codeigniter filter database - codeigniter

Question

i have a few checkboxes that filter my elements from a database but i don't know how to apply a filter like price with a min value and a max value, since from my view i can pass to the controller only one value of my inputs
For example: i want to apply a price filter between 1000 and 1500 to an element
view:
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="1000"> <1.000</li>
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="1500">1.000 - 1.500</li>
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="2000">1.500 - 2.000</li>
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="3000">2.000 - 3.000</li>
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="4000">3.000 - 4.000</li>
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="5000">4.000 - 5.000</li>
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="5000"> >5.000</li>
controller:
public function laptops()
{
$filter = $this->input->post();
$data['laptops_toate'] = $this->emag_model->laptops_toate_grid($filter);
$this->load->view('emag/laptops',$data);
model:
public function laptops_toate_grid($filter = null){
$this->db->select('*')
->from('laptop_notebook')
->join('brands','brands.id_brands = laptop_notebook.brand');
if($filter['price']){
$this->db->where('price <', $filter['price']);
}
$query = $this->db->get()->result();
return $query;
}

Answer 1

For just an idea of how you could do it.
The view file:
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="<1000"> <1.000</li>
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="1000-1500">1.000 - 1.500</li>
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="1500-2000">1.500 - 2.000</li>
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="2000-3000">2.000 - 3.000</li>
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="3000-4000">3.000 - 4.000</li>
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value="4000-5000">4.000 - 5.000</li>
<li><input type="checkbox" name="price[]" value=">5000"> >5.000</li>
The controller remains the same.
The model becomes:
public function laptops_toate_grid($filter = null){
$this->db->select('*')
->from('laptop_notebook')
->join('brands','brands.id_brands = laptop_notebook.brand');
if (isset($filter['price'])) { // make sure there is price key
$filters = array(); // this is where we store the filters
foreach ($filter['price'] as $price) { // iterate through prices
if ($filter['price'][0] == '<') { // is less
$filters[] = 'price < ' . (int)substr($price, 1);
}
elseif ($filter['price'][0] == '>') { // is more
$filters[] = 'price > ' . (int)substr($price, 1);
}
else { // is between
$expl = explode('-', $price);
$filters[] = 'price BETWEEN ' . (int)$expl[0] . ' AND ' . (int)$expl[1];
}
}
if ($filters) { // if there are filters, create the query
$query = implode(' OR ', $filters);
$query = '('. $query . ')';
$this->db->where($query, false); // false makes sure the query is not escaped
}
}
$query = $this->db->get()->result();
return $query;
}
Note: this is just a working idea, I haven't been tested the code.