While loop causing website to vanish - php

Question

$i = 0;
$sql_query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM designs WHERE accessibility=`2` ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 5");
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($sql_query) {
if ($i == "0") { ?><div style="width: 49%; float: left;"><img id="lookup_designs_item_icon" src="img/designs/<?php echo $row["id"]; ?>.jpg" alt="<?php echo $row["resolution"]; ?> | <?php echo $row["artist"]; ?>"/></div>
<?php } elseif ($i == "1") { ?><div style="width: 49%; float: right;"><img id="lookup_designs_item_icon" src="img/designs/<?php echo $row["id"]; ?>.jpg" alt="<?php echo $row["resolution"]; ?> | <?php echo $row["artist"]; ?>"/></div>
<?php } $i++; if ($i == "7") { end while; }
}
Why doesn't this code work? If I do it manually without database. You know, just thinking you're PHP and creating the code in HTML and CSS, it works. But as soon as you mix PHP to it, everything goes blank, entire website.

Answer 1

while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($sql_query) {
"PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '{' in
As mentioned in comments, you are missing a closing parenthesis (rounded bracket) on your while condition, before the opening brace (squiggly bracket). This should read:
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($sql_query)) {
However, you do have another obvious parse error at the end of your while loop. The following is invalid syntax:
if ($i == "7") { end while; }
This should read:
if ($i == "7") { break; }
"mix PHP and HTML like that" - just don't mix PHP and HTML like that... it's hard to read/maintain.
Regardless of syntax used (conventional or alternative (that Tero Kilkanen suggests) - which is intended to make this type of code easier to read) you simply should not be mixing PHP and output like this anyway, by dropping out/in of PHP parsing mode.
If you need to construct some HTML to be output later then build a string and echo this once at the end of your loop.
So, instead of this:
$i = 0;
$sql_query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM designs WHERE accessibility=`2` ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 5");
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($sql_query) {
if ($i == "0") { ?><div style="width: 49%; float: left;"><img id="lookup_designs_item_icon" src="img/designs/<?php echo $row["id"]; ?>.jpg" alt="<?php echo $row["resolution"]; ?> | <?php echo $row["artist"]; ?>"/></div>
<?php } elseif ($i == "1") { ?><div style="width: 49%; float: right;"><img id="lookup_designs_item_icon" src="img/designs/<?php echo $row["id"]; ?>.jpg" alt="<?php echo $row["resolution"]; ?> | <?php echo $row["artist"]; ?>"/></div>
<?php } $i++; if ($i == "7") { end while; }
}
Do something like this:
// HTML to be output
$htm = '';
$i = 0;
$sql_query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM designs WHERE accessibility=`2` ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 5");
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($sql_query)) {
if ($i == "0") {
$htm .= <<<EOD
<div style="width: 49%; float: left;">
<img id="lookup_designs_item_icon" src="img/designs/{$row["id"]}.jpg" alt="{$row["resolution"]} | {$row["artist"];}"/>
</div>
EOD;
}
elseif ($i == "1") {
$htm .= <<<EOD
<div style="width: 49%; float: right;">
<img id="lookup_designs_item_icon" src="img/designs/{$row["id"]}.jpg" alt="{$row["resolution"];} | {$row["artist"];}"/>
</div>
EOD;
}
$i++;
if ($i == "7") {
break;
}
}
// Output HTML
echo $htm;
The code is now much easier to read at a glance and it quickly becomes obvious that there are further optimisations that can be made. For instance...
the only bit that seems to vary between your if blocks is the float: left / float: right part of your style attribute. So these could be combined.
$i is an integer, yet you are comparing it with a string in your if condition. This works, but is not "correct".
You don't appear to be doing anything in your loop when $i is 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6? So you should be breaking sooner. ie. simply else { break; } would seem to do the same thing?