alphetize drop down list

rfigley

I have this dropdown list as part of a form that inserts/updates to the MySQL database:

http://www.npiflorida.com/admin/chapter_pulldown2-member.php

I'm trying to alphabetize the list and have a selected one showing first, here is the code I'm using. Would I have to retrieve the list into and array to sort it?:


<?

 include('dbconnect.php');
 include('font_setting2.htm');

 $query = ("select * from tbl_chapter");

$result = mysql_query($query) or die("Query fail");

if (mysql_num_rows($result) == 0)
{

} else
{

   //echo "<B> Current Chapters List </B>";
     echo  "<select name='chapter'>";
     echo "<option>" . "$chapter_name" . "</option>";
  while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
    {

    $chapter_name = $row['chapter_name'];

    echo "<option>" . "$chapter_name" . "</option>";
       }

}

 include ('chapter_for_delete2.php');


?>

buck2bcr

In your query I think you could use the order by to get alphabetical.

$query = ("SELECT * FROM tbl_chapter ORDER BY tbl_chapter ASC");

I think that will work. If not the right order you could try DESC instead of ASC.

HTH

rfigley

OK, that was easy, thanks.

Also as mentioned but was probably not clear is the need to have a currently selected chapter displayed. HEre's the page tha this is part of:

http://www.npiflorida.com/admin/update_member.php
THis is the last page that they come to to update a member's data. It normally displays all their data from the database including the chapter. Need their current chapter to show in the field, but have the ability to select one if the member is changing chapters.

rfigley

OK, nevermine, figured it out. Thank you so much for your help.

rfigley

Oops. Spoke too soon. Have another Pulldown issue to resolve.

http://www.npiflorida.com/admin/county_select_for_chapter_add.php

Need to eliminate duplicate returns in result. Attempting as you see to use DISTINCTROW, have tried that and DISTINCT. What am I doing wrong?

Using this code:

<?

 include('dbconnect.php');
 include('font_setting2.htm');

 $query = ("select DISTINCTROW * from tbl_chapter order by county");

$result = mysql_query($query) or die("Query fail");

if (mysql_num_rows($result) == 0)
{

} else
{

   //echo "<B> Current Chapters List </B>";
     echo  "<select name='county'>";


  while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
    {
        $county = $row['county'];

    echo "<option>" . "$county" . "</option>";
       }

}

  //$chapter = $chapter_name;
 //include ('display_chapter_.php');


?>

Weedpacket

Are you using any field in the table other than 'county'? If not, don't waste the database's and PHP's time by asking for all of them. SELECT * is generally nasty.

"SELECT DISTINCT * ... " is unlikely to work, because it looks at every field in each row - it's quite likely that every pair of rows differs in one field or another, so they're all distinct.

Short answer: To select distinct counties,
SELECT DISTINCT county ...