old web2py blog

The documentation shows a usage example like:

FORM(SELECT('option1', 'option2', 'option3',_name="my_selector"))

SELECT using values from a list

however, when we create an option box dynamically, we will probably have a list of options. in this case, we will use SELECT as follows:

` options = ['option1', 'option2', 'option3']

 FORM(SELECT(*options, **dict(_name="my_selector"))`

SELECT using values from a database table

When we want the user to select values from a database (eg names), but we want the form to return the associated primary key, we can do as follows:

` staff = db(db.staff.ALL).select()

 FORM(TR("Select a user :", 
          SELECT(_name='staffselect', 
          *[OPTION(staff[i].username, _value=str(staff[i].id)) for i in range(len(staff))])), 
          TR(INPUT(_type='submit')))`

Now the option box will display the usernames, but the form will return the staff.id