Sort alphabetically when multiple queries? - php

Question

I am having difficulty sorting my data results alphabetically when matching them with the User that has placed the item in their "Locker".
I have two queries; the first one searches the database for all of the items that the user placed in their 'locker', and the second query pulls the details of the item and sorts them into a list by which brand the items are.
I feel like there is a better way to do this rather than forcing the page to run the query once for each item, but am not sure the proper way to write out the mySQL in the most efficient way that works.
I think the solution would be to pull all IDs as an array, then somehow search and sort all of their associated brands in the second query.
I currently have:
//$lockerid is pulled earlier in the code based on which locker number is associated with this user
// Pull all of the items and their ids that are in this users locker
$userlockerquery= mysql_query("SELECT DISTINCT item_id FROM lockers WHERE user_id = '$profile_userid' AND locker_id ='$lockerid' ");
while($lockeritems=mysql_fetch_array($userlockerquery)){
$indi_item=$lockeritems[item_id];
$lockeritemdetails = mysql_query("SELECT DISTINCT brand FROM inventory WHERE id = '$indi_item' ");
$brands=mysql_fetch_array($lockeritemdetails );
$brandname=$brands[brand];
echo '<div>'.$brandname.'</div>';
}
Although the results do show up with all of the brands, My problem seems to be that since the query is ran once for each items id, it cannot have the list results talk to each other, and thus cannot have them ordered by ASC alphabetically, since the query is ran once per each item.
Also because of this, the DISTINCT flag does not have any effect, since it is not matching against any other results.
As an example, my results would return in divs in order of ID instead of brand, and repeating:
Nike
Puma
Puma
Converse
Rather than
Converse
Nike
Puma
Adding the ORDER BY flag to the second query did not help, so I figured I would try to ask here for some ideas. Please let me know if any other details are needed!

Answer 1

Maybe try something like this class. See if it will work for your needs. It's hard to check it without trying the sql queries, but provided I've written it properly, it should work.
class MyLocker
{
// Protected means that you can't use this variable outside of the functions/class
// so you can not use $myLocker->_array; It will throw an error
protected $_array;
// Construct is basically used as an auto-function. It will execute automatically
// when you create a new instance of the class so as soon as you do this:
// $myLocker = new MyLocker($_locker); you initiate the __construct
// When you label as public, you allow it to be used outside of itself
public function __construct($_array)
{
// When you set this variable, it is now open to use in all
// other functions in this class.
$this->_array = $_array;
}
// This is the method that will do everything
public function LockerContents()
{
// Loop through query. Since the $_array was set in the __construct
// it is available in this function as $this->_array
while($lockeritems = mysql_fetch_array($this->_array)){
// $brand is something we want to use in other functions but not
// outside the class so it is set here for use in the Fetch() function
$this->brand = $lockeritems['item_id'];
// We ant to use our Fetch() function to return our brand
$_brand = $this->Fetch();
// If brand available, set it to an array
if(!empty($_brand))
$array[] = $_brand;
}
if(isset($array)) {
// Sort the array
asort($array);
// Finally, we use the Display() function for the final output
$this->Display($array);
}
else { ?>
<div>Locker is empty.</div><?php
}
}
// Establish this as an in-class variable
protected $brand;
// Establish this as a public function incase we want to use it by itself
// To do so you would write $myLocker->Fetch(); outside of the class.
// Since you need $brand for this function to work, you would need to turn
// $brand from "protected" to "public" and write $myLocker->brand = 'whatever';
// before you run the $myLocker->Fetch();
public function Fetch()
{
$query = mysql_query("SELECT DISTINCT brand FROM inventory WHERE id = '".$this->brand."'");
$brands = mysql_fetch_array($query);
// Return brand
return (isset($brands['brand']))? $brands['brand']:"";
}
protected function Display($array)
{
if(is_array($array)) {
foreach($array as $object) { ?>
<div><?php echo $object; ?></div><?php
}
}
}
}
// You should be using mysqli_ or PDO for your db connections/functions.
$_locker = mysql_query("SELECT DISTINCT item_id FROM lockers WHERE user_id = '$profile_userid' AND locker_id ='$lockerid' ");
// If there are more than 0 rows, create locker.
if(mysql_num_rows($_locker) > 0) {
// Create new instance of the locker app
$myLocker = new MyLocker($_locker);
// Display the results
$myLocker->LockerContents();
}