custom forms - data collection

[DivaVocals]

So I need a little clarification.

I need to add a few radioboxes and some dropdowns. I have SCOURCED this forum for answers, and the closest I've come are these two threads:
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpo...2&postcount=12

&

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpo...34&postcount=2

The first link makes perfect sense to my non-coding brain, and would be easy for me to implement.

I couldn't get the second one to work. (the dropdown showed fine, but it was not populated) Since I am no coder, I am sorta stumped in trying to troubleshoot why I couldn't get it to work.

So here's my question. I was reading a post from DrByte (http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpo...93&postcount=2) that stated:

Quote:
Originally Posted by hyperspeed9
I need make the list using Zen Carts method so that I can pass whatever a custom selects to be included in the email that is sent upon submission.

Actually, you don't.

All you need to do is check the value of the $_POST['merchant_desired'] variable, since that's what's set when someone chooses something from the SELECT ... OPTION .... OPTION ... OPTION ... /SELECT list you built in HTML.

So if I understand this response correctly, I can add the following to my form:

<label class="inputLabelQuestions" for="question5">Have you had experience with premium hair?:<?php echo '<span class="alert">' . ENTRY_REQUIRED_SYMBOL . '</span>'; ?></label>
<select name="question5" id="question5">
  <option value="[Select One]">[Select One]</option>
  <option value="Yes">Yes</option>
  <option value="No">No</option>
  <option value="Not sure what premium hair is">Not sure what premium hair is</option>
</select>

and as long as I configure my header_php.php file correctly, this should be okay.. Am I understanding this correctly??

  if (isset($_GET['action']) && ($_GET['action'] == 'send')) {
    $contact1_firstname = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['contact1_firstname']);
    $contact1_lastname = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['contact1_lastname']);
    $contact1_phone = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['contact1_phone']);
    $contact1_email = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['contact1_email']);
    $contact2_phone = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['contact2_phone']);
    $question1 = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['question1']);
    $question2 = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['question2']);
    $question3 = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['question3']);
    $question4 = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['question4']);
    $question5 = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['question5']);
    $question6 = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['question6']);
    $question7 = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['question7']);
    $question8 = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['question8']);
    $code = zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['code']);
    $comments = zen_db_prepare_input(strip_tags($_POST['comments']));