For loop retrieves same mysql row - php

Question

I’m trying to retrieve the first 4 entries with a for loop, but it seems to repeat 1 entry 4 times.
This is my code:
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","root","root","test");
// Check connection
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
}
$result = mysqli_query($con,"SELECT * FROM activiteiten");
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
for ($result = 1; $result <= 4; $result++) {
echo "<div class='agenda_item' style='background-color:#F39'>";
echo "<img src='images/soosavond_small.jpg' class='soospict_small' />";
echo "<div class='agenda_content'>";
echo "<p class='datum'>" . $row['datum'] . "</p>";
echo "<p class='onderwerp'>" . $row['naam_activiteit'] . "</p>";
echo "<p class='details'>" . $row['beschrijving'] . "</p>";
echo "</div>";
echo "<a href='#'' class='pijlklein'>MEER INFO</a>";
echo "</div>";
}
}
mysqli_close($con);

Answer 1

You don't need a for loop. I've modified code, to retrive only first 4 items.
Look at the cahnged query LIMIT 4.
<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","root","root","test");
// Check connection
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
}
$result = mysqli_query($con,"SELECT * FROM activiteiten LIMIT 4");
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
echo "<div class='agenda_item' style='background-color:#F39'>";
echo "<img src='images/soosavond_small.jpg' class='soospict_small' />";
echo "<div class='agenda_content'>";
echo "<p class='datum'>" . $row['datum'] . "</p>";
echo "<p class='onderwerp'>" . $row['naam_activiteit'] . "</p>";
echo "<p class='details'>" . $row['beschrijving'] . "</p>";
echo "</div>";
echo "<a href='#'' class='pijlklein'>MEER INFO</a>";
echo "</div>";
}
mysqli_close($con);
?>

Answer 2

You have a for loop inside the while loop. You can remove the for loop and use LIMIT from MySQL (which is better as fetching all entries by PHP (better performance), if you need only the first 4 entries):
SELECT * FROM activiteiten LIMIT 4
If you still want to do it with php:
$results = 0;
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result) && $results < 4) {
echo "<div class='agenda_item' style='background-color:#F39'>";
...
$results++;
}

Answer 3

Your code—as presented—mixes things up in ways that behave the way you see. The for loop is not needed. And you should set a LIMIT in your MySQL query like this:
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","root","root","test");
// Check connection
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
}
$result = mysqli_query($con,"SELECT * FROM activiteiten LIMIT 0,4");
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
echo "<div class='agenda_item' style='background-color:#F39'>";
echo "<img src='images/soosavond_small.jpg' class='soospict_small' />";
echo "<div class='agenda_content'>";
echo "<p class='datum'>" . $row['datum'] . "</p>";
echo "<p class='onderwerp'>" . $row['naam_activiteit'] . "</p>";
echo "<p class='details'>" . $row['beschrijving'] . "</p>";
echo "</div>";
echo "<a href='#'' class='pijlklein'>MEER INFO</a>";
echo "</div>";
}
mysqli_close($con);
The problem with your original code is mixing for with while ends up in the scenario you showed as explained in the PHP manual entry for while:
The meaning of a while statement is simple. It tells PHP to execute
the nested statement(s) repeatedly, as long as the while expression
evaluates to TRUE.
So you have a while iterating over the results, but then you also have for loop nested in there. 100% unnecessary.
The way I adjusted it is to just removed that for loop, but also add LIMIT 0,4 to the MySQL query. That basically tells MySQL to fetch 4 rows beginning from the first row which is referred to as 0.