i'm not sure what you mean about the checkbox, but if a form element is not inside of the form, it is not a part of the form submit. 
Yes thats exactly what im trying to do so that the admin selects from a select box what order process they want to change selected records to determined by which checkboxes they tick. I got a little confused what you wrote after though. Could you explain a little more or a different way please, because after you said "it doesnt work that way" you then said "all records" so that part threw me :)
All I want is a select box to popular static content (so not from database) and the wording from this select box (order in progress; order dispatched; kit recieved etc) would then be the only field updated when the admin clicks on the submit button of the form. and the only records that will be updated are the ones that the admin selects using the checkbox next to each record that is displayed on the screen.
Chris
