Retrieve distinct values from table - php

Question

I have to print customer name once and all the products for each customer.My code is below.
<div id="Allproducts">
<?php
$AllprodsRes = $conn -> query("select * from sepproducts");
if($AllprodsRes ->num_rows > 0){
$result = $AllprodsRes -> fetch_array();
?>
<label for="name"><?php echo $result['name'] . " " . $result['surname']; ?></label>
<?php } ?>
<?php do{ ?>
<p><?php echo $result['product_name'] . " " //$result['count']; ?></p>
<?php }while($result = $AllprodsRes -> fetch_array()); ?>
</div>
view sepproducts
CREATE
ALGORITHM = UNDEFINED
DEFINER = `root`#`localhost`
SQL SECURITY DEFINER
VIEW `sepproducts` AS
select
`customers`.`name` AS `name`,
`customers`.`surname` AS `surname`,
`custproducts`.`product_name` AS `product_name`,
count(0) AS `count`
from
(`custproducts`
join `customers` ON ((`custproducts`.`custid` = `customers`.`custid`)))
group by `custproducts`.`product_name`
Any help is welcome and appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

What you can use is something like the following (assuming you use MySQLi):
<?php
$con = new mysqli('localhost', 'username', 'password', 'db');
$query = $con->query('SELECT * FROM...');
$currentCustomer = null;
while ($result = $query->fetch_array()) {
$name = $result['name'] . ' ' . $result['surname'];
// Check to see if we're working with a new customer.
if ($currentCustomer != $name) {
echo $name . '<br />';
$currentCustomer = $name;
}
echo $result['product_name'] . '<br />';
echo $result['product_type'] . '<br />';
// ETC.
}
?>
Or if you only have one customer to worry about, use the following:
<?php
$con = new mysqli('localhost', 'username', 'password', 'db');
$query = $con->query('SELECT * FROM...');
if ($query->num_rows > 0) {
$result = $query->fetch_array();
echo $result['name'] . ' ' . $result['surname'] . '<br />';
do {
echo $result['product_name'] . '<br />';
echo $result['product_type'] . '<br />';
// ETC.
} while ($result = $query->fetch_array());
}
?>
In effect, it checks if records have been found and if so, writes one result to our array $result. We then output the customer's name OUTSIDE of the loop (so this only occurs once), then use a do...while() loop to continue through the rest of the result array.
I hope this helps!

Answer 2

Depending on the databse you use you could join multiple rows into a single column. Ultimately this is a display problem. I say keep doing what you are doing and in your view keep track of the current name in the loop and compare to the next name - if the name is the same ignore it, when the name differs set current_name to this new name and continue. This way each name only shows once.