Help with foreach loop.

[Pjack125]

I recently posted a question back a few days ago which resulted in the creation of a this foreach loop.

 

<?php
//input optional buttons info into Buttons table
$pages = array('MAPageID','PMPageID','EEPageID', 'MEPageID', 'OEPageID', 'SWPageID', 'SEPageID', 'STPageID');

// loop through the pages
foreach($pages as $key)
{
    // check to see if the department ($key) is within the $_SESSION 
    if(isset($_SESSION[$key]) && strtoupper($_SESSION[$key]) != '')
    {
        // work out the prefix from the key to access the fields within the $_SESSION
        $pfx = substr($key, 0, 2);

        // setup the query
        $Query6 = "INSERT INTO Buttons (ButtonID, URL, Lable,Alt,PageID) ".
                 "VALUES ( NULL,
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BL1' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BLab1' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BL1' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'PageID' ]."'),
					   ( NULL,
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BL2' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BLab2' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BL2' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'PageID' ]."'),
					   ( NULL,
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BL3' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BLab3' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BL3' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'PageID' ]."'),
					   ( NULL,
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BL4' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BLab4' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BL4' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'PageID' ]."'),
					   ( NULL,
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BL5' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BLab5' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'BL5' ]."',
                           '".$_SESSION[ $pfx.'PageID' ]."')";

        // run the query, and error will display if there is a problem
mysql_query($Query6) or die('MySQL Error: '.mysql_error() . '<br />Query: <pre>'.$Query6.'</pre>');
echo $Query6;
    }
}
?>

now the problem I am having is that some of the buttons in the query may have blank values and i don't want those blank values to be inserted into the database for example $_SESSION['MEBL1'] may be blank and if that is blank i don't want inserted what is the best way to approach this?

[B34ST]

can you insert a NULL value?

 

if (!$_SESSION['MEBL1'])
{
     $_SESSION['MEBL1'] = 'NULL';
}

//insert into db

[Pjack125]

I don't think so because that would still create a record and if you have the record with null data when i pull this info into the other page i have it would just create a blank button.

[wildteen88]

I remember this, I provided the function.

 

I think what you need to do is construct your session better.

 

Rather than do:

 

$_SESSION[ 'MEBL1' ]
$_SESSION[ 'MEBLab1' ]
$_SESSION[ 'MEBL1' ]
$_SESSION[ 'ME'PageID' ]

$_SESSION[ 'MEBL2' ]
$_SESSION[ 'MEBLab2' ]
$_SESSION[ 'MEBL2' ]
$_SESSION[ 'ME'PageID' ]

 

etc

 

I'd construct it like so:

 

$_SESSION['ME'][1]['BL']
$_SESSION['ME'][1]['BLab']
$_SESSION['ME'][1]['BL']
$_SESSION['ME'][1]['PageID']

$_SESSION['ME'][2]['BL']
$_SESSION['ME'][2]['BLab']
$_SESSION['ME'][2]['BL']
$_SESSION['ME'][2]['PageID']

etc

 

Which makes it a multiple dimensional array. This will make it a lot more easier to work with as you can then easily loop through your session data, eg

 

<?php

// dummy session data
$_SESSION['ME'][1]['BL'] = 'ButtonID 1';
$_SESSION['ME'][1]['BLab'] = 'Lab 1';
$_SESSION['ME'][1]['PageID'] = 'PageID 1';
$_SESSION['ME'][2]['BL'] = 'ButtonID 2';
$_SESSION['ME'][2]['BLab'] = 'Lab 2';
$_SESSION['ME'][2]['PageID'] = 'PageID 2';

$_SESSION['SW'][1]['BL'] = 'ButtonID 4';
$_SESSION['SW'][1]['BLab'] = 'Lab 4';
$_SESSION['SW'][1]['PageID'] = 'PageID 4';
$_SESSION['SW'][2]['BL'] = 'ButtonID 5';
$_SESSION['SW'][2]['BLab'] = 'Lab 5';
$_SESSION['SW'][2]['PageID'] = 'PageID 5';

// departments
$depts = array('MA','PM','EE', 'ME', 'OE', 'SW', 'SE', 'ST');

// loops through departments
foreach($depts as $dept )
{
    // check to see if the department is in the array
    if(isset($_SESSION[$dept]) && is_array($_SESSION[$dept]))
    {
        echo '<p>Depertment: <b>'.$dept.'</b><br />';

        // loop through the fields
        foreach($_SESSION[$dept] as $fid => $field_data)
        {
            echo '<b>Field #'.$fid.'</b><br />';
            echo $field_data['BL'].'<br />';
            echo $field_data['BLab'].'<br />';
            echo $field_data['PageID'].'<br />';

            echo '<br />';
        }

        echo '</p><hr />';
    }
}

?>

[Pjack125]

although this makes my life easier but I still have the problem of place in the array that holds a value of '' The previous code you wrote worked perfectly. The first part is all good. the headache is having variables that carries a value of blank. so the headache really is in the query part.

[mrMarcus]

I don't think so because that would still create a record and if you have the record with null data when i pull this info into the other page i have it would just create a blank button.

why don't you just check the length of the record(s) coming from the database and if any are empty or null then they aren't displayed .. that way a null record wouldn't be such a problem.

 

other than that, check out array_values() .. eliminates any null/empty values in an array.  try and work with that to construct your array/query for the database.