `perldoc cgi` at a command line should present you with the appropriate documentation on your system.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: using an array to propagate a CGI menu by Hero Zzyzzx (Curate) on May 14, 2001 at 23:01 UTC
Escape the @publication_categories array with a "\", like so: `-values=>\@publication_categories` and your code should work fine. Check the CGI.pm docs at the end of this section here for usage info. Good luck!!	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Re: using an array to propagate a CGI menu by newatperl (Acolyte) on May 14, 2001 at 23:19 UTC
lol... thanks guys... I was reading on a different CGI doc site that had it listed as "\@array", which confused me and didn't work...	[reply]