order by with dropdown menu

[scheetz]

in browse.php i have a query that sorts by rating desc:

query = "select * from idx_link where category_id = '$cat' order by rating desc";

i would like to be able to have two two dropdown menus to change this query. the first dropdown menu would be hits, rating, title, etc. and the second would be asc and desc.

a good example is at

http://www.phpbb.com/styles/downloads/index.php?t=sub_pages&cat=3

how would i go about doing this?

thanks,
scheetz

[assassin74]

The dropdowns could look like this (assuming these database-fieldnames: hits, rating, title

untestet

<FORM action="browse.php" method="POST">
Sort by
<SELECT name="sort_by" class="small">
  <option value='hits' selected>Hits</option>
  <option value='rating'>Rating</option>
  <option value='title'>Title</option>
</SELECT>
<SELECT name="order" class="small">
  <option value='asc' selected>Ascending</option>
  <option value='desc'>Descending</option>
</SELECT>
<INPUT type="submit" value="Go">
</FORM>

Your query would then use these submitted values:

query = "select * from idx_link where category_id = '$cat' order by ".$_POST[sort_by]." ".$_POST[asc_desc]; 

[scheetz]

Thanks for the reply. That helped so much. The 'sort_by' drop down menu works great. For some reason the 'sort_order' isnt working. it is always sorting ascending. does anything jump out to anyone as to the reason it would do this?

here is my code. i had to edit it a little from the above because of the script i am using.

in browse.php

  // vars url & form
  global $cat,$pg_which,$sort_by,$sort_order;

query = "select * from idx_link where category_id = '$cat' order by '$sort_by' '$sort_order'";

in browse.html (template for browse.php)

                         <FORM action="browse.php?cat=<%cat%>" method="POST">
                          <SELECT name="sort_by" class="d-r">
                            <option value='title'>Name</option>
                            <option value='date'>Date</option>
                            <option value='rating'>Rating</option>
                            <option value='hits'>Hits</option>
                          </SELECT>
                          <SELECT name="sort_order" class="d-r">
                            <option value='asc'>Ascending</option>
                            <option value='desc'>Descending</option>
                          </SELECT>
                          <INPUT type="submit" value="Sort" class="button" align=top>
                        </form>

another small thing. when the data is sorted the dropdown menus always go back to Name and Ascending as default. I would like them to stay on what was selected. how can I do this?

thanks again,
scheetz

[scheetz]

i figured it out. just had to take away the single quotes from $sort_order. the last question still stands though if anyone wants to take a stab

another small thing. when the data is sorted the dropdown menus always go back to Name and Ascending as default. I would like them to stay on what was selected. how can I do this?

thanks,
scheetz

[gtibok]

to sort by or order by in all the pages u can create sessions :
session_start();
session_register($sort_by);
session_register($order_by);
....
......
or u could create hidden inputs :
<input type=hidden name="order_by" value="<?echo $order_by; ?>"
............
this is valid only if you are using forms to navigate trough your pages