"ORDER BY" problem

[mabmichael]

I am using the following code to display a table with alternating colors. I have a field called "order" in the database where I wish to specify which row appears first in my html table.
No matter what I put, it displays the rows in order they appear in the database instead of ordered by the "Order" field.

Any clue what I am doing wrong???

$query = "SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY '$order'";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die ("Query failed");
$numofrows = mysql_num_rows($result);?> 
<?PHP echo "<TABLE BORDER=\"0\">\n";
echo "<TR bgcolor= #00033ff><TD>site</TD><TD>description</TD><TD>URL</TD></TR>\n";
for($i = 0; $i < $numofrows; $i++) {
    $row = mysql_fetch_array($result); 
    if($i % 2) { 
        echo "<TR bgcolor='#0033ff'>\n";
    } else { 
        echo "<TR bgcolor='#f1e4ad'>\n";
    }
    echo "<TD>".$row['field1']."</TD><TD>".$row['field2']."</TD>\n";
    echo "</TR>\n";
}
echo "</TABLE>\n";?> 

[LordShryku]

Try without the single quotes

$query = "SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY ".$order;

[mabmichael]

I get the "query Failed" die message.
🙁

[Pig]

echo $query to see what exactly $order is.

[mabmichael]

:rolleyes:
D'OH!

order is a field on the database........ not a $

$query = "SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY 'order'";

THAT got it :o :o

Thanks for the help.....listing the variable made me realize...it WASN'T a variable!

[drawmack]

this is very bad practice, order is a reserved word in sql you should name the column order_by to avoid all possible conflicts.

[TheIceman5]

Originally posted by drawmack
this is very bad practice, order is a reserved word in sql you should name the column order_by to avoid all possible conflicts.

theres so many people out there that dont have a clue on proper naming conventions ive given up, let them fall to their own deaths and waste weeks debugging and not find problem due to improper naming of things.

[LordShryku]

Good point. I've had to point this out a buncha times too, so felt this was appropriate

[drawmack]

Originally posted by TheIceman5
theres so many people out there that dont have a clue on proper naming conventions ive given up, let them fall to their own deaths and waste weeks debugging and not find problem due to improper naming of things.

but when they fall by the wayside I might be the one who has to maintain their code.