problem formatting search results

[.josh]

okay so here's my code:

[code]
//******************function to list providers
function list_providers($services_to_search, $filter) {
     $providerlist = search_for_providers($services_to_search, $filter);
     //print the list of providers and their services
     $temp = 0;
     $count = 0;
     while ($providerlist[$temp]) {
        $blah = $providerlist[$temp]['provider_name'];
            echo $blah." ";
        while ($blah == $providerlist[$count]['provider_name']) {
           echo $providerlist[$count]['service_name']." ";
           $count++;
        }//end while
      $temp++;
        echo "<br>";
     }
}//******************end function show_provider_form
[/code]

here's a link to the script in action:

[a href=\"http://www.chroniclesofwar.com/providersearch.php\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.chroniclesofwar.com/providersearch.php[/a]

submit a random search and you will see something like this:

[!--coloro:blue--][span style=\"color:blue\"][!--/coloro--]
provider3 service1 service3 service5 service6
[!--coloro:red--][span style=\"color:red\"][!--/coloro--]provider3
provider3
provider3[!--colorc--][/span][!--/colorc--]
provider4 service2 service3 service5 service6
[!--coloro:red--][span style=\"color:red\"][!--/coloro--]provider4
provider4
provider4 [!--colorc--][/span][!--/colorc--]
[!--colorc--][/span][!--/colorc--]

okay so yeh, i want that stuff in the red to go away. help? i know just as soon as i post this i'll probably figure it out,lol. i know it's not that hard...

[zq29]

Could you post up your search_for_providers() function too, it looks like the error might actually be in there...

[.josh]

well, no, i don't think the error is there. it returns the array $providerlist. i can dump the array out to the screen just fine with this:

[code]
     $temp=0;
   while ($providerlist[$temp]){
       foreach($providerlist[$temp] as $val) {
                echo $val." ";
        }
     echo "<br>";
     $temp++;
     }    
[/code]

and it has all the information in it just fine. my problem is with formatting it the way i want to. but if you think it will help, here is the search_for_providers function:

[code]
//**************** function to search for providers
function search_for_providers($services_to_search, $filter) {
   $connection = connect();
     if ($services_to_search) {
      $sql ="SELECT p.provider_name, m.service_id, services.service_name FROM providers AS p ";
      $sql.="INNER JOIN maintable AS m ON p.provider_id = m.provider_id ";
      $sql.="INNER JOIN services ON services.service_id = m.service_id ";
      $sql.="WHERE p.provider_id IN (";
            $sql.="SELECT p2.provider_id FROM providers AS p2 ";
            $sql.="INNER JOIN maintable AS m2 ON ( m2.provider_id = p2.provider_id ) ";
            $sql.="WHERE m2.service_id IN (";
            
            //**insert service id's from checkboxes        
            $numberservices = 0;
            foreach ($services_to_search as $id) {
           $sql.="'$id',";
         $numberservices++;      
            }
      $sql = substr_replace($sql,"",-1);         
        $sql.=") ";

      $sql.="GROUP BY p2.provider_name HAVING COUNT( * ) >= ";
            $sql.= ($filter=='only') ? $numberservices : 1;
            $sql.=") ORDER BY p.provider_name";
     }//end if services_to_search  
   $query = mysql_query($sql, $connection) or die(mysql_error());
     while($result=mysql_fetch_array($query)) {
       $providers[] = array('provider_name' => $result['provider_name'],
                          'service_id'   => $result['service_id'],
                            'service_name' => $result['service_name']);
     }//end while        
     mysql_close($connection);
     return $providers;
} //***********end function search_for_providers
[/code]

[.josh]

<bump>

okay again, here's my current code:

[code]
//******************function to list providers
function list_providers($services_to_search, $filter) {
     $providerlist = search_for_providers($services_to_search, $filter);
     //print the list of providers and their services
     $temp = 0;
     $count = 0;
     while ($providerlist[$temp]) {
        $blah = $providerlist[$temp]['provider_name'];
            echo $blah." ";
        while ($blah == $providerlist[$count]['provider_name']) {
           echo $providerlist[$count]['service_name']." ";
           $count++;
        }//end while
      $temp++;
        echo "<br>";
     }
}//******************end function show_provider_form
[/code]
i think all i really need to do is run a check ater $temp++ to see if $providerlist[$temp]['provider_name'] has changed or not, and only echo $blah when it has changed and on the first iteration. but i'm not sure how to implement that.

[.josh]

okay nevermind i figured it out on my own. in case anybody is interested (doubtful), here's the solution:

[code]
//******************function to list providers
function list_providers($services_to_search, $filter) {
     $providerlist = search_for_providers($services_to_search, $filter);
     //print the list of providers and their services
     $temp = 0;
     $count = 0;
     while ($providerlist[$temp]) {
            $blah = $providerlist[$temp]['provider_name'];
      if ($temp >= 0) {
               if ($blah != $providerlist[($temp-1)]['provider_name']) {
                  echo $blah." ";
              while ($blah == $providerlist[$count]['provider_name']) {
                 echo $providerlist[$count]['service_name']." ";
                 $count++;
              }//end while
              echo "<br>";
         }//end if $blah != ...
            }//end if $temp >= ...
      $temp++;
  }//end while $providerlist
}//******************end function show_provider_form
[/code]
i'm sure there's a better way to do this, but... oh well.