Jquery getJSON populate select menu question

Question

I am populating a select menu with getJSON. I am wondering if there's a way that I can use jQuery's .each function to bring in these values?

Surely there must be an easier way to accomplish this...maybe?

PHP file:

<?php
    $queryMonth = "SELECT monthID, month FROM months";
    $result = $db->query($queryMonth);

      while($rowMonth = $db->fetch_assoc($result)) :
        $data[] = $rowMonth;
      endwhile;

    echo json_encode($data);
?>

The jQuery:

    $.getJSON('selectMenus.php', function(data){
        $("select.month").append("<option value=" + data[0].monthID + ">" + data[0].month + "</option>"); 
        $("select.month").append("<option value=" + data[1].monthID + ">" + data[1].month + "</option>"); 
        $("select.month").append("<option value=" + data[2].monthID + ">" + data[2].month + "</option>"); 
        $("select.month").append("<option value=" + data[3].monthID + ">" + data[3].month + "</option>"); 
        $("select.month").append("<option value=" + data[4].monthID + ">" + data[4].month + "</option>"); 
        $("select.month").append("<option value=" + data[5].monthID + ">" + data[5].month + "</option>"); 
        $("select.month").append("<option value=" + data[6].monthID + ">" + data[6].month + "</option>"); 
        $("select.month").append("<option value=" + data[7].monthID + ">" + data[7].month + "</option>"); 
        $("select.month").append("<option value=" + data[8].monthID + ">" + data[8].month + "</option>"); 
        $("select.month").append("<option value=" + data[9].monthID + ">" + data[9].month + "</option>"); 
        $("select.month").append("<option value=" + data[10].monthID + ">" + data[10].month + "</option>"); 
        $("select.month").append("<option value=" + data[11].monthID + ">" + data[11].month + "</option>"); 
    });

my json output looks like this:

[{"monthID":"1","month":"January"},{"monthID":"2","month":"February"},{"monthID":"3","month":"March"},{"monthID":"4","month":"April"},{"monthID":"5","month":"May"},{"monthID":"6","month":"June"},{"monthID":"7","month":"July"},{"monthID":"8","month":"August"},{"monthID":"9","month":"Septemeber"},{"monthID":"10","month":"October"},{"monthID":"11","month":"November"},{"monthID":"12","month":"December"}]

Answer 1

$.getJSON('selectMenus.php', function(data){
    var html = '';
    var len = data.length;
    for (var i = 0; i< len; i++) {
        html += '<option value="' + data[i].monthId + '">' + data[i].month + '</option>';
    }
    $('select.month').append(html);
});

Storing the HTML code in a variable and appending it only once at the end is very important if you care about your app performance.

Answer 2

This should work:

   $.getJSON('selectMenus.php', function(data){
        $.each(data, function(index,item) {
           $("select.month").append("<option value=" + item.monthID + ">" + item.month + "</option>"); 
    });
    });

Answer 3

From the great book jQuery in Action,here is a way to do what you want writing a custom jQuery command:

(function($) {
  $.fn.emptySelect = function() {
    return this.each(function(){
      if (this.tagName=='SELECT') this.options.length = 0;
    });
  }

  $.fn.loadSelect = function(optionsDataArray) {
    return this.emptySelect().each(function(){
      if (this.tagName=='SELECT') {
        var selectElement = this;
        $.each(optionsDataArray,function(index,optionData){
          var option = new Option(optionData.caption,
                                  optionData.value);
          if ($.browser.msie) {
            selectElement.add(option);
          }
          else {
            selectElement.add(option,null);
          }
        });
      }
    });
  }
})(jQuery);    

And then:

$.getJSON('selectMenus.php', 
   function(data){
      $("select.month").loadSelect(data);
   }
);

Answer 4

Using @RaYell's method....this is what worked for me:

$.getJSON('months.php', function(data){
    var html = '';
    var len = data.length;
    for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {html += '<option value="' + data[i].monthId + '">' +    data[i].month + '</option>';
    }
    $('select.month').append(html);
});

Thanks to everyone for your help on this!!

Answer 5

You can use a for loop.

for (var i = 0, len = data.length; i < len; i++)
    $("select.month")
         .append("<option value=" + data[i].monthID + ">" + data[i].month + "</option>");

If you want to achieve maximum performance, you should reduce the DOM operations to a minimum, like this:

var html = [];

for (var i = 0, len = data.length; i < len; i++) {
    html[html.length] = "<option value=";
    html[html.length] = data[i].monthID;
    html[html.length] = ">";
    html[html.length] = data[i].month;
    html[html.length] = "</option>";
}

$("select.month").append(html.join(''));