MYSQL ordering columns in my query - php

Question

I have been working on trying to get a bunch of data to work in a table structure displayed neatly using PHP, and I must say I am having a difficult time. I have finally been able to call the columns so that in case I add a field it will always add it in my table, and I hope for this to be very easily managed. However, when I initially set up the table, I put it in a random order. Now when I come use the DESCRIBE table it gives them to me in exact order, and I cannot find a way to organize them better. It would not make sense to say have month/year at the end of the database for my form that I have.
<?php
require 'connect.php';
?>
<h3>Monthly Finances | Add New Month </h3>
<table border="1" bordercolor ="#000000">
<tr>
<?php
$columns = "DESCRIBE `month` ";
if($query_run_columns = mysql_query($columns)){
$columnNames = array();
while($column = mysql_fetch_assoc($query_run_columns)){
echo '<th>'.$column['Field'].'</th>';
}
}else{
echo'sql error';
}
?>
<?php
$gatherdata = "SELECT `month`, `year`,`rent`,`electric`,`cable`,`cellphone`,`renters` FROM `month` ";
if($query_run = mysql_query($gatherdata)){
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query_run)){
$rent = $row['rent'];
$electric = $row['electric'];
$cable = $row['cable'];
$cellphone = $row['cellphone'];
$renters = $row['renters'];
$month = $row['month'];
$year = $row['year'];
echo '<tr>';
echo '<td align="center">'.$month.'</td>';
echo '<td algin="center">'.$year.'</td>';
echo '<td align="center">'.$rent.'</td>';
echo '<td align="center">'.$electric.'</td>';
echo '<td align="center">'.$cable.'</td>';
echo '<td align="center">'.$cellphone.'</td>';
echo '<td align="center">'.$renters.'</td>';
echo '</tr>';
}
}else{
echo 'query error';
}
?>
<br>View by month
</table>
<form action="index.php" method="GET">
<select name="months" value="all">
<?php
$gathermonths = "SELECT `month`, `year` FROM `month";
if($query_month_selector = mysql_query($gathermonths)){
while($month_row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query_month_selector)){
$month = $month_row['month'];
$year = $month_row['year'];
echo '<option value="'.$month.' '.$year.'">' .$month.' '.$year.'</option>';
}
}
echo $_GET['months'];
?>
<input type="submit" value="View Selected Date"></input>
</select>
</form>
My code is very far from complete, or orderly but I have been slacking on this project and I will clean it up more when I have more time. But if you could please give me a hand on an efficient organizational method that would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Do your tables contain an index/id?
You can easily order them in ascending/descending by "ORDER BY"
ALTER TABLE `table_name` ORDER BY `id`
Note default ORDER BY is in ascending order. Put DESC at the end if you want descending.
If you want your mysql query to output results in a nice ordered fashion, you can also use ORDER BY in the query:
$gathermonths = "SELECT `month`, `year` FROM `month` ORDER BY `month` DESC";
There is also GROUP BY functions in case you wanted to group your results by month:
$gathermonths = "SELECT `month`, `year` FROM `month` GROUP BY `month`";

Answer 2

Instead of the DESCRIBE query, you could use mysql_fetch_field. Then columns will always be in the same order you have on your SELECT:
<?php
$gatherdata = "SELECT `month`, `year`,`rent`,`electric`,`cable`,`cellphone`,`renters` FROM `month` ";
if($query_run = mysql_query($gatherdata)){
// Loop the columns to build the table headers
echo '<table>';
echo '<tr>';
while ($i < mysql_num_fields($query_run)) {
$field = mysql_fetch_field($query_run, $i);
echo '<th>' . $field->name . '</th>';
$i++;
}
echo '</tr>';
// Your current data loop
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query_run)){
// (...)
}
echo '</table>'
}
?>

Answer 3

Since you're already specifying which columns you're fetching, simply output the column headers explicitly rather than querying the database.
Contrariwise, if you want to abstract the HTML table generation code so that it works with arbitrary SQL tables (thus separating data access from display), record the column names as you generate the column headers in an array, then iterate over this array when outputting rows. You can also do away with the $rent = $row['rent']; assignments, as they gain you nothing. Using PDO:
/* data access */
$finances = $db->query('SELECT `month`, `year`,`rent`,`electric`,`cable`,`cellphone`,`renters` FROM `month`');
$columns = array();
for ($i = 0; $i < $finances->columnCount(); ++$i) {
$meta = $finances->getColumnMeta($i);
$columns[$meta['name']] = ucwords($meta['name']);
}
/* data display. Note this is completely independent of the type used to store
the colum & row data. All that matters are that $columns and $finances are
Traversable
*/
?>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<?php foreach ($columns as $name => $label): ?>
<th><?php echo $label ?></th>
<?php endforeach ?>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<?php foreach ($finances as $monthly): ?>
<tr>
<?php foreach ($columns as $name => $label): ?>
<td><?php echo $monthly[$name]; ?></td>
<?php endforeach ?>
</tr>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</tbody>
</table>
Error handling and abstraction into modules left as an exercise.