Fun puzzle!!

[el_kab0ng]

Ok all you mathematicians here's one for you...

I have a page which allows my users to chose any or all 3 options to display data from.

How in the HELL can I get all the possible configurations a user could select from easily without writing a novel.

Options:

Type
Price
Location

[Shriekback]

Its not really rocket science.. How are you going to use them, to pull the information from a database? You would just need to build the string to query the database, maybe something like this:

$query = "SELECT * FROM sometable";
if (isset($Type) OR isset($Price) OR isset($Location)) $query .= "WHERE";
if (isset($Type)) $query .= " Type='$Type'";
if (isset($Price)) $query .= " Price='$Price'";
if (isset($Location)) $query .= " Location='$Location'";

Obviously this is one way to do it.. there are many.

[the_Igel]

Still it can be a bit more challenging if one may choose any one or all the options, but not two of them 🙂

if (isset($type)) $count++;
if(isset($price)) $count++;
if (isset($location)) $count++;

if ($count == 2) exit;

[Bunkermaster]

use old unix rights trick (combine 1 2 and 4 to make all combinations possible)

let's say you have 3 products :
CocaCola being 1
PepsiCola being 2
VirginCola being 4

if you want to choose one of 3 products like coke store 1
if you want coke and virgincola store 5
if all store 7

doesn't help a bit though 😃

[el_kab0ng]

Unfortunately all of the variables are drop downs, so technically wouldn't isset($type) always true?

$sql = "SELECT * FROM present";
if (($type != "") || ($price != "") || ($state != "")) $sql .= " WHERE ";
if (($type != "")) $sql .= "Type = '$type' ";
if (($price != "")) $sql .= "Price $price ";
if (($state !="" )) $sql .= "Location = '$state' ";

Before you start, I have price defined in the dropdown as:

<option value="between 1 and 200">$1 - $200</option>

So yes, "Price $price" is correct.

In any event, this works so long as only one is selected. Select any more than one option and I run into problems where i need an AND statement.

Any suggestions?

[el_kab0ng]

hrmf... laugh and the world laughs with you... code in PHP and you stand alone.

[Weedpacket]

Try it and see (it's not that hard to experiment).

The problem isn't much more difficult. A mix of the_Igel and Bunkermeister's solutions would do the job nicely.

$count=0;
if(isset($type) && $type!='') $count|=1; // I could use +=, but |= is more descriptively appropriate.
if(isset($price) && $price!='') $count|=2;
if(isset($state) && $state!='') $count|=4;
if(!in_array($count,array(1,2,4,7)) // Note - they can't just leave everything blank. One selection or Three are the options given.
{ // Invalid selection
}
else
{   $sql=array();
    if($count&1) $sql[] = " Type='$type'";
    if($count&2) $sql[] = " Price $price";
    if($count&4) $sql[] = " Sate='$state'";
    $sql = "Select * from present where"  // Ack! Ppt! Select *!
        . join(' and ',$sql); // The rules given guarantee that this array won't be empty (so the WHERE keyword won't feel lonely).
}

And if you suspect me of deliberately being more elaborate than necessary, despite there actually being two problems addressed, you may be right..🙂

[el_kab0ng]

even after some tweaking I still get this...

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING

$count = 0;
if(isset($type)_&&_($type != ""))_$count |= 1; <-- dies on this line.
if(isset($price)_&&_($price != ""))_$count |=2;
if(isset($state)_&&_($state != ""))_$count |=4;
if(!in_array($count,array(1,2,4,7))
{_
echo "try again";
}
else
{___$sql=array();
____if($count&1)_$sql[]_=_"_Type='$type'";
____if($count&2)_$sql[]_=_"_Price_$price";
____if($count&4)_$sql[]_=_"_Sate='$state'";
____$sql_=_"Select * from present where"
________._join(' and ',$sql);_
}

The code pasted was the final revision I've made, it's not worked even as was posted previously...

[Weedpacket]

I don't get a parse error on that line (spurious _ notwithstanding - where do you get those from?). I do get a parse error on this line:

if(!in_array($count,array(1,2,4,7))

for obvious reasons.

[el_kab0ng]

When i pasted the code, the forums inserted all those lame __'s. It will also hose any [url]http://[/url] statements you might have.

[tsigo]

Think there's a problem in your parenthesis

$count = 0;
if ((isset($type)) && ($type != ""))
  $count += 1; // what's with the |= ?
if ((isset($price)) && ($price != ""))
  $count += 2;
if ((isset($state)) && ($state != ""))
  $count += 4;

/*
This should also do the same thing:
$count += (!empty($type)) ? 1 : 0;
$count += (!empty($price)) ? 2 : 0;
$count += (!empty($state)) ? 4 : 0;
*/

[Weedpacket]

Originally posted by tsigo
Think there's a problem in your parenthesis

$count = 0;
if ((isset($type)) && ($type != ""))
  $count += 1; // what's with the |= ?
if ((isset($price)) && ($price != ""))
  $count += 2;
if ((isset($state)) && ($state != ""))
  $count += 4;

[/B]

That's no problem: function calls and != have higher precedence than && anyway.

[el_kab0ng]

Though I appreciate your attempts at this problem, the fact that your code hasn't worked since day one even with all the cryptic tweaks taken out doesn't really help anyone, let alone me. This isn't a security list, and I'm not asking for exploit code, so obfuscating the code for script kiddies isn't necessary here.

I'm also not asking for you to do the work for me either, I'm simply looking for direction to something I can learn from and use. The code you have provided has simply left me even more confused than before, forcing me to scrap the whole concept of what I was trying to achieve.

If anyone else would like to tackle this challenge with code that works, I'd be very eager to see your input.

[KoshNaranek]

my solution ... seen similar above 🙂

Did something like this in a search-form:

<?
if ($sstatus=='not closed'){$sstatus="status!='closed'";}
else $sstatus="status like '$sstatus'";
$abfrage="SELECT * from Case_Main WHERE ".$sstatus." ";
if ($scontact!='%' and $scontact!='') {$abfrage.="AND Contact like '$scontact' ";}
if ($sprio!='%' and $sprio!='') {$abfrage.="AND Priority = '$sprio' ";}
if ($screator!='%' and $screator!='') {$abfrage.="AND openBy = '$screator' ";}
if ($stop1!='%' and $stop1!='') {$abfrage.="AND Top1 like '$stop1' ";}
if ($stop2!='%' and $stop2!='') {$abfrage.="AND Top2 like '$stop2' ";}
if ($stext!='%' and $stext!='') {$abfrage.="AND Summary like '%$stext%' ";}
if ($shwid!='%') {$abfrage.="AND HWID like '%$shwid%' ";}

if ($sassignedto!='%' and $sassignedto!='') {$abfrage.="AND assignedTo = '$sassignedto' ";}
$abfrage.="ORDER BY timestamp DESC";
?>

[el_kab0ng]

KoshNaranek

You are next to Jesus Christ in my book. What you presented works like a dream. Thank you so much for your help! You rock!