PHP Sorting Help

[AJLX]

Hey guys:

 

I have a database that is full of items. Each item lives in a box, with various accessories. I'm trying to loop through this DB 

to print out a label for each case that shows the amount of items that are in the case, along with the accessories that belong to it.

 

I currently have a rather convoluted bit of code, that kind of works, but doesn't have the order that I want.

 

My result is currently this:

4 X Generic lighting hanging clamp
4 X Generic lighting hanging clamp
4 X Generic lighting hanging clamp
4 X Generic lighting hanging clamp
4 X Generic lighting hanging clamp
2 X 25kg Safety Bond
2 X 25kg Safety Bond
2 X 25kg Safety Bond
2 X 25kg Safety Bond
2 X 25kg Safety Bond
2 X 16a to Powercon
2 X 16a to Powercon
2 X 16a to Powercon
2 X 16a to Powercon
2 X 16a to Powercon
**********
12 X Generic lighting hanging clamp

6 X 25kg Safety Bond
**********

All the information is there, but due to the way that it loops through it's in the wrong order. I'd like it to be grouped so it looks like this so that it is grouped by box:

4 X Generic lighting hanging clamp
2 X 25kg Safety Bond
2 X 16a to Powercon

4 X Generic lighting hanging clamp
2 X 25kg Safety Bond
4 X Generic lighting hanging clamp
2 X 16a to Powercon

4 X Generic lighting hanging clamp
2 X 25kg Safety Bond
2 X 16a to Powercon

4 X Generic lighting hanging clamp
2 X 25kg Safety Bond
2 X 16a to Powercon

**********
12 X Generic lighting hanging clamp

6 X 25kg Safety Bond
**********

Here is the code that I'm using. At the moment I'm just concentrating on the if ($item_type == '2') part, but have shown the whole lot so you can see what I'm doing.

foreach ($distinct_path as $path) {
$sql = "SELECT * FROM current_items WHERE path = '$path'";
$result = $con->query($sql);

if ($result->num_rows > 0)
{
	// output data of each row
	while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
		$item_name = $row['item_name'];
		$item_type = $row['item_type'];
		$item_qty = $row['qty'];
		$case_qty = $row['case_qty'];
		
		
		
		
		if ($item_type == '1') 	// THESE ARE MAIN ITEMS 
								{ 
			$total_main_qty = $row['qty'];  //main item QTY;
			$main_item_name = $item_name;
				
								}
								
								// This code will tell us number of full boxes, and number of extra lights left over
								$amtoffull = $total_main_qty/$case_qty;
								$amtoffull = floor($amtoffull); // we round down to the nearest whole number
								$total_left = $total_main_qty - ($case_qty * $amtoffull);
								
								
		if ($item_type == '2') // THESE ARE ACCESSORIES
								{
									
									$asc_qty = $row['qty'];  //main item QTY;
									$asc_qty = $asc_qty/$total_main_qty;  // THIS GIVES US THE TOTAL OF ONE Item			
									$asc_qty = $asc_qty * $case_qty; // This is a full case amount

									//echo $asc_qty ." x ". $item_name ."</p>";
									
								while ($i < $amtoffull)
								{
									echo $asc_qty ." X ". $item_name ."</p>";
									++$i;
								}
								}
								
		$i = 0;
	}
	echo "**********";
	echo "<p>";
	
}

I think I need to either shift the loops around so they work in a different order, or store everything into an array and then loop through that. Can any one help?

[ginerjm]

What are you showing us? Is that data rows? Or is it something you produced by querying your data?

 

Maybe if you showed your data structure the query could be written to give you what you want.

[Stefany93]

Yeah also you have too many duplicates in your DB. What is  Generic lighting hanging clamp ? Is it a product name? Then make another table and then connect it with an ID.