Codeigniter insert horizontal lines in form_dropdown() - html

Question

I need to add horizontal lines in my drop down list. I have researched and found this way:
<select>
<option>First</option>
<option disabled>──────────</option>
<option>Second</option>
<option>Third</option>
</select>
The question is that I use Codeigniter form_dropdown() and cannot insert lines in my code. Could you please help me to insert horizontal lines in the code below.
$options = array(
'' => 'Select Size',
'' => '-----------', //does not work
'small' => 'Small Shirt',
'med' => 'Medium Shirt',
'' => '-----------', // does not work
'large' => 'Large Shirt',
'xlarge' => 'Extra Large Shirt',
);
echo form_dropdown('shirts', $options, 'set_value('shirts')');

Answer 1

Check your syntax. I think you are mixing single and double quotes there when you are ehco-ing out the actual form element. Also, your last item in your options array does not need the trailing ,
Otherwise, your code looks "good".
php
$options = array(
'' => 'Select Size',
'-----------',
'small' => 'Small',
'medium' => 'Medium',
'-----------',
'large' => 'Large',
'xlarge' => 'Extra Large'
);
echo form_dropdown('shirts', $options, $this->input->post('shirts'));
EDIT
To create your dropdown to use opt groups: "If the array passed as $options is a multidimensional array, form_dropdown() will produce an with the array key as the label."
$options = array(
'' => 'Select Size',
'Children' => array(
'small' => 'Small',
'medium' => 'Medium'
),
'Adults' => array(
'large' => 'Large',
'xlarge' => 'Extra Large'
)
);
echo form_dropdown( 'shirts', $options, $this->input->post( 'shirts'));
What I have found though, is that your optgroup label(s) need to be unique. "Children"/"Adults" otherwise it will only render the last group. So, you could run into a case where you need to have your data be 'child large' instead of just 'large'.
If you want to use disabled options while using form_dropdown, you might have to extend the form helper library and build your own. Otherwise, you could just use plain old' HTML syntax. Then you could just add the disabled="disabled" right on the option(s).
Hope this helps...