Returning Multiple Rows with MySqli and Arrays - php

Question

For the past two days or so I've been converting my functions to mysqli. I've run into a problem. I have a function that returns an array containing a row from the database. However, I want the array to contain multiple rows versus one. Also, how would I be able to echo out the individual posts. Here is my failed attempt that only displays one row in the array.
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "user", "password", "database");
function display_posts ($mysqli, $user_id) {
$fields = "`primary_id`, `poster_id`, `profile_user_id`, `post`";
$user_id = (int)$user_id;
$query = "SELECT DISTINCT $fields FROM `posts` WHERE `profile_user_id` = $user_id
LIMIT 4";
if ($result = $mysqli->query($query)) {
$row = $result->fetch_assoc();
return $row;
$result->free();
$stmt->close();
}}
Here I am trying to display the data.
$user_id = 1;
$posts = display_posts($mysqli, $user_id);
//Not sure what to do with $posts. A While loop perhaps to display each post?

Answer 1

You have to use a loop to get them all at once:
<?php
function resultToArray($result) {
$rows = array();
while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
$rows[] = $row;
}
return $rows;
}
// Usage
$query = 'SELECT DISTINCT $fields FROM `posts` WHERE `profile_user_id` = $user_id LIMIT 4';
$result = $mysqli->query($query);
$rows = resultToArray($result);
var_dump($rows); // Array of rows
$result->free();

Answer 2

Why not use directly like this:
$result = mysqli_fetch_all($mysqli->query($query), MYSQLI_ASSOC);

Answer 3

I'm late, but I believe this is what you wanted to achieve:
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "user", "password", "database");
$fields = "`primary_id`, `poster_id`, `profile_user_id`, `post`";
function display_posts () {
global $mysqli;
global $fields;
$query = "SELECT DISTINCT $fields FROM `posts` WHERE `profile_user_id` = $user_id LIMIT 4";
$posts = $mysqli -> query($query) or die('Error: '.$mysqli -> error);
if ($posts -> num_rows > 0) {
while ($row = $posts -> fetch_assoc()) {
$value = $row['/*The table column here (You can repeat this line with a different variable e.g. $value 2, $value 3 etc and matching them with the respective table column)*/'];
echo $value./*Concatenate the other variables ($value 1 etc) here*/'<br />';
}
}else {
echo 'No records found.';
}
}
//Call the function
display_posts ();