SQL result to multidimensional array (SQL to markdown file) - php

Question

I am trying to transfer data from a MySQL database (with relational columns) to a markdown file (Pico CMS). For that I created the following SQL query to get the data:
SELECT DISTINCT
rqypj_mt_links.link_name,
rqypj_mt_links.link_desc,
rqypj_mt_links.address,
rqypj_mt_links.city,
rqypj_mt_links.state,
rqypj_mt_links.country,
rqypj_mt_links.postcode,
rqypj_mt_links.telephone,
rqypj_mt_links.fax,
rqypj_mt_links.email,
rqypj_mt_links.website,
rqypj_mt_links.price,
rqypj_mt_links.lat,
rqypj_mt_links.lng,
rqypj_mt_links.zoom,
rqypj_mt_cats.cat_name,
rqypj_mt_images.filename,
rqypj_mt_cfvalues.value,
rqypj_mt_customfields.caption
FROM rqypj_mt_links
LEFT JOIN rqypj_mt_cl
ON rqypj_mt_links.link_id = rqypj_mt_cl.link_id
LEFT JOIN rqypj_mt_cats
ON rqypj_mt_cl.cat_id = rqypj_mt_cats.cat_id
LEFT JOIN rqypj_mt_images
ON rqypj_mt_links.link_id = rqypj_mt_images.link_id
LEFT JOIN rqypj_mt_cfvalues
ON rqypj_mt_links.link_id = rqypj_mt_cfvalues.link_id
LEFT JOIN rqypj_mt_customfields
ON rqypj_mt_cfvalues.link_id = rqypj_mt_customfields.cf_id
ORDER BY rqypj_mt_links.link_id, rqypj_mt_cl.cat_id
LIMIT 100
This qives the following result
Title | desc | adress | cats | etc.
But when a title has multiple cats I get multiple rows with the same data only the cat row difference. Therefore I am looking for the best way to transfer the SQL data in to a PHP array. F.e.:
$result['title']
$result['desc']
$result['cats'][0]
$result['cats'][1]
Etc.
I guess that way it w'll be more easy to write the markdown file. Hopefully someone can get me some advise about the best approach and some PHP tips/scripts.
Thanks in advance!
Jelte

Answer 1

I think you want to do something similar to this question and similarly you can use GROUP_CONCAT.
Look at this SQL Fiddle. Maybe it will help you :-)
Schema:
CREATE TABLE link
(
`id` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`name` VARCHAR(255),
PRIMARY KEY (id)
);
CREATE TABLE cat
(
`id` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`name` VARCHAR(255),
PRIMARY KEY (id)
);
CREATE TABLE has_cat
(
`link_id` INT,
`cat_id` INT,
FOREIGN KEY (link_id) REFERENCES link(id),
FOREIGN KEY (cat_id) REFERENCES cat(id)
);
Values:
INSERT INTO link (`name`)
VALUES
('John'),
('Calvin')
;
INSERT INTO cat (`name`)
VALUES
('Garfield'),
('Nermal'),
('Hobbes')
;
INSERT INTO has_cat (link_id, cat_id)
VALUES
(1, 1),
(1, 2),
(2, 3)
;
Query:
SELECT link.name AS link, GROUP_CONCAT(cat.name) AS cats
FROM link, has_cat, cat
WHERE
link.id = has_cat.link_id AND
cat.id = has_cat.cat_id
GROUP BY link.name
Result:
| link | cats |
|--------|-----------------|
| Calvin | Hobbes |
| John | Garfield,Nermal |
Make a PHP array from it
From here, you can explode the comma separated string into an array:
var_dump( explode( ',', $result['cats'] ) );
That will give you:
array(2)
(
[0] => string(8) "Garfield"
[1] => string(6) "Nermal"
)