Use Drop down menu w/ description to populate hidden variable

[themint100]

1) Script Title:
Drop down menu w/ description

2) Script URL (on DD):
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamici...bodescribe.htm

3) Describe problem:

I found this script, and it does most of what I want; but rather than display the value for a selection in a pulldown, I want to assign that value to a hidden variable.

So if a user picks a product from the menu, I want to set a hidden variable's value (email address chosen from the specified array.)

Can I do this?

_Greg

[themint100]

Just wanted to clarify a bit...in my particular case, the user is selecting a product from the menu.

Rather than display the text from the array associated with that selection, I want to assign the array element's value to a hidden variable ('assigned_to').

BTW, I took out the 'onClick' code, as I just want the onChange behavior, and have a separate submit button.

Hope someone can help....

<!--Example drop down menu 1-->

<form name="form1">
<select name="select1" size="1" style="background-color:#FFFFD7" onChange="displaydesc(document.form1.select1, thetext1, 'textcontainer1')">
<option selected value="product-1">Product 1</option>
<option value="product-2">Product 2</option>
<option value="product-3">Product 3</option>
<option value="product-4">Product 4</option>
<option value="product-5">Product 5</option>
</select>
<span id="textcontainer1" align="left" style="font:italic 13px Arial">
</span>
<input type="hidden" name="assigned_to" value="" />

</form>

<!--Example drop down menu 2-->

<form name="form2">
<select name="select2" size="1" style="background-color:#E3FFDF" onChange="displaydesc(document.form2.select2, thetext2, 'textcontainer2')">
<option selected value="http://www.cnn.com">CNN</option>
<option value="http://www.msnbc.com">MSNBC</option>
<option value="http://news.bbc.co.uk">BBC News</option>
<option value="http://www.theregister.com/">The Register</option>
</select>
 <input type="button" value="Go" 
onClick="jumptolink(document.form2.select2)"><br>
<span id="textcontainer2" align="left" style="font:italic 13px Arial">
</span>
</form>



<!--IMPORTANT: Below script should always follow all of your HTML codes above, and never proceed them-->
<!--To be safe, just add below script at the end of your page-->

<script type="text/javascript">

/***********************************************
* Drop down menu w/ description- © Dynamic Drive (www.dynamicdrive.com)
* This notice must stay intact for use
* Visit http://www.dynamicdrive.com/ for full source code
***********************************************/

//1) CUSTOMIZE TEXT DESCRIPTIONS FOR LINKS ABOVE
var thetext1=new Array()
thetext1[0]="bob@example.com"
thetext1[1]="mary@example.com"
thetext1[2]="marv@example.com"
thetext1[3]="mark@example.com"
thetext1[4]="joe@example.com"

/// You may define additional text arrays if you have multiple drop downs:
var thetext2=new Array()
thetext2[0]="CNN- US and World News."
thetext2[1]="MSNBC- NBC News online."
thetext2[2]="BBC News- Updated every minute of every day."
thetext2[3]="TheRegister- Daily IT news."

// Now, see 2) below for final customization step

function displaydesc(which, descriptionarray, container){
if (document.getElementById)
document.getElementById(container).innerHTML=descriptionarray[which.selectedIndex]
}

function jumptolink(what){
var selectedopt=what.options[what.selectedIndex]
if (document.getElementById && selectedopt.getAttribute("target")=="newwin")
window.open(selectedopt.value)
else
window.location=selectedopt.value
}

//2) Call function displaydesc() for each drop down menu you have on the page
//   This function displays the initial description for the selected menu item
//   displaydesc(name of select menu, name of corresponding text array, ID of SPAN container tag):
//   Important: Remove the calls not in use (ie: 2nd line below if there's only 1 menu on your page)

displaydesc(document.form1.select1, thetext1, 'textcontainer1')
displaydesc(document.form2.select2, thetext2, 'textcontainer2')

</script>