A simple question for jquery ninjas I'm sure.
(yes, i DO want to use jquery)

Lets say I have a 3 column table like this:

<table>
<tbody>
<tr class="sal-calc">
<td>Bob</td>
<td>Smith</td>
<td>50,000</td>
</tr>
<tr class="sal-calc">
<td>Bill</td>
<td>Green</td>
<td>40,000</td>
</tr>
<tr class="sal-calc">
<td>John</td>
<td>Brown</td>
<td>60,000</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

And I have a placeholder selection element like this:

<label>Select employee:</label>
<select class="emp-tbl">
  <option value="0"  selected="selected"> - </option>    
</select>

And I want to take the first two <td> values as the concatenated text
AND
take the third <td> value and use it as the "value" attribute for each selector.
So the end result should look like this:

<label>Select employee:</label>
<select class="emp-tbl">
  <option value="0"  selected="selected"> - </option>    
  <option value="50,000">Bob Smith</option>
  <option value="40,000">Bill Green</option>
  <option value="60,000">John Brown</option>
</select>

Hints, peoples?

This may work, although it is totally untested.

$(function(){
    $("table tr.sal-calc").each(function(){
        var val, txt;
        var td = $(this).children().first();
        txt = td.text();

        td = td.next();
        txt += " " + td.text();

        td = td.next();
        val = td.text();

        var opt = $("option").val(val).text(txt);

        $("select.emp-tbl").append(opt);
    });
});

Originally Posted by lizciz

This may work, although it is totally untested.

$(function(){
    $("table tr.sal-calc").each(function(){
        var val, txt;
        var td = $(this).children().first();
        txt = td.text();

        td = td.next();
        txt += " " + td.text();

        td = td.next();
        val = td.text();

        var opt = $("option").val(val).text(txt);

        $("select.emp-tbl").append(opt);
    });
});

Thank you. I finally got what I wanted with something very similar to your solution. cheers.