PHP MySQL split output into sections - php

Question

I'm trying to do something with PHP & MySQL that I just cannot get my head around.
I have a table that takes the following structure (they are two tables but will act as one when they are joined in the SQL query):
id | brand | model
1 | brand1 | model1
2 | brand1 | model2
3 | brand1 | model3
4 | brand2 | modelA
I've been able to get PHP to output the following fine:
brand1 model1
brand1 model2
brand1 model3
brand2 modelA
What I'd really like to be able to do is output it as:
Brand1
Model1
Model2
Model3
Brand2
ModelA
Anyone got any ideas?
This is my current code:
<?php
$result = mysql_query("SELECT cameras.cameraid, cameras.model, brands.brand FROM cameras JOIN brands ON cameras.brandid=brands.brandid WHERE cameras.categoryid='$cat' ORDER BY brands.brand ASC, cameras.level ASC")or die(mysql_error());
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
echo "<li><a href='camera.php?id=". $row['cameraid'] . "'>" . $row['brand'] . " " . $row['model'] . "</a></li>";
}
?>

Answer 1

What you're looking for is a two-dimensional array with a nested foreach-loop. This will allow you to have an array that looks like this
Array (
[brand1] => Array (
[1] => model1
[2] => model2
[3] => model3
)
[brand2] => Array (
[4] => modelA
[5] => modelB
[6] => modelC
)
)
We use this to our advantage when we are later echoing out the models as a list of each brand. The first array will contain all the brands, while each brand is a array of its own - creating the two dimensional array, which contains all the models (and the product IDs as the key for the elements in that array).
Put each of your elements into an array in your while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))-loop, and use the nested foreach-loop to echo them out.
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
// Here we fetch all the results, and put it into a two-dimentional array
// with keys as brandname and the ID of the product
$brands[$row['brand']][$row['cameraid']] = $row['model'];
}
// Then we echo them all out in a list!
foreach ($brands as $key=>$brand) {
// The $key is the name of the brand
echo $key."<ul>";
foreach ($brand as $id=>$model) {
// The $id is the ID of the camera in the table
// The $model is the model-name itself
echo "<li><a href='camera.php?id=".$id."'>".$model."</a></li>";
}
echo "</ul>";
}
Furthermore, it's deprecated and not recommended, to use mysql_* functions, you should consider moving onto mysqli_* or PDO for better functionality, continuous support and better security.

Answer 2

You should try something like this. It is using multidimensional arrays to group items.
<?php
$result = mysql_query("SELECT cameras.cameraid, cameras.model, brands.brand FROM cameras JOIN brands ON cameras.brandid=brands.brandid WHERE cameras.categoryid='$cat' ORDER BY brands.brand ASC, cameras.level ASC")or die(mysql_error());
$brands = array();
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
$brands[$row['brand']][] = array($row['model'], $row['cameraid']);
echo "<li><a href='camera.php?id=". $row['cameraid'] . "'>" . $row['brand'] . " " . $row['model'] . "</a></li>";
}
foreach($brands as $brand => $data){
echo $brand . "<br>";
foreach($data as $item){
echo "<li><a href='camera.php?id=" . $item[1] . "'>" . $item[0] . "</a></li>";
}
}
?>

Answer 3

below is the code for grid using table It will give you and idea how to achieve your task
$sql = mysql_query("SELECT id, member_name FROM member_table ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 15");
$i = 0;
// Establish the output variable
$dyn_table = '<table border="1" cellpadding="10">';
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql)){
$id = $row["id"];
$member_name = $row["member_name"];
if ($i % 3 == 0) { // if $i is divisible by our target number (in this case "3")
$dyn_table .= '<tr><td>' . $member_name . '</td>';
} else {
$dyn_table .= '<td>' . $member_name . '</td>';
}
$i++;
}
$dyn_table .= '</tr></table>';
line by line explanation of this code is in the link below
Array gird output tutorial will give you some Idea try to use this for your won scnario
Array Grid output tutorial well explained video