[SOLVED] output specific data dependent on two id #'s from separate tables

[vynsane]

okay, so i really wouldn't know how to search for an answer to this one - i've been working with php/mysql for a few months now and have usually been able to figure stuff out on my own, but this one is baffling me. i'm pretty sure that there's a more elegant and cleaner way to get the data that i'm trying to pull from the DB, but i thought this would work.

i have a username stored in a cookie through a login form. this username has a corresponding id # in the "Members" table. that id # corresponds to the "Members_id" column in another table, "NewsItem".

i'm trying to output only the information from NewsItem that pertains to that username (through comparing the id# in "Members" to the Members_id# in "NewsItem"). what i've been trying is below:

[code]
$username = $_COOKIE['----name of cookie----'];
        $userid = mysql_query("SELECT id FROM Members WHERE username = '".$username."'");
            while ($Members_id = mysql_fetch_array($userid)){
            $articles = mysql_query("SELECT id, title FROM NewsItem WHERE Members_id = '".$Members_id."'");
              while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($articles)) {
                  echo '<li>'.$row["title"].'<br />';
                  echo '<a href="preview.php?id='.$row["id"].'" target="blank">View</a>&nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="editarticle.php?id='.$row["id"].'">Edit</a></li>';
              }
        }
[/code]

when i add

[code]
print_r($Members_id);
[/code]

before $articles it outputs the correct id number, but i can't get it to compare it to the Members_id in NewsItem. when i artificially change

[code]
Members_id = '".$Members_id."'");
[/code]

to

[code]
Members_id = '1'");
[/code]

i get the correct articles from the database in comparison to the Members.id and NewsItem.Members_id. obviously i've made this over-complicated, or i'm missing some little stupid thing, but at my level of experience this seemed like the answer. please help?

[Jessica]

print_r() is for printing arrays. Is $Members_id an array? What happens if you do print $members_id instead?  What does it print out?

[vynsane]

thanks for your quick response...

$Members_id is an array --->

[code]$Members_id = mysql_fetch_array($userid)[/code]

if it need not be an array, i don't know how to get the value... it probably doesn't need to be an array, seeing as how i'm only getting a single id value...

anyway, i'm just using
[code]
print_r($Members_id);
[/code]

to see if it's getting the correct value (sort of a test)... and it is, the page outputs:
[code]
Array ( [0] => 1 [id] => 1 )
[/code]

but when i change it to

[code]
print_r($members_id);
[/code]

i get nothing. basically, i'm testing to see where my script is breaking, and evidence is that it's NOT breaking before the "$articles" query. which means it must be the "$articles" query which IS breaking... and it's been driving me nuts because i don't see a reason why this shouldn't work. but obviously it doesn't and i can't figure it out.

[Jessica]

Members_id = '".$Members_id."'");

If $Members_id is an array, this will show
Members_id = 'Array");

You need to do
Members_id IN ('".implode(', ', $Members_id)."')");

[vynsane]

ummm... i'm confused as to where to put that code above in my code...

[Jessica]

I was copy and pasting code you had picked out.
Change
$articles = mysql_query("SELECT id, title FROM NewsItem WHERE Members_id = '".$Members_id."'");

To
$articles = mysql_query("SELECT id, title FROM NewsItem WHERE Members_id IN ('".implode(',', $Members_id)."')");

[vynsane]

ah, i see... sorry, didn't know if it was something extra to tack on... edited to your specs and it works! thanks so much! (i definitely wouldn't have figured that out on my own!)