php grouped table sorting 1 off - php

Question

I am trying to achieve a sorted list with a section separator from a mysql table via php, but am having a bit of trouble. Instead of putting my soup in the soup header like I want, I am putting it in the following header(like I don't want)!
Here is the visual output:
2-Soup
3-Salad
2 Soup Demo: Tom KaKai
4-Entree
3 Salad Demo: Spinach Salad
4 Entree Demo: Pork Chop
4 Entree Demo: Spicy Topped Shrimp
here is my code:
$cat = null;
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
if( $row['catnum'] != $cat )
{
echo '<h1>' . $row['catnum'] . '-' . $row['ctgry'] . '</h1>';
$cat = $row['catnum'];
}
echo "<table><tr><td>" . $row['catnum'] . " </td><td>" . $row['ctgry'] . "</td><td> " . $row['Shrt_Desc'] . "</td></tr>";
}

Answer 1

You're not closing your <table> tag and are starting a new table for every DB row retrieved, so structurally your HTML page is a total mess.
You'd want something like this:
$first = true;
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
if ($row['catnum'] != $cat) {
if (!$first) {
echo '</table>'; // close the table if we're NOT the first row being output.
}
$first = false; // no longer the first table, so disable this check.
echo '<h1> etc...';
echo '<table>'; // start new table
$cat = $row['catnum'];
}
echo '<tr><td>' etc.... // output a table row
}
This code will only output the <table> and <h1> stuff when you change categories.