letter pagination

[grudz]

I have a database with a listing, i also have a page that shows me those records depending on different ways users search them (alot of $_GET....if this textbox has this, show these records....etc...) everything works great, but now i have a little problem. I have the letters from A to Z so that a user can click on any one of them to see which record starts with the approprate letter. the problem is that if a user clicks A --> it'll show ALL the records that start with A. I dont want to get stuck writings tons of if statements (because im not that apt with PHP) so is there a way to tell "show me the records AFTER the search results that start with A"

this is my code up to now

                            <?php $letters = range('A', 'Z');  

for ($i = 0; $i < count($letters); $i++) {  

    print ' <a href="list.php?letter=' . $letters[$i] . '">' . $letters[$i] . '</a> -';  

}?>  

i dont know if what i explained makes sense, but if anybody can help, that would be greatly appreciated, since i have been at this for a while.....thank you

[lazzerous]

using the range() function, you can easily change your starting point:

$after = "0";
// $after corresponds to the array number corresponding to the letter
$letters = range('A', 'Z');   

for ($i = $after; $i < count($letters); $i++)
  {
  print ' <a href="list.php?letter=' . $letters[$i] . '">' . $letters[$i] . '</a> -';   

  }

You could also do this

$start_letter = "B";
// $start_letter is the first letter to be used in the range
$letters = range($start_letter, 'Z');   

for ($i = 0; $i < count($letters); $i++)
  {
  print ' <a href="list.php?letter=' . $letters[$i] . '">' . $letters[$i] . '</a> -';   

  }

[grudz]

thanx for the code lazzerous, but its still showing me the letter (A for example) fo ALL the records.....

although i am very new to PHP so i think you are more right then ill ever be, i dont see how this code says what i need it to say which is: show me these records (these meaning what is show on the page now) that start with the appropriate letter

thanx so far

[lazzerous]

are you trying to find records only from a specific letter?

well, let's say G, which would also be $letters[6] (arrays start at 0, not 1)

print ' <a href="list.php?letter=' . $letters[6] . '">' . $letters[6] . '</a> -';

---

if you're trying to stop the letter you're showing records from viewing as a link, you would use an 'if' statement pertaining to a variable that determines what arecords are being shown.
I'll use $show_letter for this example

If we're showing records for letter 'C', than:
$show_letter = "C';

so in our loop:

for ($i = $after; $i < count($letters); $i++) 
  { 
  if ($letters[$i] == $show_letter)
    {
    // we are on this page -  do not display as a link
    print $letters[$i] . " -";
    }
  else
    {
    // display as a link
    print ' <a href="list.php?letter=' . $letters[$i] . '">' . $letters[$i] . '</a> -'; 
    }
  }

---

Now, if you're looking to add a 'Next' link for the next latter in the series from your current starting point, meaning if we're on page 'G', 'Next' should link to results from 'H'

we could use a similar concept from above, where we reference the array element number from the page we're on.
So, '2' would be the element number for 'C' ($letters[2] == "C")
we'll call this variable $on_element

echo "You are vieving results form the letter $letters[$on_element].<br>\n";
$next_element = $on_element + 1;
echo "<a href='list.php?letter=$next_element'>' . $letters[$next_element] . '</a> -";

Let me know if none of the above help you solve your problem

also, if they don't please try to give some more insight to your issue.

Thanks,
-=Lazz=-

[grudz]

i guess im not explaining myself well enough, although i am going to keep this code just in case i need it another time. Anyway, this is my situation. I have one page that is like a search results page for around 5 different types of ways a user can search for records. lets say a user searches by type (which is one of my searches)--> to be able to click on a letter, like G, and narrow down the search by those records that start with the letter G.

However,

another user might search by type and location--> that would give different results. and i want the same time as above. T

The way i have it now, if the user clicks on G, it'll show ALL the records that start with G, regardless of the search results showing on the page. So what im hoping is to have a code that says: (user clicks on G) narrow these records (the ones on the page) that start with the letter G.

???

[lazzerous]

ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh

ok :-D

ok, so lets breaj this apart now.
Given i don't have your code, I'm going to create my own variable names..

so let's say each possible search field is it's own variable - we'll stick with type and location

$search_type
$search_location

so, you would have a select statement something like this:

select whatever from table_name where
type like '%search_type%'
OR
location like '%$search_location%';

now, to limit to one letter, the search query would be modded like so:

select whatever from table_name where
(type like '%search_type%' AND type like 'G%')
OR
(location like '%$search_location%' AND location like 'G%');

is that what you were looking for?

[grudz]

exactly, but the first query (without the LIKE 'G%' has to stay).

also i was thinking if there was a code that'll just add "&letter=whatever letter" to the url, if there is i think that might work.

also....do you want me to post my code? would that be easier?

[grudz]

so? have any ideas?