Using Arrays

[jajtiii]

In my code, there are many instances (mostly after dB queries) where I am setting a certain object value to an array. For example, I might hit the dB for every flower that blooms in July and create an array called 'flower_names' which has all of the values that were returned.

Later on in my script, I will access this object property and assume it is an array, performing various functions that actually require it to be an array. For example, perhaps my user has submitted a request for a certain flower and i want to check to see if THAT flower is also in my dB, so I do the following :

[code]
if (in_array($user_stuff, $myGarden->flower_names)) {
[/code]

Now, all of this works fine with one exception. If my query pulls only ONE flower, then the property is not an array and php kicks out an error.

I build by arrays like so :

[code]
$res = [array of row results from db];
$ct = [num_rows];

for($x=0; $x<$ct; $x++) {
if ($res[$x]['flower_color'] = 'red') {
$this->flower_name[] = $res[$x]['flower_name'];
}
}
[/code]

There's a lot more to it, but hopefully this lays down the idea. I don't want to do 'if is_array'. What I am hoping to get is another coder's method for building arrays to get around this.

any thoughts are welcome

[paul2463]

[!--quoteo(post=387723:date=Jun 25 2006, 05:39 AM:name=jajtiii)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(jajtiii @ Jun 25 2006, 05:39 AM) [snapback]387723[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
I build by arrays like so :

[code]
$res = [array of row results from db];
$ct = [num_rows];

for($x=0; $x<$ct; $x++) {
if ($res[$x]['flower_color'] = 'red') {
$this->flower_name[] = $res[$x]['flower_name'];
}
}
[/code]
[/quote]

a better way to build the array I feel is use the while statement instead of a FOR loop.

[code]

$query = "pull all data from the database that you require";

$result = mysql_query($query) or die ('Error in query: $query. ' . mysql_error());

$flower_name = array(); //force it to be an array

if (mysql_num_rows($result) >0) {
  while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    if ($row['flower_color'] == 'Red') {
       $flower_name[] = $row['flower_name']; //puts the flower name into the $flower_name array
       }
   }
}
[/code]

hope that helps