Create multiple tables by cycling through a query - php

Question

Here is my current code:
$varVeh=$_POST['Veh_num'];
$sql_HiScores = "SELECT
c.course_name as course,
e.distance as distance, e.score as score,
e.time as time, e.user as User
FROM hc_entries e
LEFT JOIN hc_course c on e.course=c.course_num
WHERE e.vehicle=$varVeh
ORDER BY course, score DESC";
$result_HiScores = mysql_query($sql_HiScores);
$sql_vehName="SELECT Veh_name FROM hc_vehicle_type WHERE Veh_num=$varVeh ";
$result_vehName = mysql_query($sql_vehName);
$vehName=mysql_fetch_assoc($result_vehName);
echo "<table><tr><th>Best Scores for ".$vehName['Veh_name']."</th></tr></table>";
echo "<table border='1'>";
echo "<tr><th>Course</th><th>Score</th><th>Distance</th><th>Player</th><th>Time</th></tr>";
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result_HiScores))
{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>" .$row['course'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" .$row['score'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" .$row['distance'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" .$row['User'] . "</td>";
}
echo "</table>";
What I think I have to do is create a query that selects * from e.course that builds an array. Then cycle through the existing query with the array results. Finally, I would like to display individual tables for each course and limit it to the top 5 results for each course.
Can anyone confirm or deny my logic, and point me in a direction?

Answer 1

First of all, you shouldn't be using the mysql_ functions, they're deprecated. At the least, you should switch to mysqli_ (a pretty easy switch), or better, learn how to use PDO. It's a bit different and more involved to switch, but your code will be better and safer for it.
With that out of the way: your logic is pretty accurate. Limiting your results to the top 5 results for each course in one query isn't something that's easily done with SQL to my knowledge, so your plan is good: query a list of courses, then cycle through them with your existing query, running it once for each course, with a LIMIT 5 to get the top 5.
You might as well keep the table generation within this loop as well, since it's a table-per-course. You'd want to move the VehName query out of the loop, since you only need to run that once.
Also, some unsolicited PHP advice: any text outside of the tags will just be output directly, so take advantage of its built-in-templating and alternative syntax to make your table generation code nicer:
<?php
/* Gather your data here... */
?>
<table>
<tr><th>Best Scores for <?php echo $vehName['Veh_name'] ?></th></tr>
</table>
<table border='1'>
<tr>
<th>Course</th>
<th>Score</th>
<th>Distance</th>
<th>Player</th>
<th>Time</th>
</tr>
<?php while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result_HiScores)): ?>
<tr>
<td><?php echo $row['course'] ?></td>
<td><?php echo $row['score'] ?></td>";
<td><?php echo $row['distance'] ?></td>";
<td><?php echo $row['User'] ?></td>";
</tr>
<?php endwhile; ?>
</table>

Answer 2

put the entire table html inside the while loop and add 'LIMIT 5' to the end of your query