[SOLVED] Putting Results into Columns

[ryanfc]

I am creating a directory of businesses for a web site.  There are 8 main categories (dining, bars, entertainment, etc) and when a user clicks on a category it takes them to a page that lists all the businesses (and phone numbers) in that category in alphabetical order.  The problem I have is that it does so in one big long column.  Can anyone help me alter the code to display the results in 3 columns?  I do want to keep them in alphabetical order, however if that is straight across or down does, it does not really matter to me.  And I am fine with losing the Character (A, B, C, etc) header above each set if needed.  Thank you for your help.

 

Here is the code currently:

 

<?php
  while ($info = mysql_fetch_array( $data )) {
      // get the first letter of the name. let's convert
      // it to uppercase to make sure that 'A' and 'a' get
      // put into the same group. 
      $letter = strtoupper(substr($info['name'],0,1));
      
      // now we will check to see if the first letter of the
      // current name is the same as the first letter of the
      // previous name. If it is not, then we make a new
      // group 'header' with the letter. Since there is no 
      // previous row on the first pass, we will automatically
      // have an underlined 'A' made (or whatever your list starts with) 
      if ($letter != $prev_row) {
         echo "<br><u>$letter</u><br>";
      } // end if
      
      // here we just echo out the name
      echo "{$info['name']} <br>";
  Print "Phone: ". $info['phone'] . "<br />";
      
      // and here we assign the current letter to $prev_row so 
      // that on the next iteration of the loop, we will have 
      // a previous row letter to compare
      $prev_row = $letter;
   } // end while
?>

[lemmin]

$i=0;
echo "<table><tr><td>";
while ($info = mysql_fetch_array( $data )) {
$letter = strtoupper(substr($info['name'],0,1));
if ($letter != $prev_row) {
	echo "<br><u>$letter</u><br>";
}
echo "{$info['name']} <br>";
if ($i % 50 == 0)
	echo "<td>"
Print "Phone: ". $info['phone'] . "<br />";
$prev_row = $letter;
$i++;
}
echo "</table>

 

That should make a new column every 50 results. Your code is all in there, I just took out the comments to make it smaller.

 

Also, You don't need to use substr to get one character. A string is just an array of chars so this code:

$letter = strtoupper(substr($info['name'],0,1));

 

is the same as:

$letter = $info['name'][0]);

 

Even tighter:

      if ($info['name'][0] != $prev_row) {
         echo "<br><u>$letter</u><br>";
      }

 

[ryanfc]

ok i now have:

 

<?php
  $i=0;
echo "<table><tr><td>";
while ($info = mysql_fetch_array( $data )) {
$letter = strtoupper(substr($info['name'],0,1));
if ($letter != $prev_row) {
	echo "<br><u>$letter</u><br>";
}
echo "{$info['name']} <br>";
if ($i % 50 == 0)
	echo "<td>"
Print "Phone: " . $info['phone'] . "<br />";
$prev_row = $letter;
$i++;
}
echo "</table>";
?>

 

but i am getting this error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_PRINT, expecting ',' or ';' in /home/myevvspa/public_html/client_list.php on line 62

 

line 62 is:

Print "Phone: " . $info['phone'] . "<br />";

[ryanfc]

messed with the code a bit to make it read as this:

 

<?php
  $i=0;
echo "<table border=1><tr><td>";
while ($info = mysql_fetch_array( $data )) {
$letter = strtoupper(substr($info['name'],0,1));

echo "{$info['name']} <br>";
if ($i % 50 == 0);
echo "{$info['phone']}";
echo "<td>";

$prev_row = $letter;
$i++;
}
echo "</td></tr></table>";
?>

 

and it is basically doing what I want it to do.  Currently I only have 2 businesses in the database for testing purposes, and each one is going into its on cell.  However, next to the second cell is a third empty cell.  How do I get rid of that?

 

 

On a side note:  If I decide I want them listed down instead of across, but still have 3 columns, is there a way to alter the code to do that?

 

[sasa]

try

<?php
mysql_connect('localhost');
mysql_select_db('test');
$data = mysql_query('select * from names order by name');
$prev_row ='';
echo '<table border ="3">';
while($info = mysql_fetch_array( $data )) {
$letter = strtoupper(substr($info['name'],0,1));
if ($letter != $prev_row) {
	if($count % 3) {
		for ($i = ($count % 3); $i < 3; $i++) echo '<td> </td>';
		echo '</tr>';
		$count =0;
	}
	$prev_row = $letter;
	echo '<tr><td colspan="3">',$letter,'</td></tr>';
}
if ($count % 3 == 0) echo '<tr>';
$count++;
echo '<td>', $info['name'], '<br />Phone: ', $info['phone'], "</td>\n";
if ($count % 3 == 0) echo '</tr>';
}
if($count % 3) {
for ($i = ($count % 3); $i < 3; $i++) echo '<td> </td>';
echo '</tr>';
}
echo '</table>';
?>

[ryanfc]

VERY NICE!