[RESOLVED,thanks!] Array to list of variables. How do you do it?

[ridiculous]

  My question is how to convert an array from a query into a list of $variables


[color=blue]Per you suggestions, I've tried 2 techniques so far. Both result in an error:"parse error, unexpected $"[/color]

I'm going to condense my code to make things easy as possible, assume I have just pulled a query:

      { 
             while   ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))   [color=blue]<---Is something missing here?>[/color]
            {
$Course_Pic= ' . $row['Course_Pic'] . ';
            $Course_Name= ' . $row['Course_Name'] . ';
[color=blue]Or is the syntax wrong?-->[/color]$Course_Id=' . $row['Course_Id'] . ';
 


[color=maroon]Now I tried the above an no dice. Then I took the extract approach:[/color]

extract (mysql_fetch_assoc ($result)); 


             echo $Course_Pic;
echo $Course_Name;


[color=maroon]Again, same result. I cut off all other code and tried to print a variable with no result. Maybe I am failing to understand your suggestions, or maybe there is some better way to do this. I'm sorry, I'm new and looking everywhere for an answer with no success.[/color]

[chiprivers]

<? php

$query = "SELECT blah blah blah";

$result = mysql_query($query);

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
$Course_Pic = $row['Course_Pic'];
$Course_Name = $row['Course_Name'];
etc etc
}

DISCLAIMER: I am relatively new to PHP / MySQL but I think this is right  :D

?>

[nert]

I think $row['field_name'] is case sensitive too

[ridiculous]

$sql = "SELECT
Course_Pic,
Course_Name,
Course_Id,
Description,
Did_You_Know,
Days_Meets,
Course_Begin_Time,
Instructor_1,
Instructor_Pic,
Site,
Address,
City,
State,
Zip,
Course_Fees
FROM
course_catalogue
ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1"; 

$refresh_rate = 8; ////This is the variable that determines the refresh rate.

if( ($result = mysql_query($sql)) === FALSE )
{ 
  echo mysql_error(); 
} else
{ 
       if( ($result = mysql_query($sql)) === FALSE )
{ 
  echo mysql_error(); 
} else
{ 
        /// Fetch the row from the DB as an associative array
        // then you can use the $row['key'] methods to retrieve data
     
  while   ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))   [color=limegreen]<---Is this the problem>[/color]
{
[color=red]error here------>[/color] $Course_Pic= ' . $row['Course_Pic'] . ';
$Course_Name= ' . $row['Course_Name'] . ';
[color=limegreen]Or is this forming my problem?-->[/color]$Course_Id=' . $row['Course_Id'] . ';
$Description=' . $row['Description'] . ';
$Did_You_Know=' . $row['Did_You_Know'] . ';
$Days_Meets=' . $row['Days_Meets'] . ';
$Course_Begin_Time=' . $row['Course_Begin_Time'] . ';
$Instructor_1=' . $row['Instructor_1'] . ';
$Instructor_Pic=' . $row['Instructor_Pic'] . ';
$Site= ' . $row['Site'] . ';
$Address=' . $row['Address'] . ';
$City= ' . $row['City'] . ';
$State=' . $row['State'] . ';
$Zip=' . $row['Zip'] . ';
$Course_Fees=' . $row['Course_Fees'] . ';
}

------------------------------------------

I modified the code to this, still no dice. Hits an error as soon as gets to variable conversion line.

[printf]

If you must waste memory rewriting already existing variables, then use evil [b]extract()[/b] on the fetched result!

[code]$sql = "SELECT Course_Pic, Course_Name, Course_Id, Description, Did_You_Know, Days_Meets, Course_Begin_Time, Instructor_1, Instructor_Pic, Site, Address, City, State, Zip, Course_Fees FROM course_catalogue ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1";

$refresh_rate = 8;

$result = mysql_query ( $sql ) or die ( mysql_error () );

if ( mysql_num_rows ( $result ) != 1 )
{
echo 'no results returned for query';
exit ();
}

extract ( mysql_fetch_assoc ( $result ) );

// continue (the array is converted) to localized variables

echo $Course_Begin_Time;[/code]

[ridiculous]

Darn. That still doesn't work. Here's what I have now:


include ("function_index.php");


$conn = db_connect();

$sql = "SELECT
Course_Pic,
Course_Name,
Course_Id,
Description,
Did_You_Know,
Days_Meets,
Course_Begin_Time,
Instructor_1,
Instructor_Pic,
Site,
Address,
City,
State,
Zip,
Course_Fees
FROM
course_catalogue
ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1"; 

$refresh_rate = 8; ////This is the variable that determines the refresh rate.

if( ($result = mysql_query($sql)) === FALSE )
{ 
  echo mysql_error(); 
} else
{ 
        /// Fetch the row from the DB as an associative array
        // then you can use the $row['key'] methods to retrieve data
   
  extract (mysql_fetch_assoc ($result)); 
echo $Course_Pic;
echo $Course_Name;
echo $Course_Id;
echo $Description;
echo $Did_You_Know;
echo $Days_Meets;
echo $Course_Begin_Time;
echo $Instructor_1;
echo $Instructor_Pic;
echo $Site;
echo $Address;
echo $City;
echo $State;
echo $Zip;
echo $Course_Fees;

print $Zip;
?>

[trq]

[quote]How much memory does this waste? [/quote]

Not enough to be concerned about.

[ridiculous]

None of this is working. Now I'm concerned.

[printf]

less than copy, all I was saying is doing this...

[code]$the_column = $row['the_column'];[/code]

Would create (2) variables ($the_column, $row['the_column']), which are exactly the same. but because you copied them, you create overhead onto the memory stack! Using [b]extract()[/b], the way I did, you just convert the array to the localized [b]array key name[/b], the overhead in doing that, is just the memory allocated to do the conversion. Which is much less than copying! But if your doing a db result loop, then ($row) already holds the variables you need so you shouldn't do [b]copy or extract[/b], because in effect your doing extra stuff that you don't need to, which is a very bad habit that you will find very hard to break, if you start doing it!


Sonia

[trq]

[quote]None of this is working. Now I'm concerned.[/quote]

Really... your yet to ask a question. Stating that something does not work does not help. Post the RELEVANT code, and a description of the problem!

[ridiculous]

[color=red][size=14pt]My question is how to convert an array from a query into a list of $variables[/size][/color]


[color=blue]Per you suggestions, I've tried 2 techniques so far. Both result in an error:"parse error, unexpected $"[/color]

I'm going to condense my code to make things easy as possible, assume I have just pulled a query:

      { 
             while   ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))   [color=blue]<---Is something missing here?>[/color]
            {
[color=red]error flag cites this line------>   [/color] $Course_Pic= ' . $row['Course_Pic'] . ';
            $Course_Name= ' . $row['Course_Name'] . ';
[color=blue]Or is the syntax wrong?-->[/color]$Course_Id=' . $row['Course_Id'] . ';
            $Description=' . $row['Description'] . ';
            $Did_You_Know=' . $row['Did_You_Know'] . ';
            $Days_Meets=' . $row['Days_Meets'] . ';


[color=maroon]Now I tried the above an no dice. Then I took the extract approach:[/color]

extract (mysql_fetch_assoc ($result)); 


             echo $Course_Pic;
echo $Course_Name;


[color=maroon]Again, same result. I cut off all other code and tried to print a variable with no result. Maybe I am failing to understand your suggestions, or maybe there is some better way to do this. I'm sorry, I'm new and looking everywhere for an answer with no success.[/color]

[chiprivers]

have you tried changing

$Course_Pic= ' . $row['Course_Pic'] . ';

to

$Course_Pic = $row['Course_Pic'];

[trq]

[code=php:0]
while  ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
  extract($row);
  echo $Course_Pic;
  echo $Course_Name;
  // etc etc ...
}
[/code]

PS; No need for the sarcastic caps either.