Creating a table within a simple search engine + maximum limit of results - php

Question

I'm trying to make an simple search engine, and the results are displayed fine as it is now. The only problem I have is I want it to be a little more presentable.
This is the code as it stands (I also have a another .php where it gets the searchval, searchfunction and jQuery)
<?php
mysql_connect ("localhost","root","xxxxxxx") or die ("Connectionissues");
mysql_select_db ("xxxxxxxx") or die("Can't find database");
$output = '';
if(isset($_POST['searchVal'])) {
$searchq = $_POST['searchVal'];
$searchq = preg_replace ("#^0-9a-z#^1"," ",$searchq);
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM ds_OrderItem WHERE idProduct LIKE
'%$searchq%'") or die("Search incomplete!");
$count = mysql_num_rows ($query);
if($count == 0){
$output = 'Order have never been made before';
}else{
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($query)) {
$idproduct = $row['idProduct'];
$idorder = $row['idOrder'];
$title = $row['title'];
$qty = $row['qty'];
$output .= '<div> '.$idproduct.' '.$idorder.' '.$title.' '.$qty.'
</div>';
}
if($_POST['searchVal'] == NULL) {
$output = "";
}
}
}
echo ($output);
?>
To limit the searchresults I tried to make an if statement before the when statement like this:
if($count = <100){
$output = 'Too many results!';
And for the table I have tried various methods, and I always end up making the simple HTML table, but I cant get the search results to post within the four columns.

Answer 1

1st of all, you should really consider using PPS : Prepared Parameterized Statements. This will help Preventing SQL injection
if you want to limit and order, use the query, therefore, MySQL : LIMIT Query Optimization is useful.
For what you ask, use something like :
<?php
-> SELECT * FROM ds_OrderItem WHERE idProduct LIKE '%$searchq%' ORDER BY title ASC, quantity DESC LIMIT 20
// THIS IS NOT SAFE as you trust user data !!!
// then you have 20 results already ordered
// here, I used title alphabetical order + the most avalaible quantity, but you adapt it...
if ($result_of_num_rows > 0) { /* we have results */
echo"<table>"; // only raw, use a nicely formatted html output :)
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($query)) {
$idproduct = $row['idProduct'];
$idorder = $row['idOrder'];
$title = $row['title'];
$qty = $row['qty'];
echo"<tr>
<td> $idorder </td>
<td> $idproduct </td>
<td> $title </td>
<td> $qty </td>
</tr>";
}
echo"</table>";
}
else { echo"nothing yet !"; }
?>
much better would be making use of 'new' standard choosing an API and you have an example below that (I hope) will help you choose a new path :)
<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL); ini_set('display_errors', 1); /* PHP will help us */
/* connexion to db */
$mysqli = mysqli_connect("$host", "$user", "$pwd", "$db");
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) { echo "Error connecting to DB : " . mysqli_connect_error($mysqli); }
$param = "%{$_POST['searchq']}%";
$query = " SELECT idProduct, idOrder, title, qty FROM ds_OrderItem WHERE idProduct LIKE ? ORDER BY title ASC, quantity DESC LIMIT 20 ";
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare($query); /* prepare query */
$stmt->bind_param("s", $param); /* bind param wil sanitize */
print_r($stmt->error_list); /* check for error -> can be removed later */
print_r($stmt->get_warnings()); /* check for error -> can be removed later */
print_r($stmt->error); /* check for error -> can be removed later */
$results = $stmt->execute(); /* execute query */
$stmt->bind_result($idProduct, $idOrder, $title, $qty); /* bounded results */
$stmt->store_result();
if ($stmt->num_rows > 0) { /* we have results */
echo"<table>"; // start table
while($stmt->fetch()){ /* loop through results */
echo"<tr>
<td> $idOrder </td>
<td> $idProduct </td>
<td> $title </td>
<td> $qty </td>
</tr>";
}
echo"</table>";
}
else
{ echo"[ no data ]"; }
?>

Answer 2

Your possible solution is below and you can count variable and put condition in loop before closing while
<table>
<?php while($row = mysql_fetch_array($query)) {
$idproduct = $row['idProduct'];
$idorder = $row['idOrder'];
$title = $row['title'];
$qty = $row['qty'];
?>
<tr>
<td><?php echo $idproduct; ?></td>
<td><?php echo $idorder; ?></td>
<td><?php echo $title; ?></td>
<td><?php echo $qty; ?></td>
</tr>
<?php } ?>
</table>