my $stmt = "SELECT id, name FROM branches";
&execute_it; 
my $branches  = $sth->fetchall_arrayref(); 

$stmt = "SELECT branches FROM users WHERE username = '$user'";
&execute_it;
my @sqldata = $sth->fetchrow_array();
my @areas = split (/,/, $sqldata[0]);

my $selbranch;
 
foreach my $i (0 .. $#areas) {
   foreach my $j (0 .. $#$branches) {
      if ($areas[$i] == $branches->[$j]{'id'}) {
         $selbranch->[$i]{ 'value' } = $areas[$i];
         $selbranch->[$i]{ 'branch' } = $branches->[$j]{'name'};
      }
   }
}

my $template = HTML::Template -> new(filename => "../xm_dialogs/editmenu.tmpl");
$template->param( branches => $selbranch );

#---------------------
sub execute_it {
   $sth = $dbh->prepare($stmt) or die "prepare: $stmt: $DBI::errstr";
   $sth->execute() or die "execute: $stmt: $DBI::errstr";
}