Making script more dynamic - php

Question

I am trying to make my pagination script a bit more dynamic and am needing some help with the calculating of the page numbers part.
I have this script below which calculates the number of pages using php, however I would like to add other buttons that when clicked will filter and sort out data which means the pagination numbers need to be calculated again.
The script I have does not allow for this to happen, so I am wondering if there is a more efficient/dynamic way of calculating the pagination numbers then the way I am doing it now.
This is the main page (pagination.php)
<?php
include('config.php');
$per_page = 3;
//Calculating no of pages
$sql = "select * from explore";
$result = mysql_query($sql);
$count = mysql_num_rows($result);
$pages = ceil($count/$per_page)
?>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.1`` /jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery_pagination.js"></script>
<div id="loading" ></div>
<div id="content" data-page="1"></div>
<ul id="pagination">
<?php
//Pagination Numbers
for($i=1; $i<=$pages; $i++)
{
echo '<li class="page_numbers" id="'.$i.'">'.$i.'</li>';
}
?>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
And here is the JS script (jquery.pagination.js)
$(document).ready(function(){
//Display Loading Image
function Display_Load()
{
$("#loading").fadeIn(900,0);
$("#loading").html("<img src='bigLoader.gif' />");
}
//Hide Loading Image
function Hide_Load()
{
$("#loading").fadeOut('slow');
};
//Default Starting Page Results
$("#pagination li:first").css({'color' : '#FF0084'}).css({'border' : 'none'});
Display_Load();
$("#content").load("pagination_data.php?page=1", Hide_Load());
//Pagination Click
$("#pagination li").click(function(){
Display_Load();
//CSS Styles
$("#pagination li")
.css({'border' : 'solid #dddddd 1px'})
.css({'color' : '#0063DC'});
$(this)
.css({'color' : '#FF0084'})
.css({'border' : 'none'});
//Loading Data
var pageNum = this.id;
$("#content").load("pagination_data.php?page=" + pageNum, function(){
Hide_Load();
$(this).attr('data-page', pageNum);
});
});
});
I tried to put the calculation part of the script in 'pagination_data.php' file so when I clicked a button or link to go to that page it would generate everything, but it did not work.
So, any help on figuring out a good way of doing this would be great. Thanks.

Answer 1

Your page generation code is fine, it's the fixed query that it's using that needs to be changed. I would suggest changing your pagination code into a function that takes an $sql parameter so that you could pass in the correct query adjusted by any filters:
function generate_pagination($sql) {
include_once('config.php');
$per_page = 3;
//Calculating no of pages
$result = mysql_query($sql);
$count = mysql_num_rows($result);
$pages = ceil($count/$per_page)
//Pagination Numbers
for($i=1; $i<=$pages; $i++)
{
echo '<li class="page_numbers" id="'.$i.'">'.$i.'</li>';
}
}
and then call it like this:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.1`` /jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery_pagination.js"></script>
<div id="loading" ></div>
<div id="content" data-page="1"></div>
<ul id="pagination">
<?php generate_pagination('SELECT * FROM explore'); ?>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
or with a filter:
<?php generate_pagination('SELECT * FROM explore WHERE key="value"'); ?>