SQL group names as table header rows using PHP - php

Question

I'm trying to output a dynamic table using PHP that looks something like this:
Paul 56
Paul 6
Paul 78
Paul 34
Paul 76
Mark 56
Mark 5
Mark 34
Mark 87
Mark 23
Mark 765
Basically what I want to output is something like this:
<table>
<tr colspan="2">Name: Paul</tr>
<tr><td>56</td><td>Edit</td></tr>
<tr><td>6</td><td>Edit</td></tr>
<tr><td>78</td><td>Edit</td></tr>
<tr><td>34</td><td>Edit</td></tr>
<tr><td>76><td>Edit</td></tr>
<tr colspan="2">Name: Mark</tr>
<tr><td>56</td><td>Edit</td></tr>
<tr><td>5</td><td>Edit</td></tr>
<tr><td>34</td><td>Edit</td></tr>
<tr><td>87</td><td>Edit</td></tr>
<tr><td>23/td><td>Edit</td></tr>
<tr><td>765/td><td>Edit</td></tr>
</table>
What my PHP code looks like so far:
<?php
$name_holder = null;
for($i=0;$i<count($data);$i++) {
if($name_holder != $data[$i]->name){
$name_holder = $data[$i]->name;
//not sure what to do here??
}
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td align='left'>".$data[$i]->name."</td>";
echo "<td align='left'>".$data[$i]->hour."</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
?>
SQL
SELECT name,hour FROM checkin_tbl GROUP BY name ORDER BY name ASC;

Answer 1

You don't need to group your data at the database level. It is possible to do it that way, but for each group you'd need another SELECT to read the related data, and will result in excessive numbers of queries being sent to the database.
I've thus elected to read the data in using a straight query, which would be something like this:
SELECT name,hour FROM checkin_tbl ORDER BY name ASC;
I've not supplied the database code below, as it is not clear what database you are using (e.g. MySQL) or what interface you are using (e.g. PDO). I've thus emulated a data source using an array - I'm sure you can swap this out with a fetchAll() or a foreach() and a row fetch().
Thus, try something like this:
<?php
// Data from your database
$rawData = [
['Paul', 56],
['Paul', 6],
['Mark', 56],
['Mark', 5],
];
// Let's reformat this
$out = [];
foreach ($rawData as $pair)
{
$name = $pair[0];
if (!isset($out[$name]))
{
$out[$name] = [];
}
// Pop the value on the list
$out[$name][] = $pair[1];
}
// Use this to look at your structure
#print_r($out);
?>
<!-- Here's your rendering section -->
<?php foreach ($out as $name => $data): ?>
<tr colspan="2"><td>Name: <?php echo htmlentities($name) ?></td></tr>
<?php foreach ($data as $item): ?>
<tr><td><?php echo htmlentities($item) ?></td><td>Edit</td></tr>
<?php endforeach ?>
<?php endforeach ?>
My strategy is to format the data as much as possible outside of the template - your code and another answer here (at the time of writing) are mixing logic and layout excessively in my opinion, and you need to separate them out.
This is why I have switched to opening/closing PHP tags in the rendering section: this is broadly HTML with PHP snippets where dynamic output is required. You'll benefit from tag matching and syntax colouration in your IDE if you do it this way.
I've added htmlentities() in to protect against XSS.

Answer 2

Looking at the desired situation, there is absolutely no need for a GROUP BY.
In fact this is actually hindering your from displaying all records for a given person. You will end up with one row per person, filled with the last record for that person.
In order to get the situation you desire, strip the GROUP BY.
A PHP solution COULD be.
$name_holder = null;
for($i=0;$i<count($data);$i++) {
if($name_holder != $data[$i]->name){
$name_holder = $data[$i]->name;
echo "<tr><td colspan='2'>Name: " . $name_holder . "</td></tr>"
}
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td align='left'>".$data[$i]->hour."</td>";
echo "<td align='left'>edit</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
You were well on the way to a correct solution.
Background info on Grouping and your problem:
A good explanation is found here: http://www.tutorialspoint.com/sql/sql-group-by.htm
A demo that it will not work can be tested on the w3schools demo database: http://www.w3schools.com/sql/trysql.asp?filename=trysql_select_groupby
All records:
SELECT CustomerId, ShipperId FROM [Orders] WHERE ShipperId = 1
Grouped:
SELECT CustomerId, ShipperId FROM [Orders] WHERE ShipperId = 1 GROUP BY ShipperId