Divide MySQL data into four equal bootstrap row order by alphabet - php

Question

I have a table of category, I want to show category data into 4 equal bootstraps 4 rows dynamically, and data must be shown in alphabetically order.
First I am counting the number of data and dividing by 4 then run 4 queries to find the first 25 data and in the second query next 25 data and so on, but looking for a better solution.
$catCount = Category::all()->count();
$inOneRow = intval( $catCount / 4);
What I want

Answer 1

Assuming Category is a table of category names - you can select ALL categories at once and use the ORDER BY clause on the query:
$query = 'SELECT name FROM db.categories ORDER BY name ASC;';
You can alternatively use sort on the result-set:
$query = 'SELECT name FROM db.categories;';
/* execute query here... */
sort($resultSet);
Let's assume you did this, the styling would be easy using bootstrap grid (notice mock result-set in fiddles):
<?php
const NUM_COLS = 4;
$numResults = count($dummyResult);
$numPerCol = round($numResults / NUM_COLS);
?>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<?php
for($i = 0, $col = 0; $col < NUM_COLS; $col++){
echo '<div class="col">';
for($colLimit = min($numResults, $i + $numPerCol); $i < $colLimit; $i++){
echo '<div class="row">'.$dummyResult[$i]['category'].'</div>';
}
echo '</div>';
}
?>
</div>
</div>
Here is a fiddle
Easier to understand, albeit probably slower example:
<?php
const NUM_COLS = 4;
$numResults = count($dummyResult);
$numPerCol = round($numResults / NUM_COLS);
?>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<?php
for($i = 0; $i < NUM_COLS; $i++){
echo '<div class="col">';
foreach( array_splice($dummyResult, 0, $numPerCol) as $row ){
echo '<div class="col">'.$row['category'].'</div>';
}
echo '</div>';
}
?>
</div>
</div>
Here is a fiddle
Note: Container will be 100% width of it's parent, unless styled otherwise.
Column widths will be equal by default. See Bootstrap Grid.