(drop downs, Php and Mysql) with stored value in Mysql

I want to store the name of the city instead of the ID in my MySQL database. The PHP function for building the city list is something like this:

public function getCity() {
    if(isset($this->attiva)) {
        $base = mysql_connect ('localhost', 'bolmdb', 'bolmdb');
        mysql_select_db ('bolmdb', $base);                                
        $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM city WHERE idstate开发者_JS百科=$_POST[idcity]");
        $city = '<option value="0">Select City...</option>';

        while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
            $city .= '<option value="' . $row['idcity'] . '">' . utf8_encode($row['nomecity']) . '</option>';
        }
        return $city;
    }
}

and the form HTML:

</label>City:</label>
<select id="city" name="city" value="" ><br />
<option>Select City...</option>
</select>

So when the form is submitted, I get the value with $city = $_POST['city']; and it's stored in MySQL as an ID. How can I store the name of the city in place of the ID?

[EDIT:] Hi! Thank you very much for your reply. Maybe I didn't explain me very well. My problem is that I need to keep $row['idcity'] in the option value to populate dynamically the drop down list with ajax. Obviously, It's necessary that I connect the State Mysql table with the City Mysql table by ID field to get data. STATE TABLE:

CREATE TABLE `state` (
  `idstate` int(4) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `nomestate` varchar(50) NOT NULL default '',
  PRIMARY KEY  (`idregione`)
) TYPE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=161 ;

-- 
-- Dump dei dati per la tabella `state`
-- 

INSERT INTO `state` VALUES (1, 'Marche');
...

CITY TABLE:

CREATE TABLE `city` (
  `idcity` int(4) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `nomecity` varchar(20) NOT NULL default '',
  `idstate` int(4) NOT NULL default '0',
  `siglacity` char(2) NOT NULL default '',
  PRIMARY KEY  (`idprovincia`)
) TYPE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=109 ;

-- 
-- Dump dei dati per la tabella `city`
-- 

INSERT INTO `city` VALUES (1, 'Ancona', 1, 'AN');
...

and two php funcions:

public function getState()
 {
  if(isset($this->attiva))
  {
$base = mysql_connect ('localhost', 'bolmdb', 'bolmdb');
mysql_select_db ('bolmdb', $base);                                
    $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM state");
$state = '<option value="0">Select State...</option>';

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
$state .= '<option value="' . $row['idstate'] . '">' . utf8_encode($row['nomestate']) . '</option>';
}           
return $state;
  }
 }

public function getCity()
 {
  if(isset($this->attiva))
  {
  $base = mysql_connect ('localhost', 'bolmdb', 'bolmdb');
mysql_select_db ('bolmdb', $base);                                
    $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM city WHERE idstate=$_POST[idstate]");
$city = '<option value="0">Select City...</option>';

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
$city .= '<option value="' . $row['idcity'] . '">' . utf8_encode($row['nomecity']) . '</option>';
}           
return $city;
  }
 }

But in this way when I get the value with $city = $_POST['city']; I store in the database the ID value. I thought to change IDSTATE with NOMESTATE in CITY table but I found that It was no better way to solve it and also It could create non-ASCII characters problems about which @Gerard remarks. Lastly I wonder as a matter of curiosity if there is a way to get output function (in the specific case . utf8_encode($row['nomecity']) .) instead of the option value.

---

First, you need to modify the field id, change it to varchar. Replace id of city by his name in the database

---

I'm not sure and I would prefer to see your database table (not a database table field, as you have shown to Chumillas), but perhaps you should change this fragment

'<option value="' . $row['idcity'] . '">'

by this one

'<option value="' . utf8_encode($row['nomecity']) . '">'

inside your getCity() function.

This will probably make that, when the form is submitted and you get the value with

$city = $_POST['city'];

you get the name of the city instead of the ID.

EDIT: By the way, as the name of the city can have non-ASCII characters, I strongly recommend you to create another field to your table to store a representative name of the city but without them. For example, if you create a VARCHAR field named 'nickname', you should replace the mentioned line with this one:

'<option value="' . $row['nickname'] . '">'