Dynamic Image Gallery (help)

DrNeko

Hi.
I'm familiar with SQL, but I'm new on using PHP to read data from a database and output the result in a html page. I would like to create a dynamic image gallery by using PHP and mySQL.
Let's say I created the table below:

CREATE TABLE GarfieldTable
( CNO char(3) not null primary key,
ComicURL char(19) not null,
ThumbnailURL char(24) not null,
CSIZE char(5),
DISPLAY char(12),
GARFIELD char(3),
JOHN char(3),
ODDIE char(3) );

INSERT
INTO GarfieldTable(CNO, ComicURL, ThumbnailURL, CSIZE, GARFIELD, JOHN, ODDIE)
VALUES ('001','comics/01/Jan01.jpg','comics/01/Jan01thumb.jpg','18 KB','400 x 100','Yes','Yes','No');

INSERT
INTO GarfieldTable(CNO, ComicURL, ThumbnailURL, CSIZE, GARFIELD, JOHN, ODDIE)
VALUES ('002','comics/01/Jan02.jpg','comics/01/Jan02thumb.jpg','16kb','390 x 100','Yes','No','Yes');

INSERT
INTO GarfieldTable(CNO, ComicURL, ThumbnailURL, CSIZE, GARFIELD, JOHN, ODDIE)
VALUES ('003','comics/01/Jan03.jpg','comics/01/Jan03thumb.jpg','17kb','400 x 125','Yes','No','No');

INSERT
INTO GarfieldTable(CNO, ComicURL, ThumbnailURL, CSIZE, GARFIELD, JOHN, ODDIE)
VALUES ('004','comics/01/Jan04.jpg','comics/01/Jan04thumb.jpg','19kb','400 x 400','Yes','Yes','Yes');

If there's anything about the structure of the able that anyone suggest, please tell me. I know the "ComicURL" and "ThumbnailURL" columns could be improved and/or there's another method, but this is the best I can do.

This is how I would like the output to be (this is only half of my problem):

</tr>

</table>

Honestly, I would like this to be dynamic (and customize the selections for the user, which is why I have "Garfield", "John", and "Oddie") using persistent connection since I heard it's faster (unless anyone suggest something else).
Let's say I have 100 records, and I would like to:

A, the most difficult part)
Have it output in the table format above, however, the display will be 12 records max (the table will be 4 columns by 3 rows max) per page/request. How do I have it output something like "Page(s) 1 of 9 for 100 images" and have the user move to the next page when desired. Also, if such a result, would it be possible for a user to jump to, let's say, page 7 that contain records 84-96? I would perfer the option to be a select drop menu, but a list of page(s) (or anything else would) be nice to learn.

B, the easier part)
Have a user customize his/her selection by having a comic that contains any combination of Garfield, John, or Oddie. A drop menu with multi selections (IE: Garfield alone, Garfield AND Oddie, Garfield AND JOHN OR ODDIE).

I would greatly appreciate any help. Thank you.

-Daniel Orellana
DrNeko@excite.com😕

jeremuck

php can do all that for you.

It looks like you are probably pretty new to PHP. If you are writing it yourself, I would recommend buying a book about PHP.

Basically, php goes in the midst of HTML.
PHP output is sent to the browser as HTML.

so if you wanted an output of:
<img src="image.gif"> but wanted the actual image to change and wanted maybe 10 of them from your database, you could do:

<?php
// $query is the SELECT query

//first you'd have to connect,
//then

$DBresults = mysql_query($query, $dbLink);

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($DBresults, MYSQL_ASSOC);
{
  echo "<img src=\"' . $row[path] . "\"><br>";
}


?>

This of course depends on the names in your database.

These kinds of scripts can quickly grow to become very complex. Fortunately, you may find what you need already completed at http://www.sourceforge.com . I've been looking into image galleries myself, and there are several quite nice ones available at that site. In particular, Tiki does many things in addition to just an image gallery.