Give back more than one mysql result in an php class - php

Question

I'm trying to build my own CMS in classes.
Now I have got a problem when I try to get data from my MySQL database
Instead of one item i'd like to get an collection of all my items
At the end I'd like to get an Object so I can read it out like : $item->id
Here's my code :
static function getContentItems($id, $active, $sort_by, $sort_type, $limit) {
if (isset($id) && !empty($id)) {
$where .= "WHERE id = ".$id;
}
if (isset($active) && !empty($active)) {
$where .= " AND active = ".$active;
}
if (isset($sort_by) && !empty($sort_by)) {
$where .= " ORDER BY ".$sort_by;
if (isset($sort_type) && !empty($sort_type)) {
$where .= " ".$sort_type;
}
}
if (isset($limit) && !empty($limit)) {
$where .= " LIMIT 0,".$limit;
}
if (isset($where) && !empty($where)) {
$query = "SELECT * FROM content ".$where;
} else {
$query = "SELECT * FROM content";
}
$result = mysql_query($query)or die(mysql_error());
$item = new ContentItem();
while ($data = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
$item->id = $data['id'];
}
return $item;
}
}

Answer 1

dont start your $where string with .
if (isset($id) && !empty($id)) {
$where = "WHERE id = ".$id;
}
and alwez print your $query
Better Solution
if (!empty($id) {
$where = " WHERE id = ".$id;
if (!empty($active)) {
$where .= " AND active = ".$active;
if (!empty($sort_by)) {
$where .= " ORDER BY ".$sort_by;
if (!empty($sort_type)) {
$where .= " ".$sort_type;
}
}
}
}
if (empty($limit)) {
$where .= " LIMIT 0,".$limit;
}
and later
$item = new ContentItem();
$data = array(); $i=0;
while ($data = mysql_fetch_object($result)) {
$search_result[$i] = $data;
$i++;
}
return $search_result;
and any id can be retrieve by $search_result[$i]->id

Answer 2

Why don't you use Arrays?
Like this:
$collection = array();
while ($data = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
$item = new ContentItem();
$item->id = $data['id'];
$collection[] = $item; //Appends the item to the array
}
return $collection;
You can access your array in this way:
$collection = YourClassName::getContentItems(...);
foreach($collection as $item) {
// do something with each $item
print_r($item);
}

Answer 3

Look into using mysql_fetch_object http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-fetch-object.php instead of mysql_fetch_array.. it returns rows the db as an object already