PHP/CSS can't get element to sit over a table? - php

Question

I have a div relatedListings that contains a table of customer's orders.
I want to add a heading above it, I have tried h3, div, and span but it always puts the element below the table.
The code that generates the table:
echo '<div id="relatedListings">
<h3 id="relatedListingsHeader">Customer\'s Listings</h3>' .
$account->listAds() .
'</div>';
The actual source from the browser after executed:
<table id='customerAds'>
<!-- Generated table data -->
</table><div id="relatedListings">
<h3 id="relatedListingsHeader">Customer's Listings</h3></div>
Notice in the second snippet, the div is AFTER the table. Any ideas?
EDIT: here is the listAds method:
echo "<table id='customerAds'>
<tr><th>Ad</th><th>Title</th><th>Description</th><th>Ad Date</th><th>Actions</th></tr>";
while ($ad = $ads->fetch()) {
echo "<tr id='row_{$ad['idAds']}'>
<td>{$ad['idAds']}</td>
<td>{$ad['Title']}</td>
<td>" . substr(strip_tags($ad['Description']), 0, 100) . "...</td>
<td>" . format::dateConvert($ad['DatePosted'], 12) . "</td>
<td><a href='#'>Delete</a></td>
</tr>";
}
echo "</table>";

Answer 1

I would venture to guess that $account->listAds() is echo-ing as well and not returning instead. If you can change that function to return instead you should be better off.
Update:
Now having seen your updated code - I'd suggestion having that function return a string - instead of using echo like you are
$tableCode = "<table id='customerAds'>
<tr><th>Ad</th><th>Title</th><th>Description</th><th>Ad Date</th><th>Actions</th></tr>";
while ($ad = $ads->fetch()) {
$tableCode .= "<tr id='row_{$ad['idAds']}'>
<td>{$ad['idAds']}</td>
<td>{$ad['Title']}</td>
<td>" . substr(strip_tags($ad['Description']), 0, 100) . "...</td>
<td>" . format::dateConvert($ad['DatePosted'], 12) . "</td>
<td><a href='#'>Delete</a></td>
</tr>";
}
$tableCode .= "</table>";
return $tableCode;

Answer 2

Your generated table data may be malformed, causing the browser to try and fudge the markup into what it thinks you meant. Since you didn't include that markup, I couldn't tell for sure. It would also be helpful to see the code from $account->listAds().