simple problem with sorting

[trombonefreakus]

I've made a very simple agenda system, with the following code:

<?
$fcontents = file ('agenda.txt');
// loop waarin alle gegevens worden ingelezen uit agenda.txt
while (list ($line_num, $line) = each ($fcontents)) {

//maken van een array in variabele $agenda
//$agenda[0] is de datum, $agenda[1] de titel en $agenda[2] de link
$agenda = explode(",",$line);
$today = mktime(0,0,0,date("m"),date("d"),date("Y"));

// alleen items van vandaag en later weergeven
if ($agenda[0] >= $today) {
if (!($line_num % 2)) {
$bgcolor = "FF00FF";
}
else {
$bgcolor = "00FF00";
}

echo "<tr><td bgcolor=#".$bgcolor.">";
echo "".NLDate($agenda[0])."<br>";
echo "<a href='".$PHP_SELF."?file=".trim($agenda[2])."'>".$agenda[1]."</a>\n";
echo "<br>";
echo "</td></tr>";
}

?>

As you see, this script opens the file agenda.txt and reads its contents. I've also created a web interface to add new appointments to the file agenda.txt

No problem so far. But, I don't want to be forced to enter the dates in the order as they occur in order to have the events sorted from first to last.

So, what do I need to change to have an output with sorted events, from first to last?

Thanks in advance.

P.s. I'm new the PHP and created this with help of the documentation at php.net. I found the sort() function, but reading the documentary made me think this wouldn't work in this case. Please advice.

[bastien]

the easiest way to deal with the sorting to move to a Db, either mySQL or something else...then you can specify in the sql what the sort order should be. text files and arrays can be sorted but it is a bitch of a job...much easier and more dynamic to use a Db.

hth

Bastien
(if you're not dutch, you're not much!)

🙂

[Anon]

This seems somewhat inelegant, and there may be a better solution, but something along these lines has worked for me before.

---

<pre>
sort_agenda_items(file($filename));

function sort_agenda_items($fcontents, $sortby = "", $order = "") {
// default is to sort by date
// if reverse is TRUE, sort order is reversed

switch ($sortby) {

	case "titel":
		foreach($fcontent as $line) {
			if (!isset($a[$line[1]])) {
				$a[$line[1]] = $line;
			} else {
				$i = 2;
				while (isset($a[$line[1].".$i"])) { $i++; }
				$a[$line[1].".$i"] = $line;
			}
		}
		break;

	case "link":
		foreach($fcontent as $line) {
			if (!isset($a[$line[2]])) {
				$a[$line[2]] = $line;
			} else {
				$i = 2;
				while (isset($a[$line[2].".$i"])) { $i++; }
				$a[$line[2].".$i"] = $line;
			}
		}
		break;

	case default:

		foreach($fcontent as $line) {
			if (!isset($a[$line[0]])) {
				$a[$line[0]] = $line;
			} else {
				$i = 2;
				while (isset($a[$line[0].".$i"])) { $i++; }
				$a[$line[0].".$i"] = $line;
			}
		}
}

// now we have an array indexed by what we want to sort by
// let's sort the array
if ($this->order == "reverse") { krsort($m); }
else { ksort($m); }

// now that we have the array sorted, let's index it by number
$i = 0;
foreach ($a as $sorted => $line) { $r[$i] = $line; $i++; }

// return the final sorted array
return $r;

}
</pre>

[Anon]

Oops. Just realized I had a few typos and such. I guess that what you get when you try to hastily adapt old code. Here's a cleaner version.

Lacey

<pre>
sort_agenda_items(file($filename));

function sort_agenda_items($fcontents, $sortby = "", $reverse = "") {
// default is to sort by date
// if reverse is TRUE, sort order is reversed

switch ($sortby) {

	case "titel":
		foreach($fcontents as $line) {
			if (!isset($a[$line[1]])) {
				$a[$line[1]] = $line;
			} else {
				$i = 2;
				while (isset($a[$line[1].".$i"])) { $i++; }
				$a[$line[1].".$i"] = $line;
			}
		}
		break;

	case "link":
		foreach($fcontents as $line) {
			if (!isset($a[$line[2]])) {
				$a[$line[2]] = $line;
			} else {
				$i = 2;
				while (isset($a[$line[2].".$i"])) { $i++; }
				$a[$line[2].".$i"] = $line;
			}
		}
		break;

	case default:

		foreach($fcontents as $line) {
			if (!isset($a[$line[0]])) {
				$a[$line[0]] = $line;
			} else {
				$i = 2;
				while (isset($a[$line[0].".$i"])) { $i++; }
				$a[$line[0].".$i"] = $line;
			}
		}
}

// now we have an array indexed by what we want to sort by
// let's sort the array
if ($reverse) { krsort($m); }
else { ksort($m); }

// now that we have the array sorted, let's index it by number
$i = 0;
foreach ($a as $sorted => $line) { $r[$i] = $line; $i++; }

// return the fianl sorted array
return $r;

}

</pre>