Displaying MySQL results in two columns (editing existing code) - php

Question

I have been asked to revise an existing site, it's still using PHP5.3 and an old version of PHPmyDirectory, and the code is a little messy.
I'm trying to revise it to just display the list of cities in two columns. I'm trying to do it as a table, as it seemed easiest, but I could also just pull the results into to side by side divs, as there are never more than 26 cities listed (so first half or first 13 in div one, the rest in div two).
Here's the existing original code (I know its not mysqli, but we'll be redoing this site shortly so there's no sense trying to redo a million pages of code right now):
function create_service_area($title) {
global $listing;
$sql = "SELECT state_id, city_id FROM " .T_LISTINGS_CITIES. " WHERE listing_id = {$listing['id']} " ;
$result = query($sql);
if(!$result){
$output = "<p>Call for Service Area!</p>";
}
else {
$output = "<p>";
$result_array = array();
while ($service = fetch_array($result))
{
$sql2 = "SELECT title FROM " .T_LOCATIONS. " WHERE id = {$service['city_id']} " ;
$result2 = query($sql2);
if(!$result2){
break;
} else {
while ($service2 = fetch_array($result2))
{
$output .= "{$service2['title']}";
$title_array = explode(',', $service2['title']);
$result_array[] = $title_array;
}
$output .= "<br/>";
}
}
if($listing['custom_103'] =="Yes") {
$output .= "<b>".$title." will travel for an additional fee!</b></p>";
} else {
$output .="</p>";
}
}
return $output;
}
This is what is looks like currently: Current Site
Here's what I've tried to do:
function create_service_area($title) {
global $listing;
$sql = "SELECT state_id, city_id FROM " .T_LISTINGS_CITIES. " WHERE listing_id = {$listing['id']} " ;
$result = query($sql);
if(!$result){
$output = "<p>Call for Service Area!</p>";
}
else {
$result_array = array();
while ($service = fetch_array($result)) {
$sql2 = "SELECT title FROM " .T_LOCATIONS. " WHERE id = {$service['city_id']} " ;
$result2 = query($sql2);
$i=0;
if(!$result2) {
break;
}
else {
while ($service2 = fetch_array($result2)) {
$output .= "{$service2['title']}";
$title_array = explode(',', $service2['title']);
$result_array[] = $title_array;
$i++;
}
echo "<table>";
for ($j=0; $j<$i; $j=$j+2) {
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>".$title_array[$j]."</td><td>".$title_array[$j+1]."</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "</table>";
}
}
if($listing['custom_103'] =="Yes") {
$output .= "<p><b>".$title." will travel for an additional fee!</b></p>";
}
else {
$output .="";
}
}
return $output;
}
And here's what I'm getting: DEV site
I'm very much a PHP newbie, and my understanding is pretty spotty, but I've tried a bunch of different solutions I've found here, and can't get them to work. I'm sure I'm missing something obvious.
Thanks for any pointers!

Answer 1

if I got it correct you should change your
else {
$output = "<p>";
$result_array = array();
while ($service = fetch_array($result))
{
$sql2 = "SELECT title FROM " .T_LOCATIONS. " WHERE id = {$service['city_id']} " ;
$result2 = query($sql2);
if(!$result2){
break;
} else {
while ($service2 = fetch_array($result2))
{
$output .= "{$service2['title']}";
$title_array = explode(',', $service2['title']);
$result_array[] = $title_array;
}
$output .= "<br/>";
}
}
if($listing['custom_103'] =="Yes") {
$output .= "<b>".$title." will travel for an additional fee!</b></p>";
} else {
$output .="</p>";
}
}
with
else {
$output = "<table>";
$result_array = array();
$even_odd=true;
while ($service = fetch_array($result))
{
$sql2 = "SELECT title FROM " .T_LOCATIONS. " WHERE id = {$service['city_id']} " ;
$result2 = query($sql2);
if(!$result2){
break;
} else {
$output .= "";
while ($service2 = fetch_array($result2))
{
if ($even_odd) {
$output .= '<tr><td>'."{$service2['title']}".'</td>';
$even_odd=false;
} else {
$output .= '<td>'."{$service2['title']}".'</td></tr>';
$even_odd=true;
}
$output .= "{$service2['title']}";
$title_array = explode(',', $service2['title']);
$result_array[] = $title_array;
}
}
}
if($listing['custom_103'] =="Yes") {
$output .= "<b>".$title." will travel for an additional fee!</b></p>";
} else {
if (!$even_odd)$output .="<td></td></tr>";
$output .="</table>";
}
}

Answer 2

Try this, I couldn't test it of course, since I've got no access to the data being loaded.
echo "<table>";
$result_array = array();
while ($service = fetch_array($result))
{
//this will loop multiple times. 7 times for Tony S. in the example.
$sql2 = "SELECT title FROM " .T_LOCATIONS. " WHERE id = {$service['city_id']} " ;
$result2 = query($sql2);
$i=0;
if(!$result2)
{
break;
}
else
{
while ($service2 = fetch_array($result2))
{
$title_array = explode(',', $service2['title']);
$result_array[] = $title_array;
$i++;
}
}
}
for ($j=0; $j < count($result_array); $j++)
{
if ($j % 2 == 0)
{
echo "<tr>";
}
echo "<td>".$result_array[$j][0]." (".$result_array[$j][1].")</td>";
if ($j % 2 == 0)
{
echo "</tr>";
}
if ($j % 2 == 1 && $j == count($result_array)-1)
{
echo "<td></td></tr>";
}
}
echo "</table>";
Paste and replace between this lines:
if(!$result){
$output = "<p>Call for Service Area!</p>";
}
else {
.... PASTE IN HERE ....
}

Answer 3

Building on Kim's code, I was able to get it working with some revisions. I also scrapped the table for divs, since it seems less messy to me and it seemed like the table styling was interfering somehow.
function create_service_area($title) {
global $listing;
$sql = "SELECT state_id, city_id FROM " .T_LISTINGS_CITIES. " WHERE listing_id = {$listing['id']} " ;
$result = query($sql);
if(!$result){
$output = "<p>Call for Service Area!</p>";
} else {
$output = "<div>";
//$result_array = array();
$even_odd=true;
while ($service = fetch_array($result))
{
$sql2 = "SELECT title FROM " .T_LOCATIONS. " WHERE id = {$service['city_id']} " ;
$result2 = query($sql2);
if(!$result2){
break;
} else {
$output .= "{$service2['title']}";
$title_array = explode(',', $service2['title']);
$result_array[] = $title_array;
while ($service2 = fetch_array($result2))
{
if ($even_odd) {
$output .= '<div style="float:left;width:50%;">'."{$service2['title']}".'</div>';
$even_odd=false;
} else {
$output .= '<div style="float:right;width:50%;">'."{$service2['title']}".'</div>';
$even_odd=true;
}
}
}
}
if($listing['custom_103'] =="Yes") {
$output .= "<div style='clear:both;width:90%;float:none;'><p><b>".$title." will travel for an additional fee!</b></p></div>";
} else {
}
}
return $output;
}
Thanks so much Kim and Mouser!