How To Change Numbers Based On Results - php

Question

I have a follow up question on something I got help with here the other day (No Table Three Column Category Layout).
The script is as follows:
$res = mysql_query($query);
$system->check_mysql($res, $query, __LINE__, __FILE__);
$parent_node = mysql_fetch_assoc($res);
$id = (isset($parent_node['cat_id'])) ? $parent_node['cat_id'] : $id;
$catalist = '';
if ($parent_node['left_id'] != 1)
{
$children = $catscontrol->get_children_list($parent_node['left_id'], $parent_node['right_id']);
$childarray = array($id);
foreach ($children as $k => $v)
{
$childarray[] = $v['cat_id'];
}
$catalist = '(';
$catalist .= implode(',', $childarray);
$catalist .= ')';
$all_items = false;
}
$NOW = time();
/*
specified category number
look into table - and if we don't have such category - redirect to full list
*/
$query = "SELECT * FROM " . $DBPrefix . "categories WHERE cat_id = " . $id;
$result = mysql_query($query);
$system->check_mysql($result, $query, __LINE__, __FILE__);
$category = mysql_fetch_assoc($result);
if (mysql_num_rows($result) == 0)
{
// redirect to global categories list
header ('location: browse.php?id=0');
exit;
}
else
{
// Retrieve the translated category name
$par_id = $category['parent_id'];
$TPL_categories_string = '';
$crumbs = $catscontrol->get_bread_crumbs($category['left_id'], $category['right_id']);
for ($i = 0; $i < count($crumbs); $i++)
{
if ($crumbs[$i]['cat_id'] > 0)
{
if ($i > 0)
{
$TPL_categories_string .= ' > ';
}
$TPL_categories_string .= '' . $category_names[$crumbs[$i]['cat_id']] . '';
}
}
// get list of subcategories of this category
$subcat_count = 0;
$query = "SELECT * FROM " . $DBPrefix . "categories WHERE parent_id = " . $id . " ORDER BY cat_name";
$result = mysql_query($query);
$system->check_mysql($result, $query, __LINE__, __FILE__);
$need_to_continue = 1;
$cycle = 1;
$column = 1;
$TPL_main_value = '';
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
++$subcat_count;
if ($cycle == 1)
{
$TPL_main_value .= '<div class="col'.$column.'"><ul>' . "\n";
}
$sub_counter = $row['sub_counter'];
$cat_counter = $row['counter'];
if ($sub_counter != 0)
{
$count_string = ' (' . $sub_counter . ')';
}
else
{
if ($cat_counter != 0)
{
$count_string = ' (' . $cat_counter . ')';
}
else
{
$count_string = '';
}
}
if ($row['cat_colour'] != '')
{
$BG = 'bgcolor=' . $row['cat_colour'];
}
else
{
$BG = '';
}
// Retrieve the translated category name
$row['cat_name'] = $category_names[$row['cat_id']];
$catimage = (!empty($row['cat_image'])) ? '<img src="' . $row['cat_image'] . '" border=0>' : '';
$TPL_main_value .= "\t" . '<li>' . $catimage . '' . $row['cat_name'] . $count_string . '</li>' . "\n";
++$cycle;
if ($cycle == 7) // <---- here
{
$cycle = 1;
$TPL_main_value .= '</ul></div>' . "\n";
++$column;
}
}
if ($cycle >= 2 && $cycle <= 6) // <---- here minus 1
{
while ($cycle < 7) // <---- and here
{
$TPL_main_value .= ' <p> </p>' . "\n";
++$cycle;
}
$TPL_main_value .= '</ul></div>'.$number.'
' . "\n";
}
I was needing to divide the resulting links into three columns to fit my html layout.
We accomplished this by changing the numbers in the code marked with "// <---- here".
Because the amount of links returned could be different each time, I am trying to figure out how to change those numbers on the fly. I tried using
$number_a = mysql_num_rows($result);
$number_b = $number_a / 3;
$number_b = ceil($number_b);
$number_c = $number_b - 1;
and then replacing the numbers with $number_b or $number_c but that doesn't work. Any ideas?

Answer 1

As mentioned before, you can use the mod (%) function to do that.
Basically what it does is to get the remainder after division. So, if you say 11 % 3, you will get 2 since that is the remainder after division. You can then make use of this to check when a number is divisible by 3 (the remainder will be zero), and insert an end </div> in your code.
Here is a simplified example on how to use it to insert a newline after every 3 columns:
$cycle = 1;
$arr = range (1, 20);
$len = sizeof ($arr);
for ( ; $cycle <= $len; $cycle++)
{
echo "{$arr[$cycle - 1]} ";
if ($cycle % 3 == 0)
{
echo "\n";
}
}
echo "\n\n";