PHP Ranking function with TIES - php

Question

So I have a function that takes a number and outputs it as a placement. How do I go about making the function take in consideration ties. I have a ranking database and this php code echos out rankings on a table. right now it ranks but it doesn't consider ties. How do i go about doing this
<?php
function addOrdinalNumberSuffix($num) {
if (!in_array(($num % 100),array(11,12,13))){
switch ($num % 10) {
// Handle 1st, 2nd, 3rd
case 1: return $num.'st';
case 2: return $num.'nd';
case 3: return $num.'rd';
}
}
return $num.'th';
}
?>
<?php
$link = mysqli_connect("localhost", "citricide", "321213123Lol", "juneausmashbros");
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
printf("Connect failed: %s\n", mysqli_connect_error());
exit();
}
$query = "SELECT * FROM rankings ORDER BY points DESC";
$result = mysqli_query($link, $query);
echo '<article class="content grid_6 push_3">';
echo '<h1>';
echo 'Project M Summer Ranbat Rankings';
echo '</h1>';
echo '<section>';
echo '<center>';
echo '<table style="width:400px" class="rankslist">';
echo '<tr>';
echo '<th width="15%"><b>Rank</b></th>';
echo '<th width="45%"><b>Name</b></th>';
echo '<th width="45%"><b>Alias</b></th>';
echo '<th width="15%"><b>Points</b></th>';
echo '</tr>';
$ass = 0;
while($row = $result->fetch_array()) {
$ass++;
echo '<tr>';
if ($ass == 1) {
echo ' <center><td><B><font color=#FFD700>';
} else if ($ass == 2) {
echo ' <center><td><B><font color=#CCCCCC>';
} else if ($ass == 3) {
echo ' <center><td><B><font color=#cd7f32>';
} else {
echo '<td>';
}
echo addOrdinalNumberSuffix($ass);
echo ' </font></B</td></center>';
echo ' <td>'.$row['name'].'</td>';
echo '<td>'.$row['alias'].'</td>' ;
echo '<td>'.$row['points'].'</td>';
echo '</tr>';
}
echo '</table>';
echo '</center>';
echo '</section>';
echo '</article>';
?>

Answer 1

It seems like you need additional variables to track the rank and the previous value. By doing so, you can handle ties.
For example:
$ass = 0; // current record count
$rank = 0; // rank
$last_points = NULL; // variable to store last ranked value
while($row = $result->fetch_array()) {
$ass++;
// check if value changes and reset rank if it does
if ($row['points'] !== $last_points) {
$rank = $ass;
$last_points = $row['points'];
}
echo '<tr>';
if ($rank == 1) {
echo ' <center><td><B><font color=#FFD700>';
} else if ($rank == 2) {
echo ' <center><td><B><font color=#CCCCCC>';
} else if ($rank == 3) {
echo ' <center><td><B><font color=#cd7f32>';
} else {
echo '<td>';
}
echo addOrdinalNumberSuffix($rank);
echo ' </font></B</td></center>';
echo ' <td>'.$row['name'].'</td>';
echo '<td>'.$row['alias'].'</td>' ;
echo '<td>'.$row['points'].'</td>';
echo '</tr>';
}
So say your points looked like this:
100
100
90
80
The $rank value would be:
1
1
3
4