PHP Form not inserting into database

I have a simple post status page that works when posting the status, but I have tried to add a drop down menu so the user can select a category to filter the posts, but the category isn't posting in my mysql database.

Here is the drop down code

<div style="width: 200px;"><select id="category">
  <option selected value="">Select Category</option>
  <option value="Art">Art</option>
  <option value="Music">Music</option>
  <option value="Sport">Sport</option></select></div>

PHP:

And here is the entire code for the page

<?php
$status_ui = "";
$statuslist = "";
if($isOwner == "yes"){
    $status_ui = '<textarea id="statustext" onkeyup="statusMax(this,250)" placeholder="What&#38;#39;s new with you '.$u.'?"></textarea>';
    $status_ui .= '<button id="statusBtn" onclick="postToStatus(\'status_post\',\'a\',\''.$u.'\',\'statustext\')">Post</button>';
} else if($isFriend == true && $log_username != $u){
    $status_ui = '<textarea id="statustext" onkeyup="statusMax(this,250)" placeholder="Hi '.$log_username.', say something to '.$u.'"></textarea>';
    $status_ui .= '<button id="statusBtn" onclick="postToStatus(\'status_post\',\'c\',\''.$u.'\',\'statustext\')">Post</button>';
}
?><?php
$sql = "SELECT s.*, u.avatar
        FROM status AS s
        LEFT JOIN users AS u ON u.username = s.author
        WHERE (s.account_name = '$u' AND s.type='a')
        OR (s.account_name= '$u' AND s.type='c')
        ORDER BY s.postdate DESC LIMIT 20";
 
$query = mysqli_query($db_conx, $sql);
$statusnumrows = mysqli_num_rows($query);
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($query, MYSQLI_ASSOC)) {
    $statusid = $row["id"];
    $account_name = $row["account_name"];
    $author = $row["author"];
    $postdate = $row["postdate"];
//
    $avatar = $row["avatar"];
    $user_image = '<img src="user/'.$author.'/'.$avatar.'" width="50" height="50" border="0">';
//
    $category = $row["category"];
    $data = $row["data"];
    $data = nl2br($data);
    $data = str_replace("&amp;","&",$data);
    $data = stripslashes($data);
    $statusDeleteButton = '';
    if($author == $log_username || $account_name == $log_username ){
        $statusDeleteButton = '<span id="sdb_'.$statusid.'"><a href="#" onclick="return false;" onmousedown="deleteStatus(\''.$statusid.'\',\'status_'.$statusid.'\');" title="DELETE THIS STATUS AND ITS REPLIES">delete status</a></span> &nbsp; &nbsp;';
    }
    // GATHER UP ANY STATUS REPLIES
    $status_replies = "";
    $sql2 = "SELECT s.*, u.avatar
        FROM status AS s
        LEFT JOIN users AS u ON u.username = s.author
        WHERE s.osid = '$statusid'
        AND s.type= 'b'
        ORDER BY postdate ASC";
 
    $query_replies = mysqli_query($db_conx, $sql2);           
    $replynumrows = mysqli_num_rows($query_replies);
    if($replynumrows > 0){
        while ($row2 = mysqli_fetch_array($query_replies, MYSQLI_ASSOC)) {
            $statusreplyid = $row2["id"];
            $replyauthor = $row2["author"];
            $replydata = $row2["data"];
//
            $avatar2 = $row2["avatar"];
            $user_image2 = '<img src="user/'.$replyauthor.'/'.$avatar2.'" width="50" height="50" border="0">';
//
            $replydata = nl2br($replydata);
            $replypostdate = $row2["postdate"];
            $replydata = str_replace("&amp;","&",$replydata);
            $replydata = stripslashes($replydata);
            $replyDeleteButton = '';
            if($replyauthor == $log_username || $account_name == $log_username ){
                $replyDeleteButton = '<span id="srdb_'.$statusreplyid.'"><a href="#" onclick="return false;" onmousedown="deleteReply(\''.$statusreplyid.'\',\'reply_'.$statusreplyid.'\');" title="DELETE THIS COMMENT">remove</a></span>';
            }
            $status_replies .= '<div id="reply_'.$statusreplyid.'" class="reply_boxes"><div><b>Reply by <a href="user.php?u='.$replyauthor.'">'.$replyauthor.'</a> '.$replypostdate.':</b> '.$replyDeleteButton.'<br /> <div style="width: 60px; float: left;">'.$user_image2.'</div><div>'.$replydata.'</div></div></div>';
        }
    }
    $statuslist .= '<div id="status_'.$statusid.'" class="status_boxes"><div style="width: 100%"><b>Posted by <a href="user.php?u='.$author.'">'.$author.'</a> '.$postdate.':</b> '.$statusDeleteButton.' <br /> <div style="width: 60px; float: left;">'.$user_image.'</div><div>'.$data.'</div></div>'.$status_replies.'</div>';
    if($isFriend == true || $log_username == $u){
        $statuslist .= '<textarea id="replytext_'.$statusid.'" class="replytext" onkeyup="statusMax(this,250)" placeholder="write a comment here"></textarea><button id="replyBtn_'.$statusid.'" onclick="replyToStatus('.$statusid.',\''.$u.'\',\'replytext_'.$statusid.'\',this)">Reply</button>';   
    }
}
?>
<div id="statusui">
  <div style="width: 200px;"><select id="category">
  <option selected value="">Select Category</option>
  <option value="Art">Art</option>
  <option value="Music">Music</option>
  <option value="Sport">Sport</option></select></div><?php echo $status_ui; ?>
</div>
<div id="statusarea">
  <?php echo $statuslist; ?>
</div>

PHP:

Thanks any help appreciated, I am still learning this >_<

 

You need to have a <form> element and then post the contents of this form to the php script so that it can be saved.
More Info: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_forms.asp

 

thanks for the reply, I'm just a little confused as the rest of the site doesn't have 1 <form> element but works fine.

i.e.

<?php
$status_ui = "";
$statuslist = "";
if($isOwner == "yes"){
    $status_ui = '<textarea id="statustext" onkeyup="statusMax(this,250)" placeholder="What&#39;s new with you '.$u.'?"></textarea>';
    $status_ui .= '<button id="statusBtn" onclick="postToStatus(\'status_post\',\'a\',\''.$u.'\',\'statustext\')">Post</button>';
} else if($isFriend == true && $log_username != $u){
    $status_ui = '<textarea id="statustext" onkeyup="statusMax(this,250)" placeholder="Hi '.$log_username.', say something to '.$u.'"></textarea>';
    $status_ui .= '<button id="statusBtn" onclick="postToStatus(\'status_post\',\'c\',\''.$u.'\',\'statustext\')">Post</button>';
}
?>

PHP:

 

It has a post button that is posting all data for processing on button click. See definition of PostToStatus function, you will understand.

 

recommend me best way to learn php?

 

https://forums.digitalpoint.com/search/26015156/?q=learn+php&o=date&c[node]=37