Set database column alias before exporting csv - php

Question

Hey guys I am trying to export a csv in my script and it works perfectly. Now what I need to do, is rename the columns to clean names and proper names before fully exporting the csv.
Here is a picture of the database table: http://i.imgur.com/aQrOZLk.png
Here is the code:
include_once "config.php";
$table = 'patients'; // table you want to export
$file = 'export'; // csv name.
$result = mysql_query("SHOW COLUMNS FROM " . $table . "");
$i = 0;
if (mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) {
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
$csv_output .= $row['Field'] . ",";
$i++;
}
}
$csv_output .= "\n";
$values = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM " . $table . "");
while ($rowr = mysql_fetch_row($values)) {
for ($j = 0; $j < $i; $j++) {
$csv_output .= $rowr[$j] . ", ";
}
$csv_output .= "\n";
}
$filename = $file . "_" . date("d-m-Y_H-i", time());
header("Content-type: application/vnd.ms-excel");
header("Content-disposition: csv" . date("Y-m-d") . ".csv");
header("Content-disposition: filename=" . $filename . ".csv");
print $csv_output;
exit;
?>
As you can see it fetches the table names from this code:
$result = mysql_query("SHOW COLUMNS FROM " . $table . "");
$i = 0;
if (mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) {
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
$csv_output .= $row['Field'] . ",";
$i++;
}
}
Now what I am trying to do is allow it to rename the database tables from
pat_id to Patient ID
pat_fname to Patient First Name
pat_lname to Patient Last name
and so on. To make it looks neat and readable in the csv file.
How am I able to do that? I already tried a few codes like:
$query = 'SHOW COLUMNS pat_id AS "user_id", pat_fname AS "first name", pat_lname AS "last name" FROM ' . $table;
But it didnt work and gives off errors.

Answer 1

You want to use friendly column names in your select, not your show columns.
Try something like this instead of SELECT * :
$query = "SELECT pat_id AS 'user_id', pat_fname AS 'first name', pat_lname AS 'last name' FROM table";
Notice that MySQL expects your column names to be shown in single quotes, not double quotes.
To handle this stuff as column headers in csv ... try this.
$values = mysql_query($query);
$i = mysql_num_fields($values);
for ($j = 0; $j < $i; $j++) {
$csv_output .= mysql_field_name($j) . ", ";
}
$csv_output .= "\n";
while ($rowr = mysql_fetch_row($values)) {
for ($j = 0; $j < $i; $j++) {
$csv_output .= $rowr[$j] . ", ";
}
$csv_output .= "\n";
}

Answer 2

Since you are going to deal with many tables, create a multidimensional array and predefine the field names in it.
Like this,
$tables['table1'][1]="";
$tables['table1'][2]="";
$tables['table2'][1]="";
Then replace this block,
if (mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) {
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
$csv_output .= $row['Field'] . ",";
$i++;
}
}
with a block to fetch the field names of the table from your array.
This is the only way to do it.