Simple array for HTML mockups.

function state_selection() {
        echo '<select name="state">';
                $states = array(
                        'Alabama', 'Alaska', 'Arizona', 'Arkansas', 'California', 'Colorado', 'Connecticut', 'Delaware', 'District of Columbia', 'Florida', 'Georgia', 'Hawaii', 'Idaho', 'Illinois', 'Indiana', 'Iowa', 'Kansas', 'Kentucky', 'Louisiana', 'Maine', 'Maryland', 'Massachusetts', 'Michigan', 'Minnesota', 'Mississippi', 'Missouri', 'Montana', 'Nebraska', 'Nevada', 'New Hampshire', 'New Jersey', 'New Mexico', 'New York', 'North Carolina', 'North Dakota', 'Ohio', 'Oklahoma', 'Oregon', 'Pennsylvania', 'Rhode Island', 'South Carolina', 'South Dakota', 'Tennessee', 'Texas', 'Utah', 'Vermont', 'Virginia', 'Washington', 'West Virginia', 'Wisconsin', 'Wyoming'
                );
                foreach ($states as $state_name) {
                        echo '<option value="'.$state_name.'">'.$state_name.'</option>';
                }
        echo '</select>';
}
state_selection();

Simply a pop-up form element of all 50 US States. Save you creating your own.

            <select name="state">
              <option value="" selected="selected">Select a state...</option>
              <option value="AL">Alabama</option>
              <option value="AK">Alaska</option>
              <option value="AZ">Arizona</option>
              <option value="AR">Arkansas</option>
              <option value="CA">California</option>
              <option value="CO">Colorado</option>
              <option value="CT">Connecticut</option>
              <option value="DC">District of Columbia</option>
              <option value="DE">Delaware</option>
              <option value="FL">Florida</option>
              <option value="GA">Georgia</option>
              <option value="HI">Hawaii</option>
              <option value="ID">Idaho</option>
              <option value="IL">Illinois</option>
              <option value="IN">Indiana</option>
              <option value="IA">Iowa</option>
              <option value="KS">Kansas</option>
              <option value="KY">Kentucky</option>
              <option value="LA">Louisiana</option>
              <option value="ME">Maine</option>
              <option value="MD">Maryland</option>
              <option value="MA">Massachusetts</option>
              <option value="MI">Michigan</option>
              <option value="MN">Minnesota</option>
              <option value="MS">Mississippi</option>
              <option value="MO">Missouri</option>
              <option value="MT">Montana</option>
              <option value="NE">Nebraska</option>
              <option value="NV">Nevada</option>
              <option value="NH">New Hampshire</option>
              <option value="NJ">New Jersey</option>
              <option value="NM">New Mexico</option>
              <option value="NY">New York</option>
              <option value="NC">North Carolina</option>
              <option value="ND">North Dakota</option>
              <option value="OH">Ohio</option>
              <option value="OK">Oklahoma</option>
              <option value="OR">Oregon</option>
              <option value="PA">Pennsylvania</option>
              <option value="RI">Rhode Island</option>
              <option value="SC">South Carolina</option>
              <option value="SD">South Dakota</option>
              <option value="TN">Tennessee</option>
              <option value="TX">Texas</option>
              <option value="UT">Utah</option>
              <option value="VT">Vermont</option>
              <option value="VA">Virginia</option>
              <option value="WA">Washington</option>
              <option value="WV">West Virginia</option>
              <option value="WI">Wisconsin</option>
              <option value="WY">Wyoming</option>
            </select>

// description of your code here
_author_form.rhtml
partial that handles the author name portion of a message entry form.

<%= error_messages_for 'message' %>

  <!--[form:author]-->

  <p/><label for="author_name">Author</label><br/>
  <% if !@logged_in then %>
    <%= text_field(:author, :name, :size => 30, :maxsize => 80, :disabled => !@logged_in) -%><br/>
    <em><%= link_to('Login', :controller => :account, :action => :login)-%> or 
      <%= link_to('Create an account', :controller => :account,
        :action => :signup) %> to use your own author name!</em><br/>
  <% elsif (@user_authors.nil? and @user_authors.length > 0) then %>
    <%= collection_select(:message, :author_id, @user_authors, :user_id, :name) %><br/>
    (<em>or create a new authorname</em>)
    <%= text_field(:author, :name, :size => 30, :maxsize => 80, :disabled => !@logged_in) -%><br/>
  <% else %>
    <%= text_field(:author, :name, :size => 30, :maxsize => 80, :disabled => !@logged_in) -%><br/>
  <% end %>
  <!--[eoform:author]-->

// description of your code here

<select id="state" name="state">
<option value="">Select One</option>
<optgroup label="Canadian Provinces">
<option value="AB">Alberta</option>
<option value="BC">British Columbia</option>
<option value="MB">Manitoba</option>
<option value="NB">New Brunswick</option>
<option value="NF">Newfoundland</option>
<option value="NT">Northwest Territories</option>
<option value="NS">Nova Scotia</option>
<option value="NU">Nunavut</option>
<option value="ON">Ontario</option>
<option value="PE">Prince Edward Island</option>
<option value="QC">Quebec</option>
<option value="SK">Saskatchewan</option>
<option value="YT">Yukon Territory</option>
</optgroup>
                        
<optgroup label="U.S. States">
<option value="AK">Alaska</option>
<option value="AL">Alabama</option>
<option value="AR">Arkansas</option>
<option value="AZ">Arizona</option>
<option value="CA">California</option>
<option value="CO">Colorado</option>
<option value="CT">Connecticut</option>
<option value="DC">District of Columbia</option>
<option value="DE">Delaware</option>
<option value="FL">Florida</option>
<option value="GA">Georgia</option>
<option value="HI">Hawaii</option>
<option value="IA">Iowa</option>
<option value="ID">Idaho</option>
<option value="IL">Illinois</option>
<option value="IN">Indiana</option>
<option value="KS">Kansas</option>
<option value="KY">Kentucky</option>
<option value="LA">Louisiana</option>
<option value="MA">Massachusetts</option>
<option value="MD">Maryland</option>
<option value="ME">Maine</option>
<option value="MI">Michigan</option>
<option value="MN">Minnesota</option>
<option value="MO">Missouri</option>
<option value="MS">Mississippi</option>
<option value="MT">Montana</option>
<option value="NC">North Carolina</option>
<option value="ND">North Dakota</option>
<option value="NE">Nebraska</option>
<option value="NH">New Hampshire</option>
<option value="NJ">New Jersey</option>
<option value="NM">New Mexico</option>
<option value="NV">Nevada</option>
<option value="NY">New York</option>
<option value="OH">Ohio</option>
<option value="OK">Oklahoma</option>
<option value="OR">Oregon</option>
<option value="PA">Pennsylvania</option>
<option value="PR">Puerto Rico</option>
<option value="RI">Rhode Island</option>
<option value="SC">South Carolina</option>
<option value="SD">South Dakota</option>
<option value="TN">Tennessee</option>
<option value="TX">Texas</option>
<option value="UT">Utah</option>
<option value="VA">Virginia</option>
<option value="VT">Vermont</option>
<option value="WA">Washington</option>
<option value="WI">Wisconsin</option>
<option value="WV">West Virginia</option>
<option value="WY">Wyoming</option>
</optgroup>
</select>

// An HTML form select box containing country names with the values set to their 2-letter ISO codes.

<select size="1" id="country" name="country">
<option value="">Select One</option>
<option value="US">United States</option>
<option value="CA">Canada</option>
<option value="">----------</option>
<option value="AF">Afghanistan</option>
<option value="AL">Albania</option>
<option value="DZ">Algeria</option>
<option value="AS">American Samoa</option>
<option value="AD">Andorra</option>
<option value="AO">Angola</option>
<option value="AI">Anguilla</option>
<option value="AQ">Antarctica</option>
<option value="AG">Antigua and Barbuda</option>
<option value="AR">Argentina</option>
<option value="AM">Armenia</option>
<option value="AW">Aruba</option>
<option value="AU">Australia</option>
<option value="AT">Austria</option>
<option value="AZ">Azerbaidjan</option>
<option value="BS">Bahamas</option>
<option value="BH">Bahrain</option>
<option value="BD">Bangladesh</option>
<option value="BB">Barbados</option>
<option value="BY">Belarus</option>
<option value="BE">Belgium</option>
<option value="BZ">Belize</option>
<option value="BJ">Benin</option>
<option value="BM">Bermuda</option>
<option value="BT">Bhutan</option>
<option value="BO">Bolivia</option>
<option value="BA">Bosnia-Herzegovina</option>
<option value="BW">Botswana</option>
<option value="BV">Bouvet Island</option>
<option value="BR">Brazil</option>
<option value="IO">British Indian Ocean Territory</option>
<option value="BN">Brunei Darussalam</option>
<option value="BG">Bulgaria</option>
<option value="BF">Burkina Faso</option>
<option value="BI">Burundi</option>
<option value="KH">Cambodia</option>
<option value="CM">Cameroon</option>
<option value="CV">Cape Verde</option>
<option value="KY">Cayman Islands</option>
<option value="CF">Central African Republic</option>
<option value="TD">Chad</option>
<option value="CL">Chile</option>
<option value="CN">China</option>
<option value="CX">Christmas Island</option>
<option value="CC">Cocos (Keeling) Islands</option>
<option value="CO">Colombia</option>
<option value="KM">Comoros</option>
<option value="CG">Congo</option>
<option value="CK">Cook Islands</option>
<option value="CR">Costa Rica</option>
<option value="HR">Croatia</option>
<option value="CU">Cuba</option>
<option value="CY">Cyprus</option>
<option value="CZ">Czech Republic</option>
<option value="DK">Denmark</option>
<option value="DJ">Djibouti</option>
<option value="DM">Dominica</option>
<option value="DO">Dominican Republic</option>
<option value="TP">East Timor</option>
<option value="EC">Ecuador</option>
<option value="EG">Egypt</option>
<option value="SV">El Salvador</option>
<option value="GQ">Equatorial Guinea</option>
<option value="ER">Eritrea</option>
<option value="EE">Estonia</option>
<option value="ET">Ethiopia</option>
<option value="FK">Falkland Islands</option>
<option value="FO">Faroe Islands</option>
<option value="FJ">Fiji</option>
<option value="FI">Finland</option>
<option value="CS">Former Czechoslovakia</option>
<option value="SU">Former USSR</option>
<option value="FR">France</option>
<option value="FX">France (European Territory)</option>
<option value="GF">French Guyana</option>
<option value="TF">French Southern Territories</option>
<option value="GA">Gabon</option>
<option value="GM">Gambia</option>
<option value="GE">Georgia</option>
<option value="DE">Germany</option>
<option value="GH">Ghana</option>
<option value="GI">Gibraltar</option>
<option value="GB">Great Britain</option>
<option value="GR">Greece</option>
<option value="GL">Greenland</option>
<option value="GD">Grenada</option>
<option value="GP">Guadeloupe (French)</option>
<option value="GU">Guam (USA)</option>
<option value="GT">Guatemala</option>
<option value="GN">Guinea</option>
<option value="GW">Guinea Bissau</option>
<option value="GY">Guyana</option>
<option value="HT">Haiti</option>
<option value="HM">Heard and McDonald Islands</option>
<option value="HN">Honduras</option>
<option value="HK">Hong Kong</option>
<option value="HU">Hungary</option>
<option value="IS">Iceland</option>
<option value="IN">India</option>
<option value="ID">Indonesia</option>
<option value="INT">International</option>
<option value="IR">Iran</option>
<option value="IQ">Iraq</option>
<option value="IE">Ireland</option>
<option value="IL">Israel</option>
<option value="IT">Italy</option>
<option value="CI">Ivory Coast (Cote D&#39;Ivoire)</option>
<option value="JM">Jamaica</option>
<option value="JP">Japan</option>
<option value="JO">Jordan</option>
<option value="KZ">Kazakhstan</option>
<option value="KE">Kenya</option>
<option value="KI">Kiribati</option>
<option value="KW">Kuwait</option>
<option value="KG">Kyrgyzstan</option>
<option value="LA">Laos</option>
<option value="LV">Latvia</option>
<option value="LB">Lebanon</option>
<option value="LS">Lesotho</option>
<option value="LR">Liberia</option>
<option value="LY">Libya</option>
<option value="LI">Liechtenstein</option>
<option value="LT">Lithuania</option>
<option value="LU">Luxembourg</option>
<option value="MO">Macau</option>
<option value="MK">Macedonia</option>
<option value="MG">Madagascar</option>
<option value="MW">Malawi</option>
<option value="MY">Malaysia</option>
<option value="MV">Maldives</option>
<option value="ML">Mali</option>
<option value="MT">Malta</option>
<option value="MH">Marshall Islands</option>
<option value="MQ">Martinique (French)</option>
<option value="MR">Mauritania</option>
<option value="MU">Mauritius</option>
<option value="YT">Mayotte</option>
<option value="MX">Mexico</option>
<option value="FM">Micronesia</option>
<option value="MD">Moldavia</option>
<option value="MC">Monaco</option>
<option value="MN">Mongolia</option>
<option value="MS">Montserrat</option>
<option value="MA">Morocco</option>
<option value="MZ">Mozambique</option>
<option value="MM">Myanmar</option>
<option value="NA">Namibia</option>
<option value="NR">Nauru</option>
<option value="NP">Nepal</option>
<option value="NL">Netherlands</option>
<option value="AN">Netherlands Antilles</option>
<option value="NT">Neutral Zone</option>
<option value="NC">New Caledonia (French)</option>
<option value="NZ">New Zealand</option>
<option value="NI">Nicaragua</option>
<option value="NE">Niger</option>
<option value="NG">Nigeria</option>
<option value="NU">Niue</option>
<option value="NF">Norfolk Island</option>
<option value="KP">North Korea</option>
<option value="MP">Northern Mariana Islands</option>
<option value="NO">Norway</option>
<option value="OM">Oman</option>
<option value="PK">Pakistan</option>
<option value="PW">Palau</option>
<option value="PA">Panama</option>
<option value="PG">Papua New Guinea</option>
<option value="PY">Paraguay</option>
<option value="PE">Peru</option>
<option value="PH">Philippines</option>
<option value="PN">Pitcairn Island</option>
<option value="PL">Poland</option>
<option value="PF">Polynesia (French)</option>
<option value="PT">Portugal</option>
<option value="PR">Puerto Rico</option>
<option value="QA">Qatar</option>
<option value="RE">Reunion (French)</option>
<option value="RO">Romania</option>
<option value="RU">Russian Federation</option>
<option value="RW">Rwanda</option>
<option value="GS">S. Georgia & S. Sandwich Isls.</option>
<option value="SH">Saint Helena</option>
<option value="KN">Saint Kitts & Nevis Anguilla</option>
<option value="LC">Saint Lucia</option>
<option value="PM">Saint Pierre and Miquelon</option>
<option value="ST">Saint Tome (Sao Tome) and Principe</option>
<option value="VC">Saint Vincent & Grenadines</option>
<option value="WS">Samoa</option>
<option value="SM">San Marino</option>
<option value="SA">Saudi Arabia</option>
<option value="SN">Senegal</option>
<option value="SC">Seychelles</option>
<option value="SL">Sierra Leone</option>
<option value="SG">Singapore</option>
<option value="SK">Slovak Republic</option>
<option value="SI">Slovenia</option>
<option value="SB">Solomon Islands</option>
<option value="SO">Somalia</option>
<option value="ZA">South Africa</option>
<option value="KR">South Korea</option>
<option value="ES">Spain</option>
<option value="LK">Sri Lanka</option>
<option value="SD">Sudan</option>
<option value="SR">Suriname</option>
<option value="SJ">Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands</option>
<option value="SZ">Swaziland</option>
<option value="SE">Sweden</option>
<option value="CH">Switzerland</option>
<option value="SY">Syria</option>
<option value="TJ">Tadjikistan</option>
<option value="TW">Taiwan</option>
<option value="TZ">Tanzania</option>
<option value="TH">Thailand</option>
<option value="TG">Togo</option>
<option value="TK">Tokelau</option>
<option value="TO">Tonga</option>
<option value="TT">Trinidad and Tobago</option>
<option value="TN">Tunisia</option>
<option value="TR">Turkey</option>
<option value="TM">Turkmenistan</option>
<option value="TC">Turks and Caicos Islands</option>
<option value="TV">Tuvalu</option>
<option value="UG">Uganda</option>
<option value="UA">Ukraine</option>
<option value="AE">United Arab Emirates</option>
<option value="GB">United Kingdom</option>
<option value="UY">Uruguay</option>
<option value="MIL">USA Military</option>
<option value="UM">USA Minor Outlying Islands</option>
<option value="UZ">Uzbekistan</option>
<option value="VU">Vanuatu</option>
<option value="VA">Vatican City State</option>
<option value="VE">Venezuela</option>
<option value="VN">Vietnam</option>
<option value="VG">Virgin Islands (British)</option>
<option value="VI">Virgin Islands (USA)</option>
<option value="WF">Wallis and Futuna Islands</option>
<option value="EH">Western Sahara</option>
<option value="YE">Yemen</option>
<option value="YU">Yugoslavia</option>
<option value="ZR">Zaire</option>
<option value="ZM">Zambia</option>
<option value="ZW">Zimbabwe</option>
</select>

This code allows you to pass in an HTML menu (select, radio, or checkbox) along with a single choice or an array of choices to be selected. The choice(s) should be contained literally in the value attribute.

This is handy for making persistent forms without polluting the HTML with PHP logic. For example, you could initialize all your menus to have nothing selected and then pass in GET or POST variables in case the form was not accepted, easily making form selections persistent.

/**
 * For select menus.
 */
function select_from_menu($menu,$choices,$deselect=true) {
  if ($deselect) $menu = preg_replace('/ selected(="selected")?/','',$menu);
  if(!is_array($choices)) {
    $menu = preg_replace('/(value="'.preg_quote($choices).'")/',"$1 selected=\"selected\"",$menu);
  } else foreach($choices as $value) {
    $menu = preg_replace('/(value="'.preg_quote($value).'")/',"$1 selected=\"selected\"",$menu);
  }
  
  return $menu;
}

/**
 * For radio buttons and checkboxes.
 */
function check_from_menu($menu,$choices,$deselect=true) {
  if ($deselect) $menu = preg_replace('/ checked(="checked")?/','',$menu);
  if(!is_array($choices)) {
    $menu = preg_replace('/(value="'.preg_quote($choices).'")/',"$1 checked=\"checked\"",$menu);
  } else foreach($choices as $value) {
    $menu = preg_replace('/(value="'.preg_quote($value).'")/',"$1 checked=\"checked\"",$menu);
  }

  return $menu;
}

Purpose: Clear all text fields in a form

Other important features:
- Resulting page must be valid XHTML 1.1
- JS must work in Firefox 1.0 and MS Internet Explorer 6.0
- JS must never generate any errors, even non-fatal ones, in the Firefox Javascript Console
- JS should only clear text input (no hidden fields or visual controls)
- Code must be readable and properly indented

Looking around the web, this was not easy to find. After a few hours of searches, and some back'n'forth at Webmaster World, I got a working version.

In XHTML header:

<script type="text/javascript" src="clear-form-input.js"></script>

In html/form/div

<script type="text/javascript">
  // <![CDATA[
    var el = document.createElement("input");
    el.setAttribute("id", "clearButton");
    el.setAttribute("type", "button");
    el.setAttribute("value", "Clear");
    document.getElementById("deliciousFormDiv").appendChild(el);
    addEvent(el, 'click', function(){ clearForm('delicious');} );
  // ]]>
</script>

In clear-form-input.js:

function clearForm(formIdent) 
{ 
  var form, elements, i, elm; 
  form = document.getElementById 
    ? document.getElementById(formIdent) 
    : document.forms[formIdent]; 

        if (document.getElementsByTagName)
        {
                elements = form.getElementsByTagName('input');
                for( i=0, elm; elm=elements.item(i++); )
                {
                        if (elm.getAttribute('type') == "text")
                        {
                                elm.value = '';
                        }
                }
        }

        // Actually looking through more elements here
        // but the result is the same.
        else
        {
                elements = form.elements;
                for( i=0, elm; elm=elements[i++]; )
                {
                        if (elm.type == "text")
                        {
                                elm.value ='';
                        }
                }
        }
}
        
function addEvent(elm, strEvent, fnHandler)
{
        return ( elm.addEventListener
        ? elm.addEventListener( strEvent, fnHandler, false)
        : elm.attachEvent( 'on'+strEvent, fnHandler)
        );
}