Checking for missing, but drop down is always selected

1

I have some input text and a dropdown. When you hit the submit, if my text field is empty I add that to my $missing array, but because there is always something “selected” in my drop down, it’s not seen as empty. How can I handle the drop down that has the first option selected (‘choose one’) and have it seen as empty?

I tried to directly assign something to the $missing array if the ‘choose one’ is still selected in the drop down, but no luck… even though I can see it show up in my $missing array, my entry still gets posted to my db.

I’d appreciate any advice on this problem. I’m very new to php/mysql and i’ve been putting this together based on other things i’ve learned. here’s what my code is looking like.

<?php
// process if the add item button is pressed
if (array_key_exists('insert', $_POST)) {
  include('../includes/corefuncs.php');  
  // remove backslashes
  nukeMagicQuotes();
  // prepare an array of expected items
  $expected = array('category', 'description', 'price', 'additional');
  // set required field
  $required = array('category', 'description', 'price');
  // create empty array for missing fields
  $missing = array();
  // create database connection
  $conn = dbConnect('admin');
  // make $_POST data safe for insertion into database
  foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
    // assign to temporary variable and strip whitespace if not an array
	$temp = is_array($value) ? $value : trim($value);
	// if empty and required, add to $missing array
	if (empty($temp) && in_array($key, $required)) {
	  array_push($missing, $key);
	  }
    elseif (in_array($key, $expected)) {
      ${$key} = mysql_real_escape_string($value);
      }
    }
  // prepare the SQL query if $missing is empty
if (empty($missing)) {
  $sql = "INSERT INTO lunch (category, description, price, additional)
          VALUES('$category', '$description', '$price', '$additional')";
  // process the query
  $result = mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());
  }
  // if successful, redirect to list of existing records
  if ($result) {
  	//header('');
    //exit;
    }
  }
?>

<body>
<h1>New Lunch Item</h1>
	<?php
	if ($_POST && isset($missing)) { ?>
	<p class="warning">Please complete the missing item(s) indicated.</p>
    <?php } ?>

<form id="form1" name="form1" method="post" action="">
        <p>
        <label for="category">Choose a menu category</label>
        <select name="category" id="category">
        
        <option value="choose one"
          <?php 
		  if ($_POST['category'] == 'choose one') { ?>
          selected="selected"
		  <?php
		  $missing[] = 'choose one'; ?>
          <?php } ?>
          >Choose one</option>
        
        <option value="starters"
          <?php 
		  if ($_POST['category'] == 'starters') { ?>
          selected="selected"
          <?php } ?>
          >Starters</option>
          
        <option value="salads"
          <?php 
		  if ($_POST['category'] == 'salads') { ?>
          selected="selected"
          <?php } ?>
          >Salads</option>
        
        <option value="entrees"
          <?php 
		  if ($_POST['category'] == 'entrees') { ?>
          selected="selected"
          <?php } ?>
          >Entrees</option>
                 
        <option value="sweets"
          <?php 
		  if ($_POST['category'] == 'sweets') { ?>
          selected="selected"
          <?php } ?>
          >Sweets</option>
          
    </select>
    </p>

    <p>
        <label for="description">Description:</label>
        <textarea name="description" cols="60" rows="8" class="widebox" id="description"></textarea>
    </p>
    <p>
        <label for="price">Price:</label>
        <input name="price" type="text" class="widebox" id="price"></textarea>
    </p>
    <p>
        <label for="additional">Additional:</label>
        <input name="additional" type="text" class="widebox" id="additional"></textarea>
    </p>
    <p>
        <input type="submit" name="insert" value="Add new item" />
    </p>
</form>
<pre>
<?php
if (array_key_exists('insert', $_POST)) {
   print_r($missing);
}
?>
</body>