How to list PHP table query as non repeatable heading - php

Question

I have a PHP table which consists of three catagories:
finit "material"
disc "discription"
size "dimension"
Similar 'finit' comes in different 'disc' and 'size'
I would like to display the results in a way that 'finit' are displayed only once depending upon the quantity while 'disc' and 'size' are listed within the table under their associated 'finit'
I am able to display 'finit' only once if it contains multiple discriptions etc.
But the listings are not properly set within the table.
they are listed directly under 'finit' and horizontally listed.
<?php
include("connect.php");
$query = "SELECT * FROM prime order by finit asc";
$info = mysqli_query($conn, $query);
$finit = $rows['finit'];
?>
<table class="table table-striped">
<tr>
<th>Material</th>
<th>Discription</th>
<th>Dimension</th>
</tr>
<?php
while($rows = mysqli_fetch_assoc($info)):
if($rows['finit'] != $finit) {
echo '<tr><td>'.$rows['finit'].'</td></tr>';
$finit = $rows['finit'];
}
echo'<td>'.$rows['disc'].'</td>';
echo'<td>'.$rows['size'].'</td>';
endwhile;
?>
</table>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Answer 1

Your code was not generating correct HTML which may well explain the presentation issues. You would also have lost the first finit value. See comments in code
<?php
include("connect.php");
$query = "SELECT * FROM prime order by finit asc";
$info = mysqli_query($conn, $query);
// this will cause the first finit to be completely lost
//$finit = $rows['finit'];
$finit = NULL;
?>
<table class="table table-striped">
<tr>
<th>Material</th>
<th>Discription</th>
<th>Dimension</th>
</tr>
<?php
while($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($info)):
echo '<tr>';
if($row['finit'] != $finit) {
echo '<td>'.$row['finit'].'</td>';
$finit = $row['finit'];
} else {
// when you dont print a finit, you need to output something in that column
echo '<td> </td>';
}
echo '<td>' . $rows['disc'] . '</td>';
echo '<td>' . $rows['size'] . '</td>';
echo '</tr>';
endwhile;
?>
</table>
UPDATE
To format the table so that the finit value is always on its own row followed by rows containing only the other 2 columns, you could try.
All you have to remember is that you have to output the same number of <td>'s on each line, so in this case 3, unless you use the colspan="2" attribute, but try that once you have the simple route working.
<?php
include("connect.php");
$query = "SELECT * FROM prime order by finit asc";
$info = mysqli_query($conn, $query);
// this will cause the first finit to be completely lost
//$finit = $rows['finit'];
$finit = NULL;
?>
<table class="table table-striped">
<tr>
<th>Material</th>
<th>Discription</th>
<th>Dimension</th>
</tr>
<?php
while($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($info)):
if($row['finit'] != $finit) {
echo '<tr><td>'.$row['finit'].'</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr>';
$finit = $row['finit'];
}
echo '<tr><td> </td>';
echo '<td>' . $rows['disc'] . '</td>';
echo '<td>' . $rows['size'] . '</td>';
echo '</tr>';
endwhile;
?>
</table>