multiple items being inserted as one item

I expect you are gettting values from multiple checkboxes, or a multiselect?

You should then use "<name>[]"as the name. For example:

<input type="checkbox" name="test[]" value="123"> 123
<input type="checkbox" name="test[]" value="abc"> abc
<input type="checkbox" name="test[]" value="456"> 456

<select name="test[]" multiple="multiple">
      <option value="one">one</option>
      <option value="two">two</option>
      <option value="three">three</option>
      <option value="four">four</option>
      <option value="five">five</option>
</select>

then you can get the value with:

 

$test = array();

if (isset($_POST["test"]))
    {
    $test=$_POST['test'];
    if ($test)
        {
         foreach ($test as $t)
            {
            $query = 'INSERT INTO `act` (`service`, `activity`, `department`, `company`, `address`, `user`, `item`, `destroydate`, `date`, `new`) VALUES (\''.$service.'\', \''.$activity.'\', \''.$department.'\', \''.$company.'\', \''.$address.'\', \''.$authorised.'\', \''.strtoupper($t).'\', NULL, NOW(), \''.$new.'\');';
            mysql_query($query) or die('Error, query failed');
            }
        }
    }

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@pvlier
I am using jquery to input form values.

for(var i = 0;i < $(this).val();i++) {
$("#BRVbrtrv_boxnumber").append('<div data-role="fieldcontain"><label for="BRVbrtrv_boxnumber" class="ui-input-text">Enter box ' + (i + 1) + ' number:</label><input type="text" name="BRVbrtrv_boxnumber['+i+']" id="BRVbrtrv_boxnumber['+i+']" class="BRV_boxnumber ui-input-text ui-body-null ui-corner-all ui-shadow-inset ui-body-c" /></div>')
}

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try:

foreach($_POST['BRV-brtrv-boxnumber'] as $i=>$value){
	$_POST['BRV-brtrv-boxnumber'][$i]=mysql_real_escape_string($value);
	$query = 'INSERT INTO `act` (`service`, `activity`, `department`, `company`,  `address`, `user`, `item`, `destroydate`, `date`, `new`)
         VALUES (\''.$service.'\', \''.$activity.'\', \''.$department.'\', \''.$company.'\', \''.$address.'\', \''.$authorised.'\', \''.strtoupper($_POST['BRV-brtrv-boxnumber'][$i]).'\', NULL, NOW(), \''.$new.'\');';
	mysql_query($query) or die('Error, query failed');
}

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@hielo
now it is inputing just 1 value, the last entry. Here is what json is returning. thanks

boxcount: "2"
boxnumber: "rff,tgg"

If I understand you correctly, $_POST['BRV-brtrv-boxnumber'] is a comma-delimited "string"? If so, try:

$_POST['BRV-brtrv-boxnumber']=explode(',',$_POST['BRV-brtrv-boxnumber']);
foreach($_POST['BRV-brtrv-boxnumber'] as $i=>$value){
	$_POST['BRV-brtrv-boxnumber'][$i]=mysql_real_escape_string($value);
	$query = 'INSERT INTO `act` (`service`, `activity`, `department`, `company`,  `address`, `user`, `item`, `destroydate`, `date`, `new`)
         VALUES (\''.$service.'\', \''.$activity.'\', \''.$department.'\', \''.$company.'\', \''.$address.'\', \''.$authorised.'\', \''.strtoupper($_POST['BRV-brtrv-boxnumber'][$i]).'\', NULL, NOW(), \''.$new.'\');';
	mysql_query($query) or die('Error, query failed');
}

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Use var_dump($_POST) to print out the contents of the request.  It should be fairly easy to write the code once you can see the data.

This is the result of the var_dump($_POST);

["BRVbrtrv_boxnumber"]=>
  array(2) {
    [0]=>
    string(3) "ghh"
    [1]=>
    string(3) "fdd"
  }

@hielo
the result of your code change:
"boxnumber": "Array", thanks

>>This is the result of the var_dump($_POST);
IF that is true, then this should work:

foreach($_POST['BRVbrtrv_boxnumber'] as $i=>$value){
	$_POST['BRVbrtrv_boxnumber'][$i]=mysql_real_escape_string($value);
	$query = 'INSERT INTO `act` (`service`, `activity`, `department`, `company`,  `address`, `user`, `item`, `destroydate`, `date`, `new`)
         VALUES (\''.$service.'\', \''.$activity.'\', \''.$department.'\', \''.$company.'\', \''.$address.'\', \''.$authorised.'\', \''.strtoupper($_POST['BRVbrtrv_boxnumber'][$i]).'\', NULL, NOW(), \''.$new.'\');';
echo 'attempting to execute', htmlentities($query,ENT_QUOTES);
	mysql_query($query) or die('Error, query failed');
}

//It should echo one INSERT query for every item in BRVbrtrv_boxnumber

NOTE: ON your original post you are referencing:
['BRV-brtrv-boxnumber']

but the var_dump() shows:
["BRVbrtrv_boxnumber"]

(notice that the first hyphen is not there and the second hyphen is now an underscore). The key HAS to match what you ACTUALLY have in $_POST.

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FYI: Do NOT use the explode() line as previously suggested in ID:36502414

The key HAS to match what you ACTUALLY have in $_POST. Wait!  Why wasn't I informed?!  

;-)

And it is case-sensitive, and it will drive you nuts if you put special characters in it because PHP will mung the key in some cases.  A safe practice is to use only letters, numbers and the underscore.  The relationship of the form input to the PHP action script is illustrated by this little script.

<?php // RAY_post_example.php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
echo "<pre>"; // MAKE IT EASY TO READ



// THIS ILLUSTRATES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE 'ACTION' AND THE 'FORM' WHEN COMBINED INTO A SINGLE PHP SCRIPT FILE



// SET A DEFAULT VALUES FOR A VARIABLE TO PREPOPULATE THE FORM - THIS COULD COME FROM A DATA BASE, OR MIGHT BE EMPTY
$my_INPUT_Field = 'ORIGINAL DATA';



// HAS ANYTHING BEEN POSTED? IF SO, $_POST IS SET AND CONTAINS THE DATA
if (!empty($_POST))
{
    // SHOW THE POST ARRAY
    var_dump($_POST);

    // IF THE FORM WAS FILLED IN, COPY THE INPUT INTO OUR VARIABLE
    if (!empty($_POST["my_INPUT_Field"]))
    {
        $my_INPUT_Field = $_POST["my_INPUT_Field"];
    }

    // THIS IS THE END OF THE ACTION SCRIPT
    echo 'ACTION COMPLETED';
}



// THIS IS THE FORM SCRIPT CREATED IN HEREDOC NOTATION
$form = <<<ENDFORM
<form method="post">
TYPE SOMETHING HERE:
<input type="text"   name="my_INPUT_Field"   value="$my_INPUT_Field" />
<input type="hidden" name="my_HIDDEN_Field"  value="Not Really Much of a Secret" />
<input type="submit" name="my_SUBMIT_Button" value="go" />
</form>
ENDFORM;

// WRITE THE FORM TO THE BROWSER
echo $form;

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>>Wait!  Why wasn't I informed?!
If you have to ask then http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpmysql4/ must not be as good as you keep advertising everyday!

LOL - you set yourself up for that one!!!

@hielo
still only outputting the second value instead of 2. I have included the whole code and taken the db out of the equation until I can get json to return correct values. I can confirm that BRVbrtrv_boxnumber is the correct name.  Thanks

<?php include("JSON.php"); ?>
<?php
session_start();

$new = 1;
$activity = 'Box Retrieval';
$company = $_SESSION['idcode'];
$authorised = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['BRV_brtrvrb']);
$service = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['BRV-id-service-type']);
$department = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['BRV-brtrv-department']);
$address = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['BRV-brtrv-address']);
$boxcount = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['BRV-brtrv-slider']);
//var_dump($_POST);
foreach($_POST['BRVbrtrv_boxnumber'] as $i=>$value){
	$boxnumber = $_POST['BRVbrtrv_boxnumber'][$i]=mysql_real_escape_string($value);

header("Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT" );
header("Last-Modified: " . gmdate( "D, d M Y H:i:s" ) . "GMT" );
header("Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate" );
header("Pragma: no-cache" );
header("Content-type: application/json");
$json = "";
if(empty($service)) {
$json .= "{\"ErrorService\": \"ERROR: You mest select a service level\"}";
 }

else
if($department=="Choose Department") {
$json .= "{\"ErrorService\": \"ERROR: You must select a department\"}";
 }

else
if($address=="Choose Address") {
$json .= "{\"ErrorService\": \"ERROR: You must select a retrieval address\"}";
 }

else
if(empty($boxnumber)) {
$json .= "{\"ErrorService\": \"ERROR: You must enter a box for retrieval\"}";
 }

else
{
$json .= "{\n";
$json .= "\"boxnumber\": \"".$boxnumber."\",\n";
$json .= "\"boxcount\": \"".$boxcount."\"\n";
$json .= "}\n";
}
}
echo $json;

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thanks very much