New HTML table within a while loop foreach $row['sectionid'] ?

[RJP1]

Hi guys,

 

This is hard to explain... I'll try. I have a MySQL table for articles, each article is in a section (id). I can do a while loop to create a HTML table of title, section etc. How do I split the code so that I create a new HTML table per $row['sectionid']?

 

Any ideas would be great! I can group by section and then title in the table, but i'd rather not have the section id/or name repeated in a column for every article in a particular section if you get me...? Simplified code below.

 

Cheers, RJP1

 

public function listArticle() {
    require_once('../includes/DbConnector.php');
    $connector = new DbConnector();
    $result = $connector->query('SELECT * FROM article ORDER BY section, title');
    echo '<h2>Articles:</h2>';
    if ( $result !== false && mysql_num_rows($result) > 0 ) {
    echo '<table id="table">
         <thead>
        	<tr>
        	  <th scope="col">Title</th>
        	  <th scope="col">Section</th>
            <th scope="col" style="text-align:center;">Edit?</th>
            <th scope="col" style="text-align:center;">Delete?</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
    <tbody>';
    while ($row = $connector->fetchArray($result)){
         echo '<tr><td>'.$row['title'].'</td>';
         echo '<td>'.$row['section'].'</td>';
  }
  }
  echo '</tbody>
</table>';
return;
  }

[Psycho]

I would suggest using a single table with intermediary headers for each section. It will make this much easier. Or, put an empty row between sections.

 

Here's a quick rewrite (not tested)

public function listArticle() {
    require_once('../includes/DbConnector.php');
    $connector = new DbConnector();
    $result = $connector->query('SELECT * FROM article ORDER BY section, title');
    echo '<h2>Articles:</h2>';
    if ($result === false)
    {
        $output = "Unable to query results.";
    }
    else if(mysql_num_rows($result) < 1)
    {
        $output = "There were no results.";
    }
    else
    {
        $header  = "<tr>\n";
        $header .= "<th scope=\"col\">Section</th>\n";
        $header .= "<th scope=\"col\" style=\"text-align:center;\">Edit?</th>\n";
        $header .= "<th scope=\"col\" style=\"text-align:center;\">Delete?</th>\n";
        $header .= "</tr>\n";
    
        $output  = "<table id=\"table\">\n";
        $output .= "<tbody>\n";
    
        $current_title = '';
        while ($row = $connector->fetchArray($result))
        {
            if($current_title != $row['title'])
            {
                $current_title = $row['title'];
                $output .= "<tr><td colspan=\"3\"> </td></tr>\n";
                $output .= "<tr><td colspan=\"3\"><b>{$current_title}</b></td></tr>\n";
                $output .= $header;
            }
            $output .= "<tr>\n";
            $output .= "<td>{$row['section']}</td>\n";
            $output .= "<td>[Edit Link]</td>\n";
            $output .= "<td>[Delete Link]</td>\n";
            $output .= "</tr>\n";
        }
        $output .= "</tbody>\n";
        $output .= "</table>\n";
    }
    
    echo $output;
    return;
}

[joel24]

do something like this, it will echo a new section name as a row/header if it differs from the last article.

and it will echo a blank row to separate them. you can play around with the HTML to style it how you like.

 

public function listArticle() {
    require_once('../includes/DbConnector.php');
    $connector = new DbConnector();
    $result = $connector->query('SELECT * FROM article ORDER BY section, title');
    echo '<h2>Articles:</h2>';
    if ( $result !== false && mysql_num_rows($result) > 0 ) {
    echo '<table id="table">
         <thead>
        



<tr>
        



  <th scope="col">Title</th>
        



  <th scope="col">Section</th>
            <th scope="col" style="text-align:center;">Edit?</th>
            <th scope="col" style="text-align:center;">Delete?</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
    <tbody>';

$lastSection = '';

    while ($row = $connector->fetchArray($result)){
         if ($lastSection != $row['section'])
{
echo "<tr><td colspan='4'> </td></tr>
<tr><td colspan ='4'>{$row['section']}</td></tr>";
}

echo '<tr><td>'.$row['title'].'</td>';
         echo '<td>'.$row['section'].'</td>';

  }
  }
  echo '</tbody>
</table>';
return;
  }

[RJP1]

Guys, this was great! mjdamato especially, I learnt a lot from your post, thanks dearly! Really appreciated! Now to edit the style...

 

RJP1