Sorting query results with column head - php

Question

I have a typical SQL query that returns results like this:
$result_acc_man = "SELECT * FROM mgap_management WHERE account_manager_id = '" . $_SESSION['account_manager_id'] . "' ORDER BY mgap_sales_pres";
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($result_acc_man);
$stmt->execute();
while($row_acc_man = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC))
{
$salespres = $row_acc_man['mgap_sales_pres'];
$regvp = $row_acc_man['mgap_regional_vp'];
$areasales = $row_acc_man['mgap_area_sales_manager']
?>
<p class="asminfo"><span>Your ASM: <?php echo $areasales;?></span></p>
<p class="asminfo"><span >Your Regional VP: <?php echo $regvp; ?></span></p>
<p class="asminfo"><span >Your Sales President: <?php echo $salespres; ?></span></p>
<?php
}
?>
here are the column headers
<div id="viewheadaccept">
<span class="namecustaccept1">ACCOUNT NAME </span>
<span class="custaccept">ACCOUNT TYPE</span>
<span class="recoverycustaccept">OPPORTUNITY SIZE</span>
</div>
I need to add the ability to click on the column names and sort the data. Is there an easier way to accomplish this other than creating multiple linked pages with different queries that contain the sort?
Thanks!

Answer 1

You could provide a parameter to replace mgap_sales_pres. So send a orderBy parameter via the url stirng.
You would need to escape the variable for security. Normally this wouldn't be recommended, but since prepared statements can't inject variables into the ORDER BY clause, it's the only option for now.
For example mysql_real_escape_char($_GET['orderBy'])
Or if you are really paranoid you could use a switch case statement to check for a validate column name.