Unexpected output when comparing database column to variable - php

Question

I have code which retrieves information about players from a MySQL database. I want to apply a special case to the HTML output if their ranking changes. I want it to look like this: http://i27.tinypic.com/f406tz.png
But i cant get it to be like i want, instead it prints the rank on every row:
$old_rank = '';
while ($g = mysql_fetch_object($q)) {
if ($g->rankname != $old_rank) {
echo "<tr><td>$g->rankname</td>\n";
$old_rank = "<tr><td> </td>\n";
}
echo " <td>$g->name</td></tr>\n";
}
What I want:
<tr>
<td>One</td>
<td>Kraven the Hunter</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td>Kull the Conqueror</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td>Zazi The Beast</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Vice-leader</td>
<td>Igos du Ikana</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td>Saint Sinner</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td>Midvalley the Hornfreak</td>
</tr>.......................
What I get:
<tr><td>One</td>
<td>Tester</td></tr>
<tr><td>One</td>
<td>Kraven the Hunter</td></tr>
<tr><td>One</td>
<td>Kull the Conqueror</td></tr>
<tr><td>One</td>
<td>Zazi The Beast</td></tr>
<tr><td>Vice-Leader</td>
<td>Midvalley the Hornfreak</td></tr>
<tr><td>Vice-Leader</td>
<td>Saint Sinner
</td></tr>
<tr><td>Vice-Leader</td>
<td>Igos du Ikana</td></tr>

Answer 1

$old_rank is never equal to $g->rankname because the way you are setting $old_rank, it will contain HTML tags, and the $g->rankname that you get from the DB will never have HTML tags.
Try changing your if statement to something like this:
if ($g->rankname != $old_rank) {
echo "<tr><td>$g->rankname</td>\n";
$old_rank = $g->rankname;
} else {
echo "<tr><td> </td>\n";
}
It prints the rank name if it's a new rank name, else it prints empty space.

Answer 2

The following (notwithstanding typos) separates out the display logic from the database loop. This has the advantages:
- You don't need to depend on the order of the results returned
- You don't need to maintain dodgy logic (like 'old_rank')
- You can display them more nicely (with a rowspan for repeated ranks
I believe the total code is more compact too.
// fill ranks array
$ranks = array();
while ( $g = mysql_fetch_object($q) ) {
if ( !in_array($g->rankname, $ranks) ) {
$ranks[htmlentities($g->rankname)] = array();
}
$ranks[$g->rankname][] = htmlentities($g->name);
}
// do other program logic here
// end of program
?>
<!-- display the page -->
<table>
<tr>
<th>Rank</th><th>Users</th>
</tr>
<?php foreach($ranks as $rankName => $userList): ?>
<tr>
<td rowspan="<?php echo (string)sizeof($userList); ?>">
<?php echo $rankName; ?>
</td>
<td> <?php echo implode('</td></tr><tr><td>', $userList); ?> </td>
</tr>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</table>

Answer 3

I prefer breaking things up a bit more than that. Keeping things separate makes it easier to modify. This should work.
$old_rank = '';
while ($g = mysql_fetch_object($q)) {
echo '<tr>' . "\n";
echo '<td>';
if ($g->rankname != $old_rank) {
$old_rank = $g->rankname;
echo $old_rank;
} else {
echo ' ';
}
echo '</td>';
echo '<td>' . $g->name . '</td>' . "\n";
echo '</tr>' . "\n";
}