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Adding unlimited amount of names into an array and then printing them in alphabetical order

Markuzi94

By Markuzi94
in PHP Coding Help

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Go to solution Solved by cyberRobot,

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Markuzi94 Newbie

Markuzi94

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Posted (edited)

Hello. First of all, English is not my main language so I'm sorry if I make some mistakes in my text...
 
Anyway, my problem is that I really have no clue how to do this task I was given: I need to create a form where I can write names and then save them and do this for unlimited times. After I have added names, I need to sort them alphabetically from A-Z. I have done it like this so far, just the sorting is missing.
 
This job has two files, index.php and persons.php.

index.php:

<?php
include "persons.php";
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<!-- -->
<html>
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8">
        <title><Task</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <form action="">
            First name: <input type="text" name="first_name">
            Last name: <input type="text" name="last_name"><br>
            <input type="submit" name="do" value="Add"><br>
            Alphabetical order by Last name:<input type="radio" name="alphabetical" value="ln_first" checked><br>
            Alphabetical order by First name:<input type="radio" name="alphabetical" value="fn_first"><br>
            <input type="submit" name="do" value="Sort">
        </form>
        <?php
        if (isset($_GET["first_name"]) && isset($_GET["last_name"]) && $_GET["first_name"] != "" && $_GET["last_name"] != "" || $_GET["do"] == "Sort")
        {
            $persons = new persons($_GET["first_name"], $_GET["last_name"]);
            $str = "";
            switch ($_GET["do"])
            {
                case "Add":
                    $persons->Add($_GET["first_name"], $_GET["last_name"]);
                    break;
                case "Sort":
                    $str = $persons->Sort();
                    break;
                default:
                    $str = "Something went wrong.";
            }
            print($str);
        }
        else
            print("Give a real name.");
        ?>
    </body>
</html>

persons.php:

<?php
session_start();
/**
*/
class persons
{
private $persons;

public function __construct()
{
if (isset ($_SESSION["persons"]))
$this->persons = $_SESSION["persons"];
else
$this->persons = array();
}

public function __destruct()
{
$_SESSION["persons"] = $this->persons;
}

/**
*
* @param type $first_name
* @param type $last_name
* @return string
*/
public function Add($first_name, $last_name)
{
$this->persons[$first_name] = $last_name;
return "Added.";
}

/**
*
* @return string
*/
public function Sort()
{
$str = "<table>\n";
foreach ($this->persons as $first_name => $last_name)
{
$str .= "<tr><td>$first_name</td><td>$last_name</td></tr>\n";
}
$str .= "</table>\n";
return $str;
}
}

So I just need to add the sorting somewhere in the code, but I just don't know where. This task was given in my school and it is the first course of php coding. I am a newbie in this thing...

Edited by Markuzi94
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Psycho Prolific Member

Psycho

Posted
Posted

Well the problem is that I don't know how to use it correctly on this code. I have tried sort(), usort(). I don't think we have studied that in school... I'm not sure though. At least our teacher does not use it in any examples even some of them includes sorting.

 

I provided a link to the manual page for the function. All you need to do is 

 

sort($myArray);

 

and the elements in the array will be sorted.

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cyberRobot Prolific Member

cyberRobot

Posted
  • Solution
Posted

The code is on the first post. It's working except the sorting.

 

You mentioned that you tried sort() and usort() and scootstah was wondering what that code looked like.

 

 

 

Since the first names are stored as the array keys, you would use ksort() to sort by first name. Sorting by last name would be done with sort() as others have suggested. Try doing something like the following:

public function Sort()
{
    if($_GET['alphabetical'] == 'ln_first') {  //sorting by last name
        sort($this->persons);
    } else {                                   //else...sorting by first name
        ksort($this->persons)
    }
 
 
    $str = "<table>\n";
    foreach ($this->persons as $first_name => $last_name)
    {
        $str .= "<tr><td>$first_name</td><td>$last_name</td></tr>\n";
    }
    $str .= "</table>\n";
    return $str;
}
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cyberRobot Prolific Member

cyberRobot

Posted
Posted (edited)

With that said, what happens when you get two people with the same first name? If you add "John Smith", for example, the information will be overwritten when you add "John Jones". Instead of using the first (or last) name as the array key, you'll want to use a value that's going to be unique. Basically, you could let PHP create the key for you which would be a number. First and last name would then be stored as a multi-dimensional array.

$this->persons[] = array(
    'firstName' => $first_name,
    'lastName'  => $last_name
);
Edited by cyberRobot
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Markuzi94 Newbie

Markuzi94

Posted
  • Author
Posted

 

You mentioned that you tried sort() and usort() and scootstah was wondering what that code looked like.

 

 

 

Since the first names are stored as the array keys, you would use ksort() to sort by first name. Sorting by last name would be done with sort() as others have suggested. Try doing something like the following:

public function Sort()
{
    if($_GET['alphabetical'] == 'ln_first') {  //sorting by last name
        sort($this->persons);
    } else {                                   //else...sorting by first name
        ksort($this->persons)
    }
 
 
    $str = "<table>\n";
    foreach ($this->persons as $first_name => $last_name)
    {
        $str .= "<tr><td>$first_name</td><td>$last_name</td></tr>\n";
    }
    $str .= "</table>\n";
    return $str;
}

I got the task to work like it should now. I just changed that "sort($this->persons);" to "natsort($this->persons);" because with "sort" it printed the names like:

 

(Added names Name A, Name B and Name C)

[0] A

[1] B

[2] C

 

with natsort, it prints them as:

Name A

Name B

Name C

 

so it now works perfectly. Thank you.

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cyberRobot Prolific Member

cyberRobot

Posted
Posted

I got the task to work like it should now. I just changed that "sort($this->persons);" to "natsort($this->persons);" because with "sort" it printed the names like:

 

(Added names Name A, Name B and Name C)

[0] A

[1] B

[2] C

 

with natsort, it prints them as:

Name A

Name B

Name C

 

so it now works perfectly. Thank you.

 

Ah, I forgot that sort() doesn't maintain the array keys. To maintain the keys, you could also use asort().

http://php.net/manual/en/function.asort.php

 

And it looks like natsort(), as you have found, also maintains the keys.

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