count how many posts there are in a forum category

[jwk811]

theres a table called

forum_posts

and another called

forum_category

 

can i select all posts that are in forum_category but only the categories in the parent category

 

$sql = "SELECT cat_id FROM forum_category WHERE cat_parent_id = '$cat_parent_id'";

$result = dbQuery($sql);

 

then select all post from each of those category and add them up.

 

is there an easier way to do this whole category thing its driving me crazy, thanks

[schilly]

well it depends what the category identifier is like in the forum_posts table but i think you want something like this:

$num_posts = mysql_results(mysql_query("SELECT count(forum_posts.id) FROM forum_posts, forum_category WHERE forum_post.category_id = forum_category.cat_id AND cat_parent_id = '$cat_parent_id'));

 

[jwk811]

why isnt this working for me. any other ways? i fixed the spelling errors but still doesnt work. one bcuz the parent id isnt a column in the posts. i just wanna change the way this all works. help please

[schilly]

well start with this:

$results = mysql_query("SELECT count(forum_posts.id) FROM forum_posts, forum_category WHERE forum_post.category_id = forum_category.cat_id AND cat_parent_id = '$cat_parent_id') or die(mysql_error());
$num_posts = mysql_result($results);

 

This

 

forum_post.category_id = forum_category.cat_id

 

joins forum_posts and forum_category. make sure the fields are whatever their common column is.

 

This:

 

cat_parent_id = '$cat_parent_id'

 

is from your query in your first post so i assume forum_category has this field in it so the results will be filtered based on

 

 

Sorry there was an error in my post. mysql_results is mysql_result.