how to select random without having duplicates?

[brem13]

hey, i'm selecting users randomly from a database and displaying them in a table but i'm getting duplicates, is there any way to overcome this?

code is

$i = 1;
					while($i < 4)
					{

						echo "<td width=225px height=125px align=left valign=top>";
						include("config.php");
						mysql_connect($server, $db_user, $db_pass) or die (mysql_error()); 
						$result = mysql_db_query($database, "select * from $table ORDER BY rand()") or die (mysql_error());
						while($qry = mysql_fetch_array($result))
						{ 
							$user = $qry['username'];
							$pic = $qry['mainPic'];								
							$lastOnline = $qry['lastLogin'];
							$lookingFor = $qry['lookingFor'];
						}//end while
						list($width, $height, $type, $attr) = getimagesize("userImages/thumbs/".$pic);

						if($height>=101)
						{
							echo "<a href=viewProfile.php?user=$user><font face=tahoma size=2>$user</font><br><img src=userImages/thumbs/$pic height=75px></a><br>";
						}//end if $height
						else
						{
							echo "<a href=viewProfile.php?user=$user><font face=tahoma size=2>$user</font><br><img src=userImages/thumbs/$pic width=75px></a><br>";
						}
						echo "<font face=tahoma size=1>$lastOnline - $lookingFor</font>";
						echo "</td>";

						$i++;
					}//end while

[brem13]

any help please? i cant really find any info when i google it.

[hcdarkmage]

I had a similar problem using random. I don't know if this helps but try looking at http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/index.php/topic,149411.0.html that is the topic I started and it helped a lot.

[teamatomic]

Put the user into an array and then use array_rand($array, $number_needed);

 

 

HTH

Teamatomic

[hcdarkmage]

Another thing you can try is modify your DB so that it has a column like "used" with a default value of 0. When that user is used you set the value to 1. Then in your query, you just check to see if "used = 0".

 

Just a thought. But, then again, you would have to change the query if you wanted them to be displayed again . . .

[brem13]

ok, i'm trying to put the users into an array and use the unique option to filter them but i'm not sure i'm doing it right because its still giving me duplicates

modified code to this, the array is under the sql while loop

while($i < 10)
					{
						if($i == 4 || $i == 7)
							echo "</tr><tr>";

						echo "<td width=225px height=125px align=left valign=top>";
						include("config.php");
						mysql_connect($server, $db_user, $db_pass) or die (mysql_error()); 
						$result = mysql_db_query($database, "select * from $table ORDER BY rand()") or die (mysql_error());
						while($qry = mysql_fetch_array($result))
						{ 
							$user = $qry['username'];
							$pic = $qry['mainPic'];
							$lastOnline = $qry['lastLogin'];
							$lookingFor = $qry['lookingFor'];
						}//end while
						list($width, $height, $type, $attr) = getimagesize("userImages/thumbs/".$pic);
						$users = array($user);
						$distinct = array_unique($users);

						if($height>=101)
						{
							echo "<a href=viewProfile.php?user=$user><font face=tahoma size=2>$distinct</font><br><img src=userImages/thumbs/$pic height=75px></a><br>";
						}//end if $height
						else
						{
							echo "<a href=viewProfile.php?user=$user><font face=tahoma size=2>$distinct</font><br><img src=userImages/thumbs/$pic width=75px></a><br>";
						}
						echo "<font face=tahoma size=1>$lastOnline - $lookingFor</font>";
						echo "</td>";


						$i++;
					}//end while