PHP MYSQL multidimensional array - php

Question

I'm having major headaches trying to create a multidimensional array from two separate MySQL selects.... I've been searching here and Google all day and have to finally admit defeat and ask for some help (I'm a newbie as well which doesn't help!!!).
I have two tables, one which contains a single row result per id and another which can contain several rows for an id. What I'm trying to do is combine the two into a multidimensional array.
My code (poor as it may be) looks like this:
require 'php/phpConnection.php';
$sqlString1 = mysql_query("SELECT id FROM supportstaff_section1_a");
$firstArray = array();
$secondArray = array();
while ($r = mysql_fetch_assoc($sqlString1)) {
$applicantID = $r['id'];
$sqlString2 = mysql_query("SELECT educationalname FROM supportstaff_section5 WHERE id = '$applicantID'");
while ($x = mysql_fetch_assoc($sqlString2)) {
$secondArray[] = $x;
}
$firstArray[] = $r + $secondArray;
$secondArray = array();
}
print json_encode($firstArray);
mysql_close($con);
The result is this:
[{"id":"8m8wwy","0":{"educationalname":"GCSE - English"},"1":{"educationalname":"GCSE - Maths"}},{"id":"wiL7Bn"},{"id":"zAw6M1"}]
But I think it needs to look something like this:
[{"id":"8m8wwy","Array2":"[{"educationalname":"GCSE - English"},{"educationalname":"GCSE - Maths"}]"},{"id":"wiL7Bn"},{"id":"zAw6M1"}]
Anyway, how can I insert my second SQL Select into my first SQL Select for each ID.
Thanks for any advice/help.
EDIT
Taken from W3Schools.com:
Array
(
[Griffin] => Array
(
[0] => Peter
[1] => Lois
[2] => Megan
)
[Quagmire] => Array
(
[0] => Glenn
)
[Brown] => Array
(
[0] => Cleveland
[1] => Loretta
[2] => Junior
)
)
I'm trying to make it work like the above.

Answer 1

You need to get a little creative here. Something like the following would work as a join AND with multi-dimensional data:
<?php
require 'php/phpConnection.php';
// ======================================================================
// Create a join query (way faster than several separate ones!)
$sqlquery =
"SELECT SSSA.id, SSS5.educationalname" .
" FROM supportstaff_section1_a SSSA" .
" LEFT OUTER JOIN supportstaff_section5 SSS5 ON SSS5.id = SSSA.ID";
// ======================================================================
// Run the query and get our results
$resultarray = array();
if ($resource = mysql_query($sqlquery)) {
while ($curarray = mysql_fetch_assoc($resource)) {
// Create an array, if it doesn't exist
if (!isset($resultarray[$curarray["id"]]))
$resultarray[$curarray["id"]] = array();
// Add to the array, if not null
$curstring = (string) $curarray["educationalname"];
if ($curstring != "")
$resultarray[$curarray["id"]][] = $curstring;
}
mysql_free_result($resource);
}
// ======================================================================
// Convert from a keyed array to a standard indexed array (0, 1, 2, etc.)
$finalarray = array();
foreach ($resultarray as $id => & $data) {
// Start with just ID
$newarray = array(
"id" => $id
);
// Get the data, if we have any
if (count($data))
$newarray["educationalnames"] = & $data;
// Add to our final array and clear the newarray
$finalarray[] = & $newarray;
unset($newarray);
}
// ======================================================================
// Get the JSON of our result
$jsonresult = json_encode($finalarray);
// ======================================================================
// Echo it to test
echo $jsonresult;
// ======================================================================
// Close the database
mysql_close($con);
?>
And the resulting $jsondata would look like this (but not so unravelled of course):
[
{
"id": "8m8wwy",
"educationalnames": ["GCSE - English", "GCSE - Maths"]
},
{
"id": "wiL7Bn"
},
{
"id": "zAw6M1"
}
]

Answer 2

If you have an ID from the first Array, you can check for keys / values with this ID in the second Array.
If you want to get the key you should use
array_key_exists($string)
And if you want to get the value you should use
in_array($string)
You can use a foreach loop to execute this functions!