title: dropdown output using JS
body: <p>original question: <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7528390/select-dropdown-output-my-mysql-data-properly-using-js-function/10675281#10675281">&lt;select&gt; dropdown output my MYSQL data properly using JS function</a></p>
  
  <p>I tried to write a follow-up but added this as an answer instead. Here's my question:</p>
  
  <p>using a similar/identical script to MassiveAttack; My problem is that once I select the second the dropdown, the 2 dropdowns reset themselves(the URL is correct); how do I 'keep' my values there?</p>
  
  <p>here's my script:</p>
  
  <pre><code>    function reload(form) {
          var val=form.cat.value;
          var val2=form.subcat.value;
          self.location='dd.php?cat=' + val + '&amp;subcat=' + val2;
       }
  
       &lt;/script&gt;
       &lt;/head&gt;
  
       &lt;body&gt;
       &lt;?
  
      @$cat = $_GET ['cat']; // Use this line or below line if register_global is off
      if (strlen ( $cat ) &gt; 0 and ! is_numeric ( $cat )) { // to check if $cat is
                                                   // numeric data
                                                   // or not.
       echo "Cat Data Error";
       exit ();
       }
  
      $quer2 = mysql_query ( "SELECT DISTINCT name,category_id FROM shop_categories order by name" );
  
  // ///// for second drop down list we will check if category is selected else we
  // will display all the subcategory/////
      if (isset ( $cat ) and strlen ( $cat ) &gt; 0) {
       $quer = mysql_query ( "SELECT name,product_id,priority,description FROM products WHERE category_id=$cat order by name" );
      } else {
      $quer = mysql_query ( "SELECT name,product_id,priority,description FROM products order by name" );
      }
  // //////// end of query for second subcategory drop down list box
      echo "&lt;form method=post name=f1 action='dd-check.php'&gt;";
  // / Add your form processing page address to action in above line. Example
  // action=dd-check.php////
  // //////// Starting of first drop downlist /////////
      echo "&lt;select name='cat' onchange=\"reload(this.form)\"&gt;&lt;option value=''&gt;Select      Category&lt;/option&gt;";
       while ( $noticia2 = mysql_fetch_array ( $quer2 ) ) {
           if ($noticia2 ['category_id'] == @$cat) {
               echo "&lt;option selected value='$noticia2[name]'&gt;$noticia2[name]&lt;/option&gt;" . "&lt;BR&gt;";
            } else {
            echo "&lt;option value='$noticia2[category_id]'&gt;$noticia2[name]&lt;/option&gt;";
            }
       }
            echo "&lt;/select&gt;";
  // //////////////// This will end the first drop down list ///////////
  
  // //////// Starting of second drop downlist /////////
        $myList1 = array ();
        echo "&lt;select name='subcat' onchange=\"reload(this.form)\"&gt;&lt;option value=''&gt;Select   subCategory&lt;/option&gt;";
       while ( $noticia = mysql_fetch_array ( $quer ) ) {
            if ($_GET ['subcat'] == $noticia [subcat]) {        
            echo "&lt;option value='$noticia[name]'&gt;$noticia[name]&lt;/option&gt;";
            }
       }
       echo "&lt;/select&gt;";
  
       echo "&lt;input type=submit value=Submit&gt;";
       echo "&lt;/form&gt;";
       ?&gt;
  
      &lt;/body&gt;
  
       &lt;/html&gt;
  
      &gt; 
  </code></pre>