Looping through PHP database with columns that link to specific profiles - php

Question

I have a website where I am getting information of college student profiles on a database and displaying it as a linked collection. When I'm looping through the database I want to give each row a specific link to the profile of the student. Right now I am linking it to "profilePage.html" with generic information but I want it to be correlated with the row the user chose on the last(college) page.How do I save/transfer that information to the page. I do not want multiple profile pages but one template that is filled with the user previous choice.
<?php
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM student_info WHERE college='Boston College'", $db);
if (!$result) {
die("Database query failed: " . mysql_error());
}
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_BOTH)) {
?>
<a href="profilePage.html" class="collection-item">
<div class="row summary">
<div class="col s4 center">
<img class = "profile-pic" src="img/defaultProfile.jpg">
</div>
<div class="col s8">
<div class="title"> <?php echo $row[student_Name]; ?> </div>
<div class="black-text condensed thin"><i class="tiny material-icons">today</i> Founder, CEO at Linkle since January 1st, 2015</div>
<div></div>
</div>
</div>
</a>
<?php } ?>
Key thing, my urls are mysite.com/college.php and have no id's to specify them.
Structure of the Database student_info:
Shows the structure of the database

Answer 1

First, do you have an URL Rewriting ? If not, your target page should be a PHP page, like profilePage.php.
Your link to this page have to include a parameter (Query String) which is, for example, the student's ID :
<a href="profilePage.php?id=<?php echo $row['id'] ?>" class="collection-item">
This type of URL will be generated: profilePage.php?id=36
In profilePHP.php, retrieve the parameter in the Query String :
<?php
$idStudent = mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['id']);
?>
mysql_real_escape_string() is really important, it prevents SQL injections.
After that, you could retrieve the student's informations with a SQL query.
<?php
$idStudent = mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['id']);
$sql = sprintf("SELECT * FROM student_info WHERE id = %s", $idStudent);
$query = mysql_query($sql);
$student = mysql_fetch_object($query);
// you should check if the ID exists, and if there is 1 result
?>
<p>Student name is <?php echo $student['student_Name'] ?></p>
A little advice: mysql_query() will disappear soon, you should take a look at PDO.