Group Php Values Into An Array

[slaterino]

Hi,

I'm hoping this is something quite basic. I'm trying to group values from a MySQL query into an array. I have a Wordpress set-up but I'm presuming this is more of a PHP rather than a Wordpress concern. I just want to know basically what is the best way of doing this. Essentially I currently have the following data:

 

Artist Name #1 - Event Date #1

Artist Name #2 - Event Date #2

Artist Name #1 - Event Date #3

Artist Name #1 - Event Date #4

 

And I want to find a way that I can group the Artist Names so that the data would output like this:

 

Artist Name #1

Event Date #1

Event Date #3

Event Date #4

 

Artist Name #2

Event Date #2

 

This is the code I have at the moment. How would I integrate an array and an extra Foreach loop to get the data organised like this. I'm still learning Arrays at the moment and would appreciate any assistance with this.

 

        global $post;         
       $args = array( 'post_type' => 'event', 'orderby' => 'meta_value', 'meta_key' => 'event_date', 'meta_compare' => '>', 'meta_value' => $todaysDate, 'numberposts' => 6, 'order' => 'ASC' ); 
       $whatson = get_posts( $args ); 
       foreach( $whatson as $post ) : 
           echo get_the_title(get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist', true)) . " - "; 
           echo get_post_meta($whatson_query->ID, 'event_date', true); 
       endforeach;

 

Thanks!

Russ

[Iluvatar+]

I have never used wordpress but i am guessing get_posts is a query method, try print-out '$args' array using

 

echo '<pre>';
print_r($args);
echo '</pre>';

 

See how the data your querying is structured and you should be able to work it out from there

[slaterino]

Okay, I've created an array now within the current foreach loop. How can I now echo this so that the outputted values are grouped by the artist name?? Here's the array:

 

 if (get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist', true)) :
$artist_name = get_the_title(get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist', true));
elseif (get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist_non', true)) :
$artist_name =  get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist_non', true);
endif;
$event_date = date('D j M', strtotime(get_post_meta($post->ID, 'event_date', true)));

$artists = array(); //define dates array.
$artists[] = $artist_name;
$artists[] = $event_date; 
print_r ($artists);

[Barand]

$artists = array();

 

then for each of your artistname/date pairs

 

$artists[$artistname][] = $date;

[deoiub]

Okay, I've created an array now within the current foreach loop. How can I now echo this so that the outputted values are grouped by the artist name?? Here's the array:

 

 if (get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist', true)) :
$artist_name = get_the_title(get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist', true));
elseif (get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist_non', true)) :
$artist_name = get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist_non', true);
endif;
$event_date = date('D j M', strtotime(get_post_meta($post->ID, 'event_date', true)));

$artists = array(); //define dates array.
$artists[] = $artist_name;
$artists[] = $event_date;
print_r ($artists);

 

You want to look into a 2 dimensional array.

 

setting it, with code something like this:

 

$output_array = array()

$output_array[$artist_name][] = $event_date;

 

then outputting it something like this:

 

 

foreach($output_array as $artists=>$events){

echo "<h1>$artists</h1>";

foreach($events as $event){

echo "<h2>$event</h2>";

}

}

[slaterino]

Hey, I've tried using this two-dimensional array but still getting the standard result, which is where the artist names are not grouped together. I've included the code below. I can't help but think that I would need to break out of the initial foreach loop to be able to do this. Do you know what I mean? Here's the code:

 

$args = array( 'post_type' => 'event', 'orderby' => 'meta_value', 'meta_key' => 'event_date', 'meta_compare' => '>', 'meta_value' => $todaysDate, 'numberposts' => 6, 'order' => 'ASC' );
$whatson = get_posts( $args );

foreach( $whatson as $post ) :

$artist_name = get_the_title(get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist', true));
$event_date = date('D j M', strtotime(get_post_meta($post->ID, 'event_date', true)));

$output_array = array();
$output_array[$artist_name][] = $event_date;

foreach($output_array as $artists=>$events){
print_r($output_array);
    echo "<h1>$artists</h1>";
foreach($events as $event){
echo "<h2>$event</h2>";
}
}  

endforeach;

[Barand]

$output_array = array();

 

Put that line before the loop. You are resetting the array to empty each time.

 

Print the output after the loop when you have finished populating the array

[slaterino]

And just to make clear, this is the output I'm getting:

 

Array ( [Artist Name #1] => Array ( [0] => Tue 20 Nov ) ) Array ( [Artist Name #2] => Array ( [0] => Wed 28 Nov ) ) Array ( [Artist Name #2] => Array ( [0] => Thu 20 Dec )

[slaterino]

Hmm, I just tried that Barand so that my code looks like the below, but my array only includes one entry, the last entry. Is there something I'm missing?

 

 $output_array = array();
       foreach( $whatson as $post ) :

  if (get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist', true)) :
   $artist_name = get_the_title(get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist', true));
  elseif (get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist_non', true)) :
   $artist_name =  get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist_non', true);
  endif;
  $event_date = date('D j M', strtotime(get_post_meta($post->ID, 'event_date', true)));

  $output_array = array();
  $output_array[$artist_name][] = $event_date;

 endforeach;
 print_r($output_array);

 

And that's just outputting: Array ( [Artist Name #2] => Array ( [0] => Thu 20 Dec ) )

[slaterino]

Guys. I got it! Sorry, I forgot to take out the $output_array from within the loop! I think I can work from what I have now. It looks like it works a charm. Thanks for your help!

[slaterino]

And in case anyone wants to see the final code, here it is:

 

 

$todaysDate = date('Y/m/d');
global $post;
$args = array( 'post_type' => 'event', 'orderby' => 'meta_value', 'meta_key' => 'event_date', 'meta_compare' => '>', 'meta_value' => $todaysDate, 'numberposts' => 6, 'order' => 'ASC' );
$whatson = get_posts( $args );
$output_array = array();

foreach( $whatson as $post ) :

if (get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist', true)) :
$artist_name = get_the_title(get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist', true));
elseif (get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist_non', true)) :
$artist_name = get_post_meta($post->ID, '2artist_non', true);
endif;
$event_date = date('D j M', strtotime(get_post_meta($post->ID, 'event_date', true)));

$output_array[$artist_name][] = $event_date;

endforeach;

foreach($output_array as $artists=>$events) :
echo "<h1>$artists</h1>";
foreach($events as $event) :
echo "<h2>$event</h2>";
endforeach;
endforeach; 

[slaterino]

Hey all, sorry to come back onto this topic, but I have one final question. Essentially I need my data to be sorted by two different valuables, the date and the artist name. When I do a Foreach loop such as the one in the example above is there any way of sorting the $artist_name field alphabetically?

[Barand]

ksort