Personal Catalogue: PHP & MySQL — Chapter 8, Exercise 1
====================================================

TASK
Add the autofocus attribute and the last_type redirect/pre-selection
logic to your own add_item.php. Add three books in a row without
touching the mouse (only Tab, typing, and Enter) and confirm the type
dropdown stays on "book" for all three without being reselected.

SOLUTION

With autofocus added to the Title <input>, and the header() redirect
in the POST branch changed to include &last_type={$itemTypeId}, and
the item-type <select> reading $lastType via the GET branch to mark
the matching <option> as selected:

1. Load add_item.php fresh. The Title field already has focus (visible
   as a blinking cursor with no click needed).

2. Type "Book One" into Title, press Tab to move to Creator (leave it
   blank), Tab past the remaining fields, and press Enter (or Tab to
   the submit button and press Space/Enter) to submit — first select
   "book" from the dropdown at the very start using the keyboard
   (arrow keys or typing "b" while the select is focused).

3. The page redirects to add_item.php?added=1&last_type=1 (assuming
   book = item_type_id 1). Because $lastType is read from $_GET and
   compared against each option's own id, the "book" option already
   carries the selected attribute on this fresh page load — visible
   without touching the dropdown at all.

4. Type "Book Two" directly into the already-focused Title field
   (autofocus put the cursor there again automatically) and submit the
   same way. Repeat for "Book Three."

Confirm at the mysql> prompt:

    SELECT title, item_type_id FROM items
    WHERE title IN ('Book One', 'Book Two', 'Book Three');

Expected output: all three rows show item_type_id = 1 (book), even
though the dropdown was only manually selected once, on the very
first submission.

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
----------------------------
It walks through the real keyboard-only workflow the chapter's own
changes are meant to enable, and confirms the concrete, checkable
outcome (the dropdown stayed correctly pre-selected across all three
submissions) rather than just describing the feature abstractly.