[SOLVED] Simplest way to create alphabetic anchor links?

[dmccabe]

I have a page that displays all our branch locations on 1 page, but I would like to put a set of links at the top of the page with the letters of the alphabet, which when clicked link you to the first row in the table that begins with that letter?

 

E.g.

 

A - B - C - D - E...Y

 

Aberdeen

Alperton

Barking

Brighton

Cardiff

...

York

 

Clicking on the Y would take you to the anchor at York.

 

Here is how I am outputting the table at the moment

 

$query = "SELECT * FROM `tbl_branches`";
$result = mysql_query($query);
$numrows = mysql_num_rows($result);

if (!mysql_query($query)) {
die('Error: ' . mysql_error());
} elseif ($numrows < "1") {
echo "No branches currently in the branch list.";
} else {
$a = 0;
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
	if ($a % 2 == 0) {
		$colour = "#f1eff5";
	} else {
		$colour = "#d8d2e3";
	}

	if ($row['live'] == "0") {
		if ($isadmin == "1") {
			echo "<tr bgcolor='$colour'>
			<td ><span class='not_live'>".$row['name']."</span></td>
			<td class='small'><span class='not_live'>".$row['code']."</span></td>
			<td><span class='not_live'><a href='http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=".$row['post_code']."' title='Click to view map of location' target='_blank'>".$row['address'].",".$row['post_code']."</a></span>";
			if (strlen($row['new_address']) > 0) {
				echo "<br /><span class='newaddress'>".$row['new_address'].",".$row['new_post_code']."</span>";
			}
			echo "</td>
			<td><span class='not_live'>".$row['front_line']."</span></td>
			<td><span class='not_live'>".$row['back_line']."</span></td>
			<td><span class='not_live'>".$row['fax']."</span></td>
			<td><span class='not_live'>".$row['mobile']."</span></td>
			<td><span class='not_live'>".$row['email']."</span></td>
			<td><span class='not_live'>".$row['manager_id']."</span></td>";
			if ($isadmin == "1") {
				echo "<td><a href='/xxx/admin/branchedit.php?edit=".$row['id']."' title='Edit details for ".$row['name']."'><img src='/xxx/img/edit_button.gif' title='Edit' alt='Edit' /></a></td>";
			}
			echo "</tr>";
			$a++;
		}
	} else {
		echo "<tr bgcolor='$colour'>
				<td>".$row['name']."</td>
				<td>".$row['code']."</td>
				<td><a href='http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=".$row['post_code']."' title='Click to view map of location' target='_blank'>".$row['address'].",".$row['post_code']."</a>";
				if (strlen($row['new_address']) > 0) {
					echo "<br /><span class='newaddress'>".$row['new_address'].",".$row['new_post_code']."</span>";
				}
				echo "</td>
				<td>".$row['front_line']."</td>
				<td>".$row['back_line']."</td>
				<td>".$row['fax']."</td>
				<td>".$row['mobile']."</td>
				<td>".$row['email']."</td>
				<td>".$row['manager_id']."</td>";
		if ($isadmin == "1") {
			echo "<td><a href='/xxx/admin/branchedit.php?edit=".$row['id']."' title='Edit details for ".$row['name']."'><img src='/xxx/img/edit_button.gif' title='Edit' alt='Edit' /></a></td>";
		}
		echo "</tr>";
		$a++;
	}
}
}

[bluejay002]

simplest way to create alphabetic anchor links? do it in SQL (using ORDER BY). It is not only easy but very convenient.

[dmccabe]

I dont really want them re-sorted, I want it so they are all displayed, but clicking "C" will jump you to the section of the list that has the branches that begin with the letter C

 

 

[bluejay002]

that's the point... you  can check at the fetched data if the first character has changed... if yes, create an anchor for that preceding letter. you do not need to be totally aware of what letter it is since they are sorted in that way for you from the query itself.

[dmccabe]

Excellent got it working lovely

[calibius]

Could you show how you did it please.

[dmccabe]

I at first simply wrote out the letters A to Z and made them in to anchor links:

 

p>Show branches beginning with: <a href="#A">A</a>|<a href="#B">B</a>|<a href="#C">C</a>|<a href="#D">D</a>|<a href="#E">E</a>|<a href="#F">F</a>|</code]

Then I used this if statement inside the While loop that was echo'ing out my results:

[code=php:0]
	$newfirstletter = substr($row['name'], 0,1);
	if ($newfirstletter != $firstletter) {
		$firstletter = $newfirstletter;
		echo "<tr>
					<td class='firstletter' colspan='6'><h3 class='firstletter' id='$firstletter'>$firstletter</h3></td>
				</tr>";
	}

[/code]

[bluejay002]

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