accessing DB array key/value outside switch - php

Question

I have a mysql table with questions IDs (q_ID) and answers (a_answer). I want to use this data to populate some html later in the doc. Some of the data is separated by '|' and I want to use switch to filter. I am having trouble accessing the data by key. It works within while loop, but I need it outside.
$getData="SELECT a_answer, q_ID FROM answers ";
$result = mysqli_query($connected, $getData);
while($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result))
{
$arAnswer = explode('|', $row['a_answer']);
//catagorize by number of values
$arrayCount = count($arAnswer);
switch ($arrayCount)
{
case 1: //short data, no separators
//make array for ID and answer
$q = $row['q_ID'];
$a = $arAnswer[0];
$x = array($q=>$a);
break;
}; //END switch
}; //END while
Later in the doc, echo does not return value/$a for $q:
echo $x[1]
Thanks,

Answer 1

It looks like the problem is that you are re-setting $x every time through the loop. The following would likely be a better solution:
$getData="SELECT a_answer, q_ID FROM answers ";
$result = mysqli_query($connected, $getData);
$x = array(); // Added this.
while($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result))
{
$arAnswer = explode('|', $row['a_answer']);
$arrayCount = count($arAnswer);
switch ($arrayCount)
{
case 1:
$q = $row['q_ID'];
$a = $arAnswer[0];
$x[] = array($q=>$a); // Add [] after $x to push array($q=>$a)
// onto the end of the $x array.
// You can also use array_push, but
// the technique here is quicker.
break;
};
};
Edit: To create a one-dimensional array, do the following:
$x[$q] = $a;
You need to do that in the while loop and still declare the $x array before the while loop.