How to save array option as text and not integer?

Question

Im in the midst of customizing WooCommerce checkout, adding a dropdown field which get user's meta keys and show as select option in the checkout page. I also managed to save the selected option after checkout into the order. However, the option is displaying as an integer instead of text in the custom field.

The following codes are my development, I hope someone can guide me out.

Retrieving user meta keys and display as dropdown options

add_action('woocommerce_after_order_notes', 'wps_add_select_checkout_field');
function wps_add_select_checkout_field( $checkout ) {

    $user_id = get_current_user_id(); 
    $vessel_one = get_user_meta( $user_id, 'vessel_one', true ); 
    $vessel_two = get_user_meta( $user_id, 'vessel_two', true ); 
    $vessel_three = get_user_meta( $user_id, 'vessel_three', true ); 
    $vessel_four = get_user_meta( $user_id, 'vessel_four', true ); 
    $vessel_five = get_user_meta( $user_id, 'vessel_five', true );  

    woocommerce_form_field( 'order_vessel', array(
        'type'          => 'select',
        'class'         => array( 'wps-drop' ),
        'label'         => __( 'Select a Vessel' ),
        'options'       => array( $vessel_one, $vessel_two, $vessel_three, $vessel_four, $vessel_five )
 ),
    $checkout->get_value( 'order_vessel' ));
}

Save the value into custom field on the order

add_action('woocommerce_checkout_update_order_meta', 'wps_select_checkout_field_update_order_meta');
 function wps_select_checkout_field_update_order_meta( $order_id ) {
   if ($_POST['order_vessel']) update_post_meta( $order_id, 'order_vessel', esc_attr($_POST['order_vessel']));
 }

I hope someone could show me how can I save the value as it is and not converted into an integer. Thank you very much in advance.

Answer 1

Your options should have a key => value structure if you want it to return something other than the key number:

'options'     => array(
    'option_a' => __('option a', 'woocommerce' ),
    'option_b' => __('option b', 'woocommerce' )
    )
);

Answer 2

Thanks everyone! It's solved.

'options'       => array(     
                 $vessel_one => __($vessel_one, 'woocommerce' ),
                 $vessel_two => __($vessel_two, 'woocommerce' ),
                 $vessel_three => __($vessel_three, 'woocommerce' ),
                 $vessel_four => __($vessel_four, 'woocommerce' ),
                 $vessel_five => __($vessel_five, 'woocommerce' )
                )

With this it will automatically show the selected value from the user custom meta in the custom field.