Generate html table with variable rows and cells - php

Question

I am trying to generate a table that takes data from a mysql database. There are 8 columns but the number of rows is variable depending on the amount of info from the database. The problem I'm running into is that I have two things that are variable and I don't know how to use two while loops (or if that's the right choice).
The code below can generate a table with 8 columns and a variable amount of rows but I don't know how to replace thing with sequential integers. I would like each cell to have just one integer in it sequentially like a while loop until the numbers = $end.
CODE:
<?php
$end=82; //will get all this data from a dabase
$rows=ceil($end/8);
$x=0;
$start=0;
?>
<table>
<?php
While ($x<=$rows){
echo"
<tr>
<td>
thing
</td>
<td>
thing
</td>
<td>
thing
</td>
<td>
thing
</td>
<td>
thing
</td>
<td>
thing
</td>
<td>
thing
</td>
<td>
thing
</td>
</tr>
";
$x++;
}
?>
</table>

Answer 1

This will output eight numbers per row starting at 1 and going to $end. I am unsure of what $maxprobs is here.
<?php
$end=82; //will get all this data from a dabase
$rows=ceil($end/8);
$x=0;
$start=0;
?>
<table>
<?php
while($x<=$rows) {
echo "<tr>";
for ($y = 0; $y < 8; $y++, $start++) {
if ($start <= $end) echo "<td>$start</td>";
}
echo "</tr>";
$x++;
}
?>
</table>

Answer 2

I have to ask - if you're pulling rows from a MySQL database, and you want your table to have a dynamic number of rows depending on the data, is there any specific reason you're not doing it the regular way, with a while loop and a mysql_fetch function?
$data = mysql_query("SELECT row1, row2, ... , row8 FROM table WHERE ...); // Sample query, edited for brevity.
echo "<table>";
while ($result = mysql_fetch_object($data))
(
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>".$data->row1."</td>;
echo "<td>".$data->row2."</td>;
... // Edited for brevity. Include as many columns as you queried.
echo "<td>".$data->row8."</td>;
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "<table>";
Unless you have a really specific reason not to do it this way, I'd use this method. It's flexible and it will print as many rows as your query returns (meaning that you only need to change your query, not your code).
Additional information on mysql_fetch_object and mysql_query can be found here and here, respectively.

Answer 3

Take a look at the php website, nearly all their entries have examples, the database stuff shows a while loop, this is the best way to do it..
write the table opening tag, plus any headers..
while able to get more database data, get it, and do
display the table row open tag
display the row, by looping through the fields, and outputting them between cell tags
dispaly the end of row tag
now you've finished with your data, write the end of the table
There are a lot of examples about.
for the looping through the field, thats why they invented a "foreach" , eg wether you have 0, or 10000, you can go through each one, even if its not consecutive, so for each "fruit" in apple, pear, bannana..