Creating multidimensional array containing database output - php

Question

Im creating a website, where I make a foreach, that echos out some groups, containing checkboxes, with values and names. At the moment that data comes from a multidimensional array, but writing that array when adding new items, is slow, and not very user-friendly.
At the moment, my foreach looks like this:
echo '<form method="post" action="'.$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'].'">';
/* NEXT WE CREATE OUR FOREACH LOOPS TO ECHO THE HTML FOR LOOKS AND CHECKBOXES */
$totalID=0; // this is a counter we use to build our check box names
foreach ($items as $list){
$totalID++; // add one to the checkbox name counter
echo "<h2>{$list['title']}</h2>\n"; // and echo out our section header
foreach ($list['items'] as $cbox){ // now for each item in the list, call it $cbox
// $cbox now holds the item name, and point value
echo "<label class='checkbox'><input type='checkbox' name='totals[$totalID][]' value='{$cbox[1]}'> {$cbox[0]}</label>\n";
}
}
echo "</form>";
And my array I write is something like this:
$items['computers']['title']='Computer Brand';
$items['computers']['items'][]=array('Apple iMac',1);
$items['computers']['items'][]=array('Apple Macbook',.5);
$items['phones']['title']='Phone Brand';
$items['phones']['items'][]=array('iPhone',1);
$items['phones']['items'][]=array('HTC',1);
As said, I can write this, but takes time.
I want to get it into a database, that data above, but I'm having problems about echo'ing it out, I really can't see how I should do.
My current database looks like this:
http://i.stack.imgur.com/Rj0wQ.png
Anyone that have some tips how to do this easy, and also do it user friendly?
Thank you!

Answer 1

$sql = "SELECT category, title, brand, point FROM yourtable ORDER BY category, title";
$result = mysql_query($sql);
$data = array();
while(list($category, $title, $brand, $point) = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
if (!isset($data[$category])) {
$data[$category] = array();
}
if (!isset($data[$category]['title'] && (!empty($title)) {
$data[$category]['title'] = $title;
}
if (!isset($data[$category]['items'])) {
$data[$category]['items'] = array();
}
$data[$category]['itemps'][] = array($brand, $point);
}
Your table is just screaming for some normalization, however. It's a horrendous construct.

Answer 2

Well if you dont' want to parse your result into a multi-dimensionnal array like you did before which would be the easiest task but you have to double de CPU work, there is one way i use often in this case:
No1: Make sure your result is sorted by "Category" and then sorted by whatever criteria you want to order your answers as.
No2: Initialize the "$current_category" to NULL
No3: Loop and detect new $categories and output the header as you go. Your script will look like this:
$currentcategory = NULL;
$result = mysql_query($query);
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)){
//Check for a category change
if($currentcategory != $row['category']){
echo '<h2>'.$row['title'].'</h2>'.PHP_EOL;
$currentcategory = $row['category'];
}
//Output the label
echo '<label class="checkbox"><input type="checkbox" name="totals'.$row['id'].' value="'.$row['point']'."> '.$row['brand'].'</label>'.PHP_EOL;
}