Adding 4 item per row in PHP - php

Question

I have some HTML in a variable that I'd like to loop 4 time per row. I am making a couple of queries first. In one I get the number of rows and store it in a variable. The second, I am looking to fetch the associated data that I will need to display.
$results = $dbCon->query("SELECT * FROM table WHERE status = '1' ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT $start, $limit");
$total = mysqli_num_rows($results);
$res = $dbCon->query($results);
$data = $res->fetch_assoc();
$link = $data['link'];
$title = $data['title'];
$image = $data['image'];
$imgAlt = $data['imgAlt'];
Third, I store what I want to display in a variable. The HTML I plan on displaying looks something like this
$html = printf("<div style=\"text-align:center; max-width:270px; white-space:normal; word-wrap:break-word; border-left:1em solid transparent; border-right:1em solid transparent; text-overflow: ellipsis; float:left;\">
<a href=\"%s\">
<img style=\"width:270px; height:232px; margin-bottom:40px; border-radius:45px; -moz-border-radius:45px; -webkit-border-radius:45px; box-shadow:0px 0px 3px #fff; -moz-box-shadow:0px 0px 3px #fff; -webkit-box-shadow:0px 0px 3px #fff;\" src=\"images/recentshoots/%s\" alt=\"%s\" />
<p>%s</p> <br /></a>
</div>", $link, $image, $imgAlt, $title);
Next, I would like to loop the 20 items per page in 4 items per row. This is where I am having some trouble. My issue is that the number of characters in the $title are always different so the layout breaks apart. At first a tried a simple way using css and php to do a str_pad() but it doesn't seem to work right with empty spaces. I always get some containers that are taller than others which distorts my row. So I did some research in this platform to model after someone else example.
I m having some trouble with what I found because the examples I've seen have information missing that I need to understand how to modify my own. I have seen it done with foreach and while loops. Can someone help me find a way to understand this better?
How can I loop the data retrieved and make sure that only 4 per row exist in a page of 20 items? Thank you so much for your help. I started with something like this
$startingPoint = 1;
echo "<div class=\"row\">";
foreach($startingPoint < 4){ //this foreach is not even starting the right way, how can I fix this?
echo $html;
}
Can I use a foreach? or a while loop? or do-while?
which one is the best solution and the fastest or most efficient way to go? The shorter the code the better.

Answer 1

Foreach loops are used for array datatypes whilst a while loop can be used for booleans and more.
What you're looking for is a for loop, this allows your to set a counter and each time the loop is ran it adds to a counter. Once the expression is met, it ends the loop.
for($i = 1; $i == 4; $i++)
{
echo 'Loop ' . $i . ': This will loop 4 times';
}
However, you could fix your foreach by using this snippet:
$startingPoint = [1,2,3,4];
foreach($startingPoint as $start)
{
echo $html;
}
Since there are 4 items inside the array, the loop will continue 4 times.
Your SQL is returning more than one row of data thus creating $data to become multidimensional, your loop therefore may not work how its written, you could try this:
for($i = 1; $i >= $limit; $i++)
{
print_f(<!-- html here -->, $data[$i]['column']);
}

Answer 2

You can try this code. Full pagination and view:
Example: index.php
<?php
//get page id for pagination and limit query
$limit = 4;
if(isset($_GET["page"]))
$page = intval($_GET["page"]);
else
$page = 1;
$total = $limit * $page;
$start = $total - $limit;
//GEt data from database. I have used mysqli for testing purpose.
$conn=mysqli_connect("localhost","root","","dbname");
$result = mysqli_query($conn, "SELECT * FROM table WHERE status = '1' ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT $start, $limit");
$total = mysqli_num_rows($result);
?>
<!--Your html code what you want-->
<table>
<tr>
<th>Title</th>
<th>Image</th>
<th>Link</th>
</tr>
<!--loop inside html-->
<?php while($data = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) { ?>
<tr>
<td><?php echo $data['title']; ?></td>
<td><img src="<?php echo $data['image']; ?>" alt="<?php echo $data['imgAlt']; ?>"> </td>
<td>Link</td>
</tr>
<?php } ?>
</table>
<?php
/**======== Pagination Url generate=============*/
$totalPages = ceil($total/$limit);
if($page <=1 ){
" <span style='font-weight: bold;'> < Prev </span> ";
}else{
$j = $page - 1;
echo " <a href='index.php?page=$j'>Prev</a> ";
}
for($i=1; $i <= $totalPages; $i++){
if($i<>$page){
echo " <a href='index.php?page=$i'>$i</a> ";
}else{
echo " <span style='font-weight: bold;'>$i</span> ";
}
}
if($page == $totalPages ){
echo " <span style='font-weight: bold;'>Next ></span> ";
}else{
$j = $page + 1;
echo " <a href='index.php?page=$j'>Next</a></span> ";
}
?>