Querying database and putting two columns of each row into an array? - php

Question

I have a sql database with table "profile_values" (yes, it's a Drupal db), and I would like to pull the user's name, title and company id with one query. (I have done this in the past with three queries, but I'd like to do it in one.)
| fid | uid | value
| 4 | 100 | john
| 8 | 100 | doe
| 9 | 100 | web developer
| 22 | 100 | D3239GE77
I used different field id's (fid) to show that there can be field id's between the rows that I want to pull, but the field id will not change, so 4 will always be first name, 8 would be last name, 9 would be title, and 22 would be company id.
MY FIRST ATTEMPT:
$result = mysql_query("SELECT value FROM profile_values WHERE uid = '$uid' ORDER BY fid ASC");
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
$userinfo[] = $row['value'];
$firstname = $userinfo[0];
$lastname = $userinfo[1];
$title = $userinfo[10];
$companyid = $userinfo[12];
}
But this method won't work, because, depending on the optional fields that users will have filled out, there may be more or less fields between.
I need a way to say, "In this array, if fid = 4, $firstname = value

Answer 1

$result = mysql_query("SELECT fid, uid, value FROM profile_values WHERE uid = '$uid' ORDER BY fid ASC");
$user = array();
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
switch ($row['fid']) {
case 4:
$key = 'firstname';
break;
case 8:
$key = 'lastname';
break;
case 9:
$key = 'title';
break;
case 22:
$key = 'company_id';
break;
default:
continue 2; // 2 required when using switch inside loop
}
$user[$key] = $row['value'];
}

Answer 2

I would try the following:
$result = mysql_query("SELECT fid, value FROM profile_values WHERE uid = '$uid' ORDER BY fid ASC");
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
switch ((int)$row['fid']) {
case 4:
$firstname = $row['value'];
break;
case 8:
$lastname = $row['value'];
break;
case 9:
$title = $row['value'];
break;
case 22:
$companyid = $row['value'];
break;
}
}
Then, I would be using isset() to check whether the variables exists, e.g. isset($lastname)
Hope this helps

Answer 3

Here is an approach that do not require a switch statements or ifs. It's based on an array where you previously map the table's fids to the keys on your destination array:
$fieldMap = array(
4 => 'firstname',
8 => 'lastname',
9 => 'title',
22 => 'companyid'
);
$userinfo = array();
$result = mysql_query("
SELECT fid, value
FROM profile_values
WHERE uid = $uid
ORDER BY fid ASC
");
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
$fieldKey = $fieldMap[$row['fid']];
$userinfo[$fieldKey] = $row['value'];
}
Below is my original suggestion, where we pivot the results to get a "regular" table format, instead of a property table format:
SELECT
p1.value AS first_name,
p2.value AS last_name,
p3.value AS title,
p4.value AS company_id
FROM profile_values p1
LEFT OUTER JOIN profile_values p2
ON p2.uid = p1.uid
AND p2.fid = 8
LEFT OUTER JOIN profile_values p3
ON p3.uid = p1.uid
AND p3.fid = 9
LEFT OUTER JOIN profile_values p4
ON p4.uid = p1.uid
AND p4.fid = 22
WHERE p1.uid = $uid AND p1.fid = 4
This is more expensive for SQL then the way you're currently doing it, but it will allow you to fetch data from multiple users more easily (just change p1.uid = $uid to, e.g., p1.uid IN (2, 6, 29).