How can I save the items of answers for a questions in an array so that I send them to the database using a controller and a model - mysql

Question

The code below is the view page used to display the different kinds of questions and their choices.. Questions like Fill in the blanks and multiple answer consists of more than one answer element.
<?php echo form_open('courseware/saveanswer'); ?>
<?php if(count($test_questions)):?>
<?php $i = 1 ?>
<ol>
<?php foreach($test_questions as $test_question):?>
<li>
<?php if($test_question->question_type == 'Fill-blanks'):?>
<?php $test_question->question_text = str_replace('___',form_input(array('name'=>'answer[]','id'=>'answer_'.$i++,'type'=>'text','size'=>'8')),$test_question->question_text)?>
<?php endif ?>
<?php echo $test_question->question_text ?>
<?php if($test_question->question_type == 'Multi-choice'):?>
<?php $choices = explode("\n", $test_question->question_choices)?>
<?php if(count($choices)):?>
<ul>
<?php foreach($choices as $choice):?>
<li><?php echo form_radio('answer'.$test_question->question_id,$choice) ?> <?php echo $choice ?></li>
<?php endforeach ?>
</ul>
<?php echo form_submit('$save', 'Save') ?>
<?php endif ?>
<?php elseif($test_question->question_type == 'Multi-answer'):?>
<?php $choices = explode("\n", $test_question->question_choices)?>
<?php if(count($choices)):?>
<ul>
<?php foreach($choices as $choice):?>
<li><?php echo form_checkbox('answer',$choice) ?> <?php echo $choice ?></li>
<?php endforeach ?>
</ul>
<?php echo form_submit('$save', 'Save') ?>
<?php endif ?>
<?php elseif($test_question->question_type == 'True/False'):?>
<ul>
<li><?php echo form_radio('answer_'.$test_question->question_id,1) ?> True</li>
<li><?php echo form_radio('answer_'.$test_question->question_id,0) ?> False</li>
</ul>
<?php echo form_submit('$save', 'Save') ?>
<?php else:?>
<?php endif ?>
</li>
<?php endforeach?>
<?php echo form_close(); ?>
below is a screenshot.
The question page looks like this ..
I want an array that has all the answers selected and sends the data to the database
The database consists of the table tbl_response and has the columns
test_reponse_id,
test_reponse_text ,
question_id ,

Answer 1

there's a number of ways to store multiple elements in a single value. You can use an implode() function to save as a string with a separator, as you are already doing with the $test_question->question_choices , which is separated by a '\n'. The cleanest alternative to that is often using json_encode().
either way, as you're presumably going to be comparing the selected answer(s) to something else, i suggest being careful about keeping the format and order consistent.