How do I make....

Anon

Hi there!

I'm not an expert with php or mysql. I have made mysql database and I have a website which uses it.

I have a so called "snowboard selector" on my site. The result page is very ugly. Can somebody give me some ideas to make it better.

URL to the "snowboard selector" is:

http://www.cs.uta.fi/~ah66533/lapevep_ostajalaudat.html

The result page code look like this: (searchform.php)

<body>
<?php

mysql_connect (localhost, ah66533, **********);
mysql_select_db (lumilaudat);
if ($Merkki1 == "")
{$Merkki1 = '%';}
if ($Malli == "")
{$Malli = '%';}
if ($Pituus1 == "")
{$Pituus1 = '%';}
if ($Pituus2 == "")
{$Pituus2 = '%';}
if ($Kayttotarkoitus == "")
{$Kayttotarkoitus = '%';}
if ($Rakenne == "")
{$Rakenne = '%';}
if ($Muoto == "")
{$Muoto = '%';}
if ($Leveys_nose == "")
{$Leveys_nose = '%';}
if ($Leveys_keski == "")
{$Leveys_keski = '%';}
if ($Leveys_tail == "")
{$Leveys_tail = '%';}
if ($Paino == "")
{$Paino = '%';}
if ($Hinta == "")
{$Hinta = '%';}
if ($Hinta == "1")
{$Hinta = '1%';}
if ($Hinta == "2")
{$Hinta = '2%';}
if ($Hinta == "3")
{$Hinta = '3%';}
if ($Hinta == "4")
{$Hinta = '4%';}

$result = mysql_query ("SELECT * FROM laudat
WHERE Merkki LIKE '$Merkki1%'
AND Malli LIKE '$Malli%'
AND Kayttotarkoitus LIKE '$Kayttotarkoitus%'
AND Rakenne LIKE '$Rakenne%'
AND Muoto LIKE '$Muoto%'
AND Leveys_nose LIKE '$Leveys_nose%'
AND Leveys_keski LIKE '$Leveys_keski%'
AND Leveys_tail LIKE '$Leveys_tail%'
AND Paino_min <= '$Paino%'
AND Paino_max >= '$Paino%'
AND Hinta LIKE '$Hinta'
AND Pituus >= '$Pituus1' AND Pituus <= '$Pituus2'

");
if ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
?>
<table>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#AEAEAE"><center>M E R K K I </td><td bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><center>M A L L I </td><td bgcolor="#999999"><center>P I T U U S </td><td bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><center>K Ä Y T T Ö T A R K O I T U S </td><td bgcolor="#999999"><center>R A K E N N E </td><td bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><center>M U O T O </td><td bgcolor="#999999"><center>L E V E Y S N O S E </td><td bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><center>L E V E Y S K E S K I </td><td bgcolor="#999999"><center>L E V E Y S T A I L </td><td bgcolor="#cccccc"><center>P A I N O M I N </td><td bgcolor="#999999"><center>P A I N O M A X </td><td bgcolor="#cccccc"><center>H I N T A </td>
<?
do {
?>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#999999"><?php print $row["Merkki"] ?> </td>
<td bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><?php print $row["Malli"] ?> </td>
<td bgcolor="#999999"><?php print $row["Pituus"] ?></td>
<td bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><?php print $row["Kayttotarkoitus"] ?></td>
<td bgcolor="#999999"><?php print $row["Rakenne"] ?></td>
<td bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><?php print $row["Muoto"] ?></td>
<td bgcolor="#999999"><?php print $row["Leveys_nose"] ?></td>

<td bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><?php print $row["Leveys_keski"] ?></td>

<td bgcolor="#999999"><?php print $row["Leveys_tail"] ?></td>

<td bgcolor="#999999"><?php print $row["Paino_min"] ?></td>

<td bgcolor="#999999"><?php print $row["Paino_max"] ?></td>

<td bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><?php print $row["Hinta"] ?></td>
</tr>
<?
print ("");
} while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result));

} else {print "Ei hakua vastaavia lautoja. Muista pistää jokin väli PITUUS valintaan. 0-200 antaa kaikki mahdolliset laudat. Muistithan antaa myös painosi. Ilman sitä haku ei toimi. -Arto Hirsimäki-!";}

?>
</table>
</body>

Anon

Hi,

It does not look that bad, some people still think beep-blue text on black is cool and easy to read. When you feel you are becoming more of an expert, read Tim's excellent pice "Smart Architectures in PHP". Splitting the database abstraction layer, the HTML and the PHP-code is the way to go if you want to create easy, maitainable sites. Also use English when naming variables and tables. This way, if you ask the community for help when your code crashes it will be much easier to assist. Not many speak Finnish (or Swedish, as in my case).

Johan