formatting table results based on a query

[robsgaming]

Currently, I have a script that shows thumbnails of screenshots... it shows them side by side, 2 colums wide... with me so far?

I have NO CLUE how to expand the table so it will show 4 colums wide (4 thumbs, then return to the next row)

Any help is appreciated.. I have no clue how to do this. My existing code is below:

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array ($result)) 
{ 
extract($row);
if ($left) echo "<tr><td><img src='http://www.robsgaming.com/imgupload/$filename.png'></td>"; 
else echo "<td><img src='http://www.robsgaming.com/imgupload/$filename.png'></td></tr>"; 
$left = !$left; 
} 
if (!$left) echo '<td> </td></tr>'; 
// odd number of $rows 
echo '</table>';

[khaine]

Here an alterantive code that makes altering the width easy.

<?

$cols=4;

$cont=1;
echo "<table>\n";
while(1)
{
    echo "<tr>\n";
    for ( $loop=0; $loop<$cols; $loop++ )
    {
        $row = mysql_fetch_array ($result);
        if ( $row )
       {
        echo "<td><img src='http://www.robsgaming.com/imgupload/$filename.png'></td>\n";
        }
        else
        {
            $cont=0;
            echo "<td>&nbsp;</td>\n";
        }
    }
    echo "</tr>\n\n";
    if ( !$cont )
    {
        break;
    }
}
echo "</table>\n";

?>

I think it works ok you will need to test it.

Mark.

[Traduim]

Why not using modulus?

<?
for($i=1; $row = mysql_fetch_array($result); $i++) {
if ($i%2==1) {echo "<tr>";}
echo "<td>$row[field]</td>";
if ($i%2==0) {echo "</tr>";}
}
?>

Change 2 for the desired number of columns.

[goa103]

Hi Rob,

Sounds like you grabbed that piece of code from nowhere without understanding it, am I right ? ^. Don't worry, you can be ashamed but I will help you though :p

First you have to understand what a HTML TABLE is. It's made up by cells (columns and rows). That script is very tricky, it uses $left as a column and row switcher. If $left is true then it's column 1, then it's set to false, so it's column 2... back to 1, it's a new row and column 1 again.

I don't like that script 🙂. The most logical way is to use a REAL column counter. This way it can work for 2, 3 or n columns:

$NbCol = 4; // in your case you want 4 columns but you can set it to 2, 3, 5 or more
$c = 1; // our column counter, first column index is 1 (column 1)

Each time a new row is created we have to insert a <tr> tag. For each column, we add a <td> tag. The hard part is when the last column wasn't reached but that no more pictures are to be displayed ! It happens with 5 pictures, 4 pictures on the first row, last row only contain 1 picture ! Let's create the table first:
(note: I don't use echo but ?><?php to ouput plain HTML - better, faster... hum stronger :p)

?><table><?php

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array ($result)) 
{
  // Don't use extract it's crappy, slower,... and useless !
  // extract ()

  // We have a new row if the current column counter is 1 !

  if ($c == 1)
  {
    ?><tr><?php 
  }

  // Let's display our thumbnail
  // <?= ?> is a very useful shortcut to quickly echo a PHP value !

  ?><td><img src="<?= $row ['filename'] ?>"></td><?php

  // Next column, so new row ?

  $c ++;

  if ($c > $NbCol)
  {
    // New row so let's close the previous </tr> tag

?></tr><?php

// Column 1 again...

$c = 1;
  }
}

That's it. But something is missing. Remember what we talked about... 5 pictures, 4 columns... so the last row only has 1 picture ? It means our <tr> wasn't closed ! That's why there was a "if (!$left) echo '<td> </td></tr>';" after the while in your script. Here we just have to check that current column is between 2 and 4. If $c is equal to 2, it means that 1 picture was displayed (because of the $c ++ that ALWAYS occurs)... same goes for 2 pictures, so column 3...

if (($c > 1) && ($c < 5))
{
  ?></tr><?php
}

And voilà. It should work perfectly (not tested but you will :p).
A few last advices:
- don't use extract
- don't use echo to output PLAIN HTML, use ?><php to escape from PHP to HTML and <?= ?> to ouput your PHP values (shortcut)
- don't use tricks like the $left, when it comes to 3 columns, it doesn't work. Tricks are for sub-level-beginners 😃 (I hope it's not your script sorry ^')
- don't collapse your code, use {}, returns, tabulations... Mine is longer but far far easier to read and understand

I hope you agree and that It will work well!
JM