MySQL to PHP output HTML with grouped content (categories) - php

Question

i have problem that i googled allot to try and figure out, but all solutions are variations on mine.
So i have output like this
<div class="row">
<?php $cat= '';?>
<div class="blank">
#foreach($posts as $post)
#if($cat!= $post->cat_id)
</div><div class="col-sm-3">
<p class="alert alert-info"><strong>{{$post->category_name}}</strong></p>
<?php $cat= $post->cat_id; ?>
#endif
</ul><ul>
<li>
{{$post->title}}
</li>
#endforeach
So basically i wont output that category name is in and then all the posts of that category within that div in ul li, and then close the DIV.
But i managed to make it only with this blank div, and closing ul and div before open, but that gives me invalid html, but its sorted good.
Is there any smart way to get this done?
Thanks

Answer 1

here is a working example. I think the problem was the place where you were opening and closing the foreach.
...
(I replaced the blade statements for plain php for clarity, but you should be able to change it back.)
EDIT:
I was not that far..
<?php $posts = [
['cat_id' => 1, 'cat_name' => 'a name', 'title' => 'title'],
['cat_id' => 1, 'cat_name' => 'a name2', 'title' => 'title2'],
['cat_id' => 2, 'cat_name' => 'another name', 'title' => 'title3'],
['cat_id' => 2, 'cat_name' => 'another name2', 'title' => 'title4'],
]; ?>
<div class="col-sm-3">
<?php $cat= '';?>
<?php foreach($posts as $post): ?>
<?php if($post['cat_id'] != $cat): ?>
<p class="alert alert-info">
<strong><?php echo $post['cat_name'];?></strong>
</p>
<ul>
<?php endif; ?>
<li> <?=$post['cat_name'];?> </li>
<?php if($post['cat_id'] == $cat): ?>
</ul>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php $cat= $post['cat_id']; ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</div>
Here I edited my previous answer, a few recommendations tho:
The point is not to just write code that works, but also maintainable and readable. That will help you or whoever has to change some functionality in the future.
Try to be as clear as you can be when asking, and provide an example of your desired output if needed (just like in the comment).
You could probably format the data before passing it to the view, so you can print it easily, for example, transforming the array I used in the above code to something like:
$posts = [
['cat_id' => 1, 'cat_name' => 'a name', 'posts' => [
['title' => 'a title','content' => 'whatever'],
['title' => 'another title','content' => 'whatever2'],
]
];
That way it would be waaay easier to show it, and it'll give you ways to
write clearer code.
Best regards!

Answer 2

So after extensive trying, i got what i wanted. Hope this is correct way of doing it.
<?php
$cat= '';
foreach($posts as $post){
if($cat != $post['cat_id']){
echo $cat!= '' ? '</ul></div>' : '';
echo '<div class="col-sm-4 col-md-3">
<p class="alert alert-info"><strong>'.$post['cat_name'].'</strong></p>
<ul>';
$cat= $post['cat_id'];
}
echo '<li>'.$post['title'].'</li>';
}
echo '</ul>'; //close last opened ul
echo '</div>'; //close last opened div
?>