PHP: Sorting array with natsort - php

Question

I have a PHP script that creates a thumbnail and lists an image gallery. The problem I'm having is that it lists it by timestamp on the server but I want it to list 'naturally'.
<?php
# SETTINGS
$max_width = 100;
$max_height = 100;
$per_page = 24;
$page = $_GET['page'];
$has_previous = false;
$has_next = false;
function getPictures() {
global $page, $per_page, $has_previous, $has_next;
if ( $handle = opendir(".") ) {
$lightbox = rand();
echo '<ul id="pictures">';
$count = 0;
$skip = $page * $per_page;
if ( $skip != 0 )
$has_previous = true;
while ( $count < $skip && ($file = readdir($handle)) !== false ) {
if ( !is_dir($file) && ($type = getPictureType($file)) != '' )
$count++;
}
$count = 0;
while ( $count < $per_page && ($file = readdir($handle)) !== false ) {
if ( !is_dir($file) && ($type = getPictureType($file)) != '' ) {
if ( ! is_dir('thumbs') ) {
mkdir('thumbs');
}
if ( ! file_exists('thumbs/'.$file) ) {
makeThumb( $file, $type );
}
echo '<li><a href="'.$file.'" class="zoom" rel="group">';
echo '<img src="thumbs/'.$file.'" alt="" />';
echo '</a></li>';
$count++;
}
}
echo '</ul>';
while ( ($file = readdir($handle)) !== false ) {
if ( !is_dir($file) && ($type = getPictureType($file)) != '' ) {
$has_next = true;
break;
}
}
}
}
function getPictureType($file) {
$split = explode('.', $file);
$ext = $split[count($split) - 1];
if ( preg_match('/jpg|jpeg/i', $ext) ) {
return 'jpg';
} else if ( preg_match('/png/i', $ext) ) {
return 'png';
} else if ( preg_match('/gif/i', $ext) ) {
return 'gif';
} else {
return '';
}
}
function makeThumb( $file, $type ) {
global $max_width, $max_height;
if ( $type == 'jpg' ) {
$src = imagecreatefromjpeg($file);
} else if ( $type == 'png' ) {
$src = imagecreatefrompng($file);
} else if ( $type == 'gif' ) {
$src = imagecreatefromgif($file);
}
if ( ($oldW = imagesx($src)) < ($oldH = imagesy($src)) ) {
$newW = $oldW * ($max_width / $oldH);
$newH = $max_height;
} else {
$newW = $max_width;
$newH = $oldH * ($max_height / $oldW);
}
$new = imagecreatetruecolor($newW, $newH);
imagecopyresampled($new, $src, 0, 0, 0, 0, $newW, $newH, $oldW, $oldH);
if ( $type == 'jpg' ) {
imagejpeg($new, 'thumbs/'.$file);
} else if ( $type == 'png' ) {
imagepng($new, 'thumbs/'.$file);
} else if ( $type == 'gif' ) {
imagegif($new, 'thumbs/'.$file);
}
imagedestroy($new);
imagedestroy($src);
}
?>

Answer 1

similair to hobodave but i would use php's built in natsort function:
uksort($output, "strnatcmp");

Answer 2

You're not even using an array.
Instead of echo'ing your li's as you encounter them you need to put them into an array, indexed by filename.
$output[$file] = '<li>etc</li>';
Then once your loop has completed, you'll need to use a custom function to do a natural key sort, since PHP's natsort() only works on values.
function natksort($array) {
$keys = array_keys($array);
natsort($keys);
$ret = array();
foreach ($keys as $k) {
$ret[$k] = $array[$k];
}
return $ret;
}
$output = natksort($output);
echo '<ul>';
foreach ($output as $out) {
echo $out;
}
echo '</ul>';
Edit
Wow, I found this little gem to do the sorting:
uksort($array, 'strnatcasecmp');
Credit: http://www.chipstips.com/?p=269

Answer 3

The trick was to put everything inside an array... I took the liberty of rewriting your getPictures() function... This one implements the sorting.
function getPictures() {
global $page, $per_page, $has_previous, $has_next;
if (!is_dir('thumbs')) {
mkdir('thumbs');
}
if ($handle = opendir(".")) {
$lightbox = rand();
$files = array();
while (($file = readdir($handle)) !== false) {
if (!is_dir($file) && ($type = getPictureType($file)) != '') {
$files[] = $file;
}
}
natsort($files);
$has_previous = $skip != 0;
$has_next = (count($files) - $skip - $per_page) > 0;
$spliceLength = min($per_page, count($files) - $skip);
$files = array_slice($files, $skip, $spliceLength);
echo '<ul id="pictures">';
foreach($files as $file) {
if (!file_exists('thumbs/' . $file)) {
$type = getPictureType($file);
makeThumb($file, $type);
}
echo '<li><a href="' . $file . '" class="zoom" rel="group">';
echo '<img src="thumbs/' . $file . '" alt="" />';
echo '</a></li>';
}
echo '</ul>';
}
}