Please HELP!!

Anon

Here is my problem:

I am trying to pull a random row from a recordset retrieved from the database, without using order by rand(). Lets say that this is the record set that is returned.

Item | ShortAbstract | Title

2230 blah,blah,blah Blah
2450 blah,blah,blah Blah
2650 blah,blah,blah Blah

2560 blah,blah,blah Blah

Now what I want to do is randomly pull out a row:

2650 blah,blah,blah Blah

I am not sure that I am using the following code properly. If someone could help me out, that would be great. Here is the code:

$itemQuery = "SELECT DISTINCT c.Item, c.ShortAbstract, c.Title FROM department_item di, content c, " .
			 "content_rotation cr WHERE di.Department = " . $ID . " AND " .
			 "c.Item = di.Item AND " .
			 "cr.StartDate <= '" . $today . "' AND " .
			 "cr.EndDate >= '" . $today . "' AND " .
			 "cr.Rotation = 6";

if (!($itemResults = mysql_query($itemQuery)))
{
	$errorMsg .= "Error: Could not select article<br>MySQL reported " . mysql_error() . "";
}
else
{
	if (mysql_num_rows($itemResults) > 0)
	{
		while ($input = mysql_fetch_array($itemResults))
		{
				$array = array($input);
				$randomItem = array_rand($array, 1);
				print("<h3 align=\"center\">" . $input[$randomItem["Title"]] . "</h3><br><p>" . $input[$randomItem["ShortAbstract"]] . "</p>");
				print("<p align=\"right\"><a href=\"http://careers.easyupdates.com/new_purchase.php3?SCREEN=content_item&item=" . $input[$randoItem["Item"]] ."\"><img src=\"images/purchasearticle.gif\" width=\"162\" height=\"8\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"10\" alt=\"Winning\"></a><img src=\"images/purchasebook.gif\" width=\"97\" height=\"8\" hspace=\"10\" border=\"0\"></p>");
		}
	}
	else
	{
		$errorMsg .= "Error: No rows were returned";
	}
}

cvincent

Well, if you use the rand sql function you are retrieving the already determined random row from the server which will help your performance if you are concerned about it. If you get all of the rows that match your search from the sql server and then get a random row from the array, it will produce the same result. I would leave it up to the SQL so that you dont have to deal with larger arrays and performance hits and for simplicity but what you have there seems good to me.

-Chris

Anon

The only problem with that, is the ISP who is hosting the Server, is using MySQL version 3.22.2 The order by rand() function only works with MySQL 3.23.2

When the script is ran, no output is showing. It loops through the function, but noting is show; just the image from the loop. Plus, it is still producing how ever many rows are returned.

Thanks,

Jason