Retrieving arrays in MySQL dumps

Anon

If a user fills in a form where an array is used for a set of related answers to a question, the various answers can be printed out on a webpage by using:
echo implode(", ",$array).

However, dumping the MySQl db will just put the word "Array" where the array field is. Is there a simple way of getting the dump to include the array values?

TIA

Anon

$storableValue = implode("," , $array);
then store $storableValue in mysql this will certainly work

Kevin Donnelly wrote:

If a user fills in a form where an array is used for a set of related answers to a question, the various answers can be printed out on a webpage by using:
echo implode(", ",$array).

However, dumping the MySQl db will just put the word "Array" where the array field is. Is there a simple way of getting the dump to include the array values?

TIA

Anon

Excellent! A very elegant solution! I have already implemented it.

Are there any pros and cons to using arrays for this purpose, as opposed to having a large group of ordinary fields? I suppose queries might be more difficult with the imploded arrays, or is that incorrect.

Ah, also, I am using mysql_fetch_array to get the various fields of each record. I cannot seem to use implode on the records which already have "Array" in that $array field to get at the contents of the array - I have tried around 15 different combinations. Is it because the array elements are "second-order", ie they are a filed array within the record array? If so, how can I access them?

Thanks again for your help.

Kevin

Anon

Have you tried the serialize() and unserialize() functions?
These seem to work well for me.
And it works better than implode in the case of an array where you have keys and values as opposed to just values in a numbered array (did I say that properly?)
When using serialize you might have to filter it through stripslashes, and when unserializing you mught have to addslashes.
I did not use that in my array, but someone on the php.net documentation had mentioned it.

Ciao!

:Jason