Multi-column output from SQL query

[pseudonym]

Hi, total PHP n00bie here ...

I made this little script to try and display 3 lots of 2 bits of information (last 3 review titles and summary).

However it always shows up like this...

Review Title (content_heading)
Blurb (content_summary)

<?php

$text = "<span class=\"smalltext\">";

//make query


$result = mysql_query('SELECT content_heading, content_page, content_datestamp, content_summary 
FROM e107_content WHERE 1 AND content_page >0 ORDER BY content_datestamp DESC LIMIT 3');

while ($latestthreads = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {

//Create text variable to pass HTML 

$text .="$result[content_heading]<br />$result[content_summary]";

}

//Render table with E107 support and then display $text query variable

$text .="</span>";

$ns -> tablerender("Last 3 Reviews", $text); 

?>

What Im trying to achieve is 3 columns in a 100% HTML table... like this...

Review Review Review
Blurb Blurb Blurb

Can anyone help me find out to (loop I think!) make it generate that way? I really have tried but Im still just getting to grips with this and I have messed it up a whole bunch of times 🙁

[sarahk]

try

<?php 
//$text = '<span class="smalltext">'; 
$text = '<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" border="1"><tr>';
//make query 

//don't need there "where 1" bit
$sql = 'SELECT content_heading, content_page, content_datestamp, content_summary 
FROM e107_content WHERE content_page >0 ORDER BY content_datestamp DESC LIMIT 3';
$result = mysql_query($sql); 
$cnt = 0;
while ($latestthreads = mysql_fetch_array($result)) 
{ 
  //Create text variable to pass HTML 
  $text .="<td>$latestthreads['content_heading']<br/>$latestthreads ['content_summary']</td>"; 
  $cnt++;
} 
//add extra cells just incase the query doesn't return 3
//you may be able to miss this out.
while ($cnt < 3)
{
  $text .= '<td>&nbsp;</td>';
}
//Render table with E107 support and then display $text query variable 

//$text .="</span>"; 
$text .= '</tr></table>'
// I don't know what this does but I'm guessing that's ok
$ns->tablerender("Last 3 Reviews", $text);  

?> 

[pseudonym]

Thank you very much for such a quick reply :eek:

I've given it a quick go and I read the code (Im trying to understand it) 🙂 then I put it in.

I got this...

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_ENCAPSED_AND_WHITESPACE, expecting T_STRING or T_VARIABLE or T_NUM_STRING in M:\minixampp\htdocs\e107_plugins\top3_menu\top3_menu.php on line 13

Line 13 reads

$text .="<td>$latestthreads['content_heading']<br/>$latestthreads['content_summary']</td>"; 

I really appreciate your time on this 🙂

[sarahk]

sorry, when referring to array variables the syntax is this:

$text .="<td>{$latestthreads['content_heading']}<br/>{$latestthreads['content_summary']}</td>";

the {} make the world of difference :eek:

[pseudonym]

Originally posted by sarahk
sorry, when referring to array variables the syntax is this:

$text .="<td>{$latestthreads['content_heading']}<br/>{$latestthreads['content_summary']}</td>";

the {} make the world of difference :eek: [/B]

Doh.. I should have noticed that as well :o

Gonna try this now 😃😃

[pseudonym]

Im still ./clueless.. I did that and whoosh.. my apache server load went to 99% and started climbing memory usage to 125mb :eek:

Thanks for taking the time though SarahK 🙂

[sarahk]

could you post all your code. There is a loop going wrong somewhere.

[pseudonym]

<?php  

//$text = '<span class="smalltext">'; 
$text = '<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" border="1"><tr>'; 
//make query 

//don't need there "where 1" bit 
$sql = 'SELECT content_heading, content_page, content_datestamp, content_summary FROM e107_content WHERE content_page >0 ORDER BY content_datestamp DESC LIMIT 3'; 
$result = mysql_query($sql);  

$cnt = 0; 
while ($latestthreads = mysql_fetch_array($result))  

{  

  //Create text variable to pass HTML 
$text .="<td>$latestthreads['content_heading']<br />$latestthreads['content_summary']</td>";  

$cnt++; 
}  

//add extra cells just incase the query doesn't return 3 
//you may be able to miss this out. 
while ($cnt < 4) 
{ 
  $text .= '<td>&nbsp;</td>'; 
} 
//Render table with E107 support and then display $text query variable 

//$text .="</span>"; 
$text .= '</tr></table>'; 
// This an E107 thing to create graphical borders and put$text inside it 
$ns->tablerender("Last 3 Reviews", $text);   

?>  

🙂

[sarahk]

lets just run this bit

I've changed thelimit statement to LIMIT 0, 3
I've commented out the formatting class at the bottom.

<?php   

//$text = '<span class="smalltext">'; 
$text = '<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" border="1"><tr>';  

//make query 

//don't need there "where 1" bit 
$sql = 'SELECT content_heading, content_page, content_datestamp, content_summary FROM e107_content WHERE content_page >0 ORDER BY content_datestamp DESC LIMIT 0, 3';  

$result = mysql_query($sql);   

$cnt = 0;  

while ($latestthreads = mysql_fetch_array($result))   

{   

  //Create text variable to pass HTML 
$text .="<td>$latestthreads['content_heading']<br />$latestthreads['content_summary']</td>";   

$cnt++;  

}   

//add extra cells just incase the query doesn't return 3 
//you may be able to miss this out. 
while ($cnt < 4)  

{  

  $text .= '<td>&nbsp;</td>';  

}  

//Render table with E107 support and then display $text query variable 

//$text .="</span>"; 
$text .= '</tr></table>';  

echo $text;
// This an E107 thing to create graphical borders and put$text inside it 
//$ns->tablerender("Last 3 Reviews", $text);    

?>  

[pseudonym]

Same line 13 error 🙁

Should I try putting those curly braces back in now? {}

/me tries to be helpful 🙂

[sarahk]

Sorry, didn't notice that, I was concentrating on the looping issue.
Yes, put the braces back in.

[pseudonym]

I put the braces back in.. to look like this...

$text .="<td>{$latestthreads['content_heading']}<br/>{$latestthreads['content_summary']}</td>";

and the same looping error occured 🙁 .. no output but Apache climbs memory usage skyward and CPU usage goes to 100%.

Im being a pain now. I've spent the day looking for a solution but I haven't got one.

[sarahk]

Um, embarrassed!

The loop to pad with empty cells wasn't incrementing itself.

So this works:

<?php    

//my code to connect to the database.
//include '/www/virtual/pcpm/includes/dbsetup.php';
//$text = '<span class="smalltext">'; 
$text = '<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" border="1"><tr>';   

//make query 

//don't need there "where 1" bit 
$sql = 'SELECT `content_heading`, `content_page`, `content_datestamp`, `content_summary` FROM `e107_content` WHERE `content_page` >0 ORDER BY `content_datestamp` DESC LIMIT 0, 3';   

$sql = 'SELECT * FROM `e107_content` LIMIT 0, 3';
$result = mysql_query($sql);    

$cnt = 0;   

while ($latestthreads = mysql_fetch_array($result))    

{    

  //Create text variable to pass HTML 
  $text .="<td>{$latestthreads['content_heading']}<br/>{$latestthreads['content_summary']}</td>";    

  $cnt++;   

}    

//add extra cells just incase the query doesn't return 3 
//you may be able to miss this out. 
while ($cnt < 3)   

{   

  $text .= '<td>&nbsp;</td>';
  $cnt++;   

}   

//Render table with E107 support and then display $text query variable 

//$text .="</span>"; 
$text .= '</tr></table>';   

echo $text; 
// This an E107 thing to create graphical borders and put$text inside it 
//$ns->tablerender("Last 3 Reviews", $text);     

highlight_file('pseudonym.php');
?>   

and you can see it at http://www.pcpropertymanager.com/test/pseudonym.php

[pseudonym]

Thank you so much 😃

Ive just tested it.. and it works flawlessly.

You are a genius! 😃