Fetch data from different tables using while loop and if statement - php

Question

I am attempting to fetch data from my database using 8 different tables named:
inventory descriptorid typeid conditionid statusid locationid stationid users
I believe my query is working correctly the problem is using my $row variable. I am only getting the results from data in the inventory table. Can Someone explain how I can fetch my data from each table?
The code is below:
<?php
// get the records from the database
if ($result = $con->query("
SELECT inventory.InventoryID, descriptorid.dename, typeid.tyname,
inventory.Serial, inventory.ServiceTag, inventory.CityTag,
conditioncid.conname, statusid.statusname, locationid.locname,
stationid.stationname, users.Fname, users.Lname,
inventory.PurchaseDate, inventory.POnumber
FROM inventory
LEFT JOIN descriptorid
ON inventory.Descriptor = descriptorid.dename
LEFT JOIN typeid
ON inventory.Type = typeid.tyname
LEFT JOIN conditioncid
ON inventory.ConditionC = conditioncid.conname
LEFT JOIN statusid
ON inventory.Status = statusid.statusname
LEFT JOIN locationid
ON inventory.Location = locationid.locname
LEFT JOIN stationid
ON inventory.Station = stationid.stationname
LEFT JOIN users
ON inventory.cuserFname = users.Fname
AND inventory.cuserLname = users.Lname "))
{
// display records if there are records to display
if ($result->num_rows > 0)
{
// display records in a table
echo "<table border id='myTable' class='tablesorter' >";
// set table headers
echo "<thead><th>ID</th><th>Descriptor</th><th>Type</th><th>Serial</th><th>ServiceTag</th><th>CityTag</th><th>Condition</th><th>Status</th><th>Location</th><th>Station</th><th>CurrentUser</th><th>Lastname</th><th>PurchaseDate</th><th>POnumber</th><th></th><th></th></thead>";
echo "<tbody";
while ($row = $result->fetch_object())
{
// dump whats returned
// print_r($row);
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>" . $row->InventoryID . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->Descriptor . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->Type . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->Serial . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->ServiceTag . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->CityTag . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->ConditionC . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->Status . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->Location . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->Station . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->cUserFname . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->cUserLname . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->PurchaseDate . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->POnumber . "</td>";
echo "<td><a href='invrecords.php?InventoryID=" . $row->InventoryID . "'><img src='img/default/button_mini_ticket_edit.gif'></a></td>";
echo '<td><img src="img/default/button_mini_delete.gif">';
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "</tbody>";
echo "</table>";

Answer 1

You should name your row vars as you select them (as you did it with the columns of the inventory table):
Wrong:
echo "<td>" . $row->Descriptor . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->Type . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->ConditionC . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->Status . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->Location . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->Station . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->cUserFname . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->cUserLname . "</td>";
Use instead:
echo "<td>" . $row->dename . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->tyname. "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->conname. "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->statusname. "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->locname. "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->stationname. "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->Fname. "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row->Lname. "</td>";

Answer 2

Are you sure that you want use LEFT JOIN instead of INNER JOIN? That means that if you have table A and B you only take elements which are located in A but not necessarily in B. That means if there is not a matching partner for an element of the left table, you would have a row containg an element of table A in one column and null in the other column.
This might be one reason for having a resultset only containing an element of the inventory table.
As far as I understand you want a result containing the elements joined on equal attributes, so try to replace LEFT JOIN with INNER JOIN.
Image source: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/33052/Visual-Representation-of-SQL-Joins

Answer 3

Ok so the issue was instead of matching the third option (dename, tyname,etc.) on my secondary tables with the inventory I should've been matching it with the ID of that said table. Now when I query the third option with my row variable I can select any option from my secondary table (deid,tyid). It now outputs the desired results and hopefully I can create a drop down list using a similar query.Thanks for all the ideas.