[Resolved] Nested For Loops - Dynamically build tables

[ajberry]

I am trying to use nested for loops to dynamically draw a table.

I want to cap the columns at 3 or 4, but as many rows as it takes.

So far, I can limit to 3 columns, but the same variable is outputted in all three columns, then it moves on to the next..

Below is the code I am working with:

<table>

  <?
	/* Build Category Checkboxes */

	$connCat = mysql_connect($host,$user,$password)
		or die ("couldn't connect to server");
	$dbCat = mysql_select_db($database,$connCat)
		or die("couldn't select database");
	$fillCat = "SELECT * FROM cat ORDER BY cat_name";
	$rsCat = mysql_query($fillCat)
		or die("couldn't execute query");

	while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($rsCat))
	{
		echo "<tr>";

	for ($i = 0; $i < 3; $i++)
		{

			echo "<td>";
			extract($row);
			echo "<input type='checkbox' name='imp_cat' value='$cat_id'>$cat_name\n";
			echo "</td>";
		}

		echo "</tr>";

}

  ?>

[jlpierce]

You need to get the row fetch inside of the td echo, with the row fetch occuring at the outer while loop it only retrieves the one record and then operates on it 3 times in the inner loop.

However, moving the row fetch to the inner loop presents another problem, the tr loop should be based on number of rows / 3. Meaning that you should set another variable to the number of rows divided by 3.

$rowcount = mysql_num_rows($result);
$rowcount = $rowcount / 3;
// you might need a modulo funtion here
// instead of the division
for($i = 0; $i < $rowcount; $i++)
{
//do your table row and table data //processing in here
}

I hope this head you in the right direction, I do not have the time to work it out right now, as I am at work.

John

[coreyp_1]

I suggest you forget using a for() loop altogether.

If you will only use the exterior while() loop, then you can easily (with a single variable) control how many columns wide to make your table. For example:

// $i - generic counter for counting columns
$i = 0;
// $column_max - number of columns desired
$column_max = 3;

echo '<tr>';
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($rsCat)) { 
  $i++;
  if ($i > $column_max) {
    echo '</tr><tr>';
    $i = 1;
    }
  echo "<td>"; 
  extract($row); 
  echo "<input type='checkbox' name='imp_cat' value='$cat_id'>$cat_name\n"; 
  echo "</td>";
  } 
echo "</tr>"; 

Don't forget the <table></table> tags!

HTH

[ajberry]

Thank you both for steering me in the right direction.

I am using the while lopp solution because I have to do the same thing in several places and only having to change one variable makes me extremely happy.

Thanks again for the quick responses, I am often frustrated while trying to migrate from ASP.