Styling code within php - php

Question

I'm having trouble styling the information that I'm pulling from the database. If anyone can help I'd really appreciate it. I tried defining $style within the while loop, and then assigning it the $questions, but nothing happens on the webpage. I'm new with coding in general, and while I have some knowledge of css, I don't know how you use it within php script.
style for the background I was trying to put behind each question*
#frm1
{
background: #D9D9D9;
margin:auto;
top:150px; left:200px; width:880px; height:60px;
position:absolute;
font-family: "Comic Sans MS", cursive, sans-serif;
font-size: 9px;
font-style: italic;
line-height: 24px;
font-weight: bold;
text-decoration: none;
-webkit-border-radius: 10px;
-moz-border-radius: 10px;
border-radius: 10px;
padding:10px;
border: 1px solid #999;
border: inset 1px solid #333;
-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5);
-moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5);
box-shadow: 0px 0px 40px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7);
}
PHP code retrieving info from database*
if (mysql_num_rows($result) >= 0)
{
$toggle = false;
while ($rows = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC) and $i<10 )
{
$i++;
$toggle = !$toggle;
if($toggle)
$style = "id:frm1;";
else
$style = "background: white;";
questions .= "<a style='$style'> </a>";
questions .= "Titlee: " ."<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['title'] . "</a> <br> ";
questions .= "Details: " . "<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['detail'] . "</a> <br> ";
questions .= "Category: " . "<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['categories'] . "</a> <br> <br> <br> ";
}
echo questions;
}

Answer 1

while I have some knowledge of css, I don't know how you use it within
php script.
Okay.
Your PHP script is a PHP script on the server, and results in a regular HTML page for the user. [See the bottom of the answer, I'll try to give you a quick overview]
You can use CSS exactly as you would with a plain HTML page, and it will work just fine despite being backed by PHP.
This means do not use style="$style". Style attributes are Bad.
As it looks like you want to construct your CSS conditionally, my suggestion is either:
Change a class using PHP, and have an external stylesheet which acts on that class
Put the styles you're conditionally changing inside <style> tags in your header, and change those with PHP.
This answer will use the first option
(Edited to take into account new information)
In your PHP code, before your links:
if($toggle) {
$questions.='<div id="frm1">';
}
else {
$questions.='<div id="frm2">';
}
In your PHP code, after your links:
$questions .= "</div>";
And finally, in either your external stylesheet, or your in-head <style> tags:
#frm1 {
...
}
#frm2 {
...
}
Quick overview of server-side languages
So, web programming. This is generally done in two ways. client side (read: javascript) and server side (in your case, read: php, but there's a lot more to this).
With a client side language like javascript, the code actually gets sent to the web browser. The web browser then modifies the contents of the page according to what the script says for it to do. This means your users can see the code, even turn it off in their web browser or execute other javascript in its place.
With a server side language, there's a different workflow.
The user asks for your webpage (identified by its URL)
The web server (read: your webhosting) receives this request, and looks up what the webpage is
Finding that the webpage is a php page, the server executes the php code
The php code gives the server an html page (which you have built, as you can see, your php script outputs HTML)
The server sends the resulting html code to the user
Note that the web browser, which is the component doing all of the processing of HTML and CSS, never sees the php. By the time your php script reaches your users, it's just an html page.
Because the web browser only sees an HTML page, there is no functional difference between using CSS on your php script, and using CSS on a regular HTML page.

Answer 2

This will work:
if (mysql_num_rows($result) >= 0) {
$toggle = false;
while ($rows = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC) and $i<10 ) {
$i++;
$toggle = !$toggle;
if($toggle)
$style = "background: #D9D9D9;"; else
$style = "background: green;";
questions .= "<a href='#' style='display:block;$style'> </a>";
questions .= "Titlee: " ."<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['title'] . "</a> <br> ";
questions .= "Details: " . "<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['detail'] . "</a> <br> ";
questions .= "Category: " . "<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['categories'] . "</a> <br> <br> <br> ";
}
echo questions;
}
The problem was your a-tag doesn't have a href attribute and since it's displayed inline (default-behaviour) the background CSS property won't work.

Answer 3

Instead of style, build classes and define them in css.
if ($toggle)
$questionClass="redBackground";
else
$questionClass="greenBackground";
$questions.="<a class='$questionClass'>";
Also, definitely look into mysqli or pdo. mysql_ functions are deprecated and not nearly as cool!

Answer 4

You can do -
if (mysql_num_rows($result) >= 0)
{
$toggle = false;
while ($rows = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC) and $i<10 )
{
$i++;
$toggle = !$toggle;
if($toggle)
$style = "bg";
else
$style = "bg_green";
echo("<a class='".$style."'> </a>");
echo("Titlee: " ."<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['title'] . "</a> <br> ");
echo("Details: " . "<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['detail'] . "</a> <br> ");
echo("Category: " . "<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['categories'] . "</a> <br> <br> <br> ");
}
In this file add -
<style type="text/css">
.bg {
background: #D9D9D9;
}
.bg_green {
background: green;
}
</style>

Answer 5

As ben said use class.
first create a class
<style>
.gray{background: #D9D9D9;}
.green{background: green;}
</style>
Then try this
if (mysql_num_rows($result) >= 0)
{
$toggle = false;
while ($rows = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC) and $i<10 )
{
$i++;
$toggle = !$toggle;
$style = ($toggle)?"green":"gray";
$questions .= "<a class='".$style."'> Put some thing here </a>";
$questions .= "Titlee: " ."<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['title'] . "</a> <br> ";
$questions .= "Details: " . "<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['detail'] . "</a> <br> ";
$questions .= "Category: " . "<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['categories'] . "</a> <br> <br> <br> ";
}
echo $questions;
}
Please try it, I have not tested but it should work, according to your need.

Answer 6

You can alternate on your counter $i with $i % 2 to switch between two CSS classes. This will give you 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, ... and so select the first and second CSS class name in turn.
PHP:
$css_class = array('frm1', 'second');
while ($rows = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC) and $i<10 )
{
$i++;
questions .= "<a class='$css_classes[$i % 2]'> </a>";
questions .= "Titlee: " ."<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['title'] . "</a> <br> ";
questions .= "Details: " . "<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['detail'] . "</a> <br> ";
questions .= "Category: " . "<a href='show_question2.php?question_id=" . $rows["question_id"] . "'>". $rows['categories'] . "</a> <br> <br> <br> ";
}
and in your CSS file you define the two classes
.frm1 {
background: #D9D9D9;
margin:auto;
top:150px; left:200px; width:880px; height:60px;
position:absolute;
...
}
.second {
background: white;
}