Condensing this code - php

Question

I have the following code I want to run, but the problem is $this->type is set when the class is created by specifying either petition, proposal, or amendment. As you can see my $sql statement is a UNION of all three, and I want to specify which table (pet,prop,or amend) each row of data comes from.
public function userProposals() {
$username = User::getUsername();
$sql = "SELECT * FROM petition WHERE author = '$username'
UNION SELECT * FROM proposition WHERE author = '$username'
UNION SELECT * FROM amendment WHERE author = '$username'";
$query = mysql_query($sql);
$state = User::userState();
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query)) { // $this->type needs to specify pet,prop,amend
echo "
<tr>
<td>$row[id]</td>
<td><a href='viewproposal.php?type=$this->type&id=$row[id]'>$row[title]</a></td>
<td>$this->type</td>
<td>$state</td>
</tr>";
}
}
As you can see, $this->type will only say one of the three. To get my function work how i wanted to, I did this (which I feel is too long & there must be a shorter way).
public function userProposals() {
$username = User::getUsername();
$state = User::userState();
$sql = "SELECT * FROM petition WHERE author = '$username'";
$query = mysql_query($sql);
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query)) {
echo "
<tr>
<td>$row[id]</td>
<td><a href='viewproposal.php?type=petition&id=$row[id]'>$row[title]</a></td>
<td>Petition</td>
<td>$state</td>
</tr>";
}
$sql = "SELECT * FROM proposition WHERE author = '$username'";
$query = mysql_query($sql);
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query)) {
echo "
<tr>
<td>$row[id]</td>
<td><a href='viewproposal.php?type=proposition&id=$row[id]'>$row[title]</a></td>
<td>Proposition</td>
<td>$state</td>
</tr>";
}
$sql = "SELECT * FROM amendment WHERE author = '$username'";
$query = mysql_query($sql);
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query)) {
echo "
<tr>
<td>$row[id]</td>
<td><a href='viewproposal.php?type=amendment&id=$row[id]'>$row[title]</a></td>
<td>Amendment</td>
<td>$state</td>
</tr>";
}
}

Answer 1

Answer 2

I would normally do something like the following:
public function userProposals() {
$username = User::getUsername();
$state = User::userState();
$tables = array('petition', 'proposition', 'amendment');
foreach($tables as $table) {
$label = ucwords($table);
$sql = "SELECT * FROM $table WHERE author = '" . mysql_real_escape_string($username) . "'";
$query = mysql_query($sql);
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query)) {
echo "
<tr>
<td>$row[id]</td>
<td><a href='viewproposal.php?type=$table&id=$row[id]'>$row[title]</a></td>
<td>$label</td>
<td>$state</td>
</tr>";
}
}
}

Answer 3

Why don't you try the modified SQL:
SELECT 'petition' as typ,title,id FROM petition
WHERE author = '$username'
UNION SELECT 'proposition' as typ,title,id FROM proposition
WHERE author = '$username'
UNION SELECT 'amendment' as typ,totle,id FROM amendment
WHERE author = '$username'"
and then use the typ from each returned row ($row[typ]) instead of $this->type?
The whole thing should be:
public function userProposals() {
$username = User::getUsername();
$sql = "SELECT 'petition' as typ,id,title FROM petition
WHERE author = '$username'
UNION SELECT 'proposition' as typ,id,title FROM proposition
WHERE author = '$username'
UNION SELECT 'amendment' as typ,id,title FROM amendment
WHERE author = '$username'"
$query = mysql_query($sql);
$state = User::userState();
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query)) {
echo "<tr>
<td>$row[id]</td>
<td><a href='viewproposal.php?type=$row[typ]&id=$row[id]'>
$row[title]
</a></td>
<td>$row[typ]</td>
<td>$state</td>
</tr>";
}
}
based on what was in your question.