Creating an array of IDs from a while loop - php

Question

Im trying to generate an array but not sure how to go about it.
I'm currently getting my data like so:
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE userEmail LIKE 'test#test.com'");
$row = mysql_fetch_array($query);
$query1 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM categories");
while($row1 = mysql_fetch_array($query1)){
$query2 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM usersettings WHERE userId = ".$row['userId']." AND usersettingCategory".$row1['categoryId']." LIKE 'y'");
$isyes = mysql_num_rows($query2);
if($isyes > 0){
$cat1 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM shops WHERE shopstateId = 1 AND (categoryId1 = ".$row1['categoryId']." OR categoryId2 = ".$row1['categoryId']." OR categoryId3 = ".$row1['categoryId'].")");
$cat1match = mysql_num_rows($cat1);
if($cat1match > 0){
while($cat1shop = mysql_fetch_array($cat1)){
$cat1msg = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM messages WHERE shopId = ".$cat1shop['shopId']." and messagestateId = 1");
while($cat1msgrow = mysql_fetch_array($cat1msg)){
echo $cat1msgrow['messageContent']." - ".$cat1msgrow['messageCode'];
$cat1img = mysql_query("SELECT shopimagePath FROM shopimages WHERE shopimageId = ".$cat1shop['shopimageId']);
$imgpath = mysql_fetch_array($cat1img);
echo " - ".$imgpath['shopimagePath']."<br/>";
}
}
}
}
}
But this can cause duplicates when a user has all 3 of a shops categories picked in their preferences. I am trying to find a way to just pull the message ID out instead of the whole thing and put it into an array giving me, for example:
1,3,5,7,1,3,5,2,4,7,8
Then I can just run a separate query to say get me all messages where the ID is in the array, but i am unsure of the most constructive way to build such an array and examples of array from a while loop I have seen do not seem to be what I am looking for.
Is there anyone out there that can push me in the right direction?

Answer 1

Can't help with this code. But if you want an array from a query without duplicate result, you can use " select DISTINCT (id) " in your query or for more simple solution :
$id_arr = array();
$sql = mysql_query("select id from id_table");
while ($id_result = mysql_fetch_array($sql) {
$id = $id_result['id'];
if (!in_array($id, $id_arr)) {
$id_arr[] = $id;
}
}

Answer 2

I have found a much easier way to create the required result. I think at 6am after a hard night coding my brain was fried and I was making things a lot more complicated than I needed to. A simple solution to my issue is as follows:
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE userEmail LIKE 'test2#test2.com'");
$row = mysql_fetch_array($query);
$categories = "(";
$query1 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM categories");
while($row1 = mysql_fetch_array($query1)){
$query2 = mysql_query("SELECT usersettingCategory".$row1['categoryId']." FROM usersettings WHERE userId = ".$row['userId']);
$row2 = mysql_fetch_array($query2);
if($row2['usersettingCategory'.$row1['categoryId']] == y){
$categories .= $row1['categoryId'].",";
}
}
$categories = substr_replace($categories ,")",-1);
echo $categories."<br />";
$query3 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM shops,messages WHERE shops.shopId = messages.shopId AND messages.messagestateId = 1 AND (shops.categoryId1 IN $categories OR shops.categoryId2 IN $categories OR shops.categoryId3 IN $categories)");
while($row3 = mysql_fetch_array($query3)){
$query4 = mysql_query("SELECT shopimagePath FROM shopimages WHERE shopimageId = ".$row3['shopimageId']);
$row4 = mysql_fetch_array($query4);
echo $row3['messageContent']." - ".$row3['messageCode']." - ".$row4['shopimagePath']."<br />";
}