Sorting Array not working correctly - php

Question

The sorting of array in alphabetical order is not outputting correctly.
It outputted as:
Demo
qwerty
Demo3
Test1
Test2
New1
Instead of:
Demo
Demo3
New1
qwerty
Test1
Test2
Code:
<?php
$dbresults= array ( "0" => array ( "id" => "1",
"cb_boutiquename1" => "Test1",
"cb_boutiquename2" => "Test2",
"cb_boutiquename3" => "New1"
),
"1" => array ( "id" => "2",
"cb_boutiquename1" => "Demo",
"cb_boutiquename2" => "qwerty",
"cb_boutiquename3" => "Demo3"
)
);
function sortarray($a, $b) {
return strcmp($a["cb_boutiquename$i"], $b["cb_boutiquename$i"]);
}
usort($dbresults, "sortarray");
while (list($key, $value) = each($dbresults)) {
$results[] = $value ;
}
foreach($results as $result) {
$i = 1;
while (array_key_exists("cb_boutiquename$i", $result)) {
if ($result["cb_boutiquename$i"] !='') {
echo '<a href=' . cbSef( 'index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=page&user=' . (int) $result['id'] . '&b=' . $i . getCBprofileItemid( false )) . '>' . $result["cb_boutiquename$i"] . '</a><br />';
}
++$i;
}
}
?>

Answer 1

Your problem is that in here:
function sortarray($a, $b) {
return strcmp($a["cb_boutiquename$i"], $b["cb_boutiquename$i"]);
}
$i is undefined so you are basically comparing one undefined array offset with another.
If you want to specify which of the cb_boutiquename fields to specify at runtime then what you probably want to do is include the $i in the function, on php this can be done with a function that returns a closure (PHP 5.3+).
function getSorter($idx){
return function($a, $b) use ($idx) {
return strcmp($a["cb_boutiquename$idx"], $b["cb_boutiquename$idx"]);
};
}
This returns a function that closes over the supplied argument and is appropriate for use as a comparison function for usort. So for your sort call you would use:
usort($dbresults, getSorter(1));
Or for a more general solution that does not assume the cb_boutiquename prefix on the properties you can change this to
function getSorter($idx){
return function($a, $b) use ($idx) {
return strcmp($a[$idx], $b[$idx]);
};
}
usort($dbresults, getSorter("cb_boutiquename1"));
This will allow you to sort any array of arrays by an one of the indexes.
UPDATE
I completely misunderstood the goal of this exercise. What you want to do is to flatten your array prior to doing any sorting.
$dbresults= array ( "0" => array ( "id" => "1",
"cb_boutiquename1" => "Test1",
"cb_boutiquename2" => "Test2",
"cb_boutiquename3" => "New1"
),
"1" => array ( "id" => "2",
"cb_boutiquename1" => "Demo",
"cb_boutiquename2" => "qwerty",
"cb_boutiquename3" => "Demo3"
)
);
// flatten out the array
$results = array();
foreach($dbresults as $k=>$v){
foreach ($v as $key=>$value) {
if (substr($key, 0,15) == "cb_boutiquename"){
$results[] = array("id"=>$v["id"], "cb_boutiquename"=>$value, "i"=>substr($key, 15));
}
}
}
usort($results, function($a, $b){ return strcasecmp($a["cb_boutiquename"], $b["cb_boutiquename"]); });
foreach($results as $result){
echo '<a href=' . cbSef( 'index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=page&user=' . (int) $result['id'] . '&b=' . $result["i"] . getCBprofileItemid( false )). '>' . $result["cb_boutiquename"] . '</a><br />'."\n";
}

Answer 2

Instead of your sortarray function, use simply this:
asort($dbresults);
No need to reinvent the wheel. Read about it here