looping problems

[blaghdesign]

Hi,

 

I am having a problem, which if I don't get some help, promises to melt my brain.

 

It may have a simple solution, but I cannot conjure it with my limited, and relatively new coding skills.

 

I need to grab everything from a table, group them up by a tag and then, in their tag groups, print them out into div boxes.

 

details below.

 

<?php




// grab everything from the database and group by tag, sort by adddate

$query = " select * from portfolio group by tag sort by adddate ";
$result = mysql_query ($query);
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);


/* 	I now need to loop through the array putting each tag group into separate div boxes.. HOW?? 
at the momenet I am using a while loop, but I think I should be using a for loop with foreach as well?
*/


// below is my current loop, which just takes each entry and sticks them all into seperate div boxes. which is crap.

while ($row)
   
    {
   
    echo "<div class='boxgrid'><a href=".$row['fullPath']." rel='prettyPhoto[".$row['tag']."]'><img src=".$row['thumbPath']." title=".$row['desc']."/></a></div>";  
	  
    $row = mysql_fetch_array($result);

    }    	

include('./scripts/footer.php');

mysql_close($con);


// my actual desired output would be like shown below


?>




        <div class="boxgrid">
                <a href="./images/imagename01.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[TAG]"><img src="./images/thumbs/thumbname.jpg"/></a>
	<a href="./images/imagename02.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[TAG]"><img src="./images/thumbs/thumbname.jpg"/></a>
	<a href="./images/imagename03.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[TAG]"><img src="./images/thumbs/thumbname.jpg"/></a>
	<a href="./images/imagename04.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[TAG]"><img src="./images/thumbs/thumbname.jpg"/></a>
        </div>

        <div class="boxgrid">
        	<a href="./images/imagename01.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[TAG]"><img src="./images/thumbs/thumbname.jpg"/></a>
	<a href="./images/imagename02.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[TAG]"><img src="./images/thumbs/thumbname.jpg"/></a>
        </div>

        <div class="boxgrid">
        	<a href="./images/imagename01.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[TAG]"><img src="./images/thumbs/thumbname.jpg"/></a>
        </div>

        <div class="boxgrid">
        		<a href="./images/imagename01.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[TAG]"><img src="./images/thumbs/thumbname.jpg"/></a>
        </div>

        <div class="boxgrid">
        		<a href="./images/imagename01.jpg" rel="prettyPhoto[TAG]"><img src="./images/thumbs/thumbname.jpg"/></a>
        </div>
        

 

 

if anyone here can help, It is quite likely that I may cry.

 

Ben.

[Muddy_Funster]

what are you planning to use to identify when a new div should be apllied?

[blaghdesign]

what are you planning to use to identify when a new div should be apllied?

 

 

I actually have no idea. do you have any suggestions? I am pretty new to this so any pointers are very welcome.

[Muddy_Funster]

lets see your table structure then

[blaghdesign]

lets see your table structure then

 

It's nothing fancy, just:

 

id  |   thumbpath  |   fullpath    | tag  |    desc  |  adddate

[Muddy_Funster]

OK, I have some code for you, going by what I think you are looking for.  Have a look over it and replace your current while loop with the following if you think it suits:

$query = "SELECT id, thumbpath, fullpath, tag, desc, adddate FROM portfolio ORDER BY adddate ASC";
$tagCheck = 'nonsenese value';     //anything that is never going to be an actual tag value
$fistCheck = true; // variable to check if the output is the first because if it's not we will need to close the div before opening another one
$result = mysql_query ($query); //you could realy use some error capture on your query stuff
While($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) // loop through the results from the query
{
   if($tagCheck != $row['tag']) //check if the tag value from the database is different to what the last value was
   { //if it is different then
     if($firstCheck != true) //check if this is NOT the first record returned
     { //if this is not the first record returned then
      echo "</div>"; // close the last div
     }else //if this is the first record
     {
      $firstCheck = false; //update variable to show that first record has now been returned
     }
    $tagCheck = $row['tag']; // still if the tag value is different - update tag value to be the same
    echo "<div class='boxgrid'>"; // as this is a new tag we need a new div
   } // the following information will be processed every time  
   $fPath = $row['fullPath'];
   $tPath = $row['thumbPath'];
   $desc = $row['desc'];
   
    echo "<a href=\"$fpath\" rel=\"prettyPhoto['$tagCheck']\"><img src=\"$tPath\" title=\"$desc\"/></a>";  
} //end of recordset return loop
echo "</div>" //now we are done close off the last div

It's not tested, so will odds on have a few errors in it. Let me knopw what you think.

[blaghdesign]

OK, I have some code for you, going by what I think you are looking for.  Have a look over it and replace your current while loop with the following if you think it suits:

$query = "SELECT id, thumbpath, fullpath, tag, desc, adddate FROM portfolio ORDER BY adddate ASC";
$tagCheck = 'nonsenese value';     //anything that is never going to be an actual tag value
$fistCheck = true; // variable to check if the output is the first because if it's not we will need to close the div before opening another one
$result = mysql_query ($query); //you could realy use some error capture on your query stuff
While($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) // loop through the results from the query
{
   if($tagCheck != $row['tag']) //check if the tag value from the database is different to what the last value was
   { //if it is different then
     if($firstCheck != true) //check if this is NOT the first record returned
     { //if this is not the first record returned then
      echo "</div>"; // close the last div
     }else //if this is the first record
     {
      $firstCheck = false; //update variable to show that first record has now been returned
     }
    $tagCheck = $row['tag']; // still if the tag value is different - update tag value to be the same
    echo "<div class='boxgrid'>"; // as this is a new tag we need a new div
   } // the following information will be processed every time  
   $fPath = $row['fullPath'];
   $tPath = $row['thumbPath'];
   $desc = $row['desc'];
   
    echo "<a href=\"$fpath\" rel=\"prettyPhoto['$tagCheck']\"><img src=\"$tPath\" title=\"$desc\"/></a>";  
} //end of recordset return loop
echo "</div>" //now we are done close off the last div

It's not tested, so will odds on have a few errors in it. Let me knopw what you think.

 

Thank you for taking the time to help. I will give this a try and let you know the results.

 

Thanks gain.

Ben.

[blaghdesign]

It's not tested, so will odds on have a few errors in it. Let me knopw what you think.

 

There were some minor errors, but easy to fix. and it works like a charm.

 

Thank you so much for your help!

 

(I didn't cry, but I am very happy)

 

Ben.

[Muddy_Funster]

no problem at all, glad I could help

[Psycho]

I'll add my two cents. In the case where you need to have content before and after a subset of records (i.e. the opening and closing DIV tags) I prefer to use the loop to add the records to a temp array in the loop and call a display function when a change is detected. It makes it much easier to "visualize" the output being created as well as to make edits. Just a much cleaner solution IMHO

 

function createTagGroupDiv($portfolioArray)
{
    if(count($portfolioArray)<1) { return false; } //Ensures nothing is created on first record
    echo "<div class='boxgrid'>\n";
    foreach($portfolioArray as $portfolio)
    {
        echo "<a href='{$portfolio['fullPath']}' rel='prettyPhoto[{$portfolio['tag']}]'><img src='{$portfolio['thumbPath']}' title='{$portfolio['desc']}' /></a>\n";  
    }
    echo "</div>\n";
}

//Create and run query
$query  = "SELECT id, thumbpath, fullpath, tag, desc, adddate FROM portfolio ORDER BY adddate ASC";
$result = mysql_query ($query); //you could realy use some error capture on your query stuff

$current_tag = false;         //Var to track changes in tag
$portfolios_by_tag = array(); //Array to hold records by tag
//Loop through results
While($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) // loop through the results from the query
{
    //Check if this tag is different from the last
    if($current_tag != $row['tag'])
    {
        //Set current tag
        $current_tag = $row['tag'];
        //Display results from previous group
        createTagGroupDiv($portfolios_by_tag);
        //Clear last group records
        $portfolios_by_tag = array();
    }
    //Add current record to group array
    $portfolios_by_tag[] = $row;
}

//Display the last group
createTagGroupDiv($portfolios_by_tag);

[blaghdesign]

I'll add my two cents. In the case where you need to have content before and after a subset of records (i.e. the opening and closing DIV tags) I prefer to use the loop to add the records to a temp array in the loop and call a display function when a change is detected. It makes it much easier to "visualize" the output being created as well as to make edits. Just a much cleaner solution IMHO

 

This also worked, Thank you all for your time, it really is appreciated.

 

Ben.