Dynamic html table help

smoke

I will try my best to explain this problem as well as I can, but please be patient as I am new to php. I currently have an Apache ws, and a mySql database that stores events. All of the events are grouped into classes, and I want to perform a query on this db that will get all of the data, seperate the events into different groups based on each class, and then display the data seperated by class in tables that will display the events grouped by the classes, and all on one page. With each class having its own table.

ie.
Class A
Event 1
Event 2
Event 3

Class B
Event 1
Event 2
Event 3

(This script must also be able to allow for different class types to be added. ie an Event Class C may need to be added at a later date.)

This thing has me stumped, and I have been reading this forum for days, but I can't seem to find what I am looking for. Thanks in advance for all of your help, I hope that I have clearly explained my problem.

Kevin

nemonoman

basically you want to have one table...call it class_event

class_event

classID
eventID

You might have other tables, like class and/or event, but you'll mainly be interested in class_event for the queries you describe.

Each event you record causes an insert or update of the class_event table.

You'd report data out of this table by using the GROUP BY statement:

SELECT classID, count(eventID) FROM class_event
GROUP BY classID

would show howmany events for class a, for class b, etc.

SELECT classID, count(eventID) FROM class_event
GROUP BY classID, eventID

would show how many event1s for class A, how many event 2s for class A, how many event 1s for class B, how many event 2s for class b, etc.

Look at the MySQL manual for GROUP BY functions

smoke

Well see that is just it, I actually want to create two or more tables depending on the number of event classes. So that class A has its own table and class B has its own table etc. So basically I think the root of my problem is some sort of loop that will create a table for class A, containing all of the events with a class A value. Then create a seperate table for all of the events that with a class B value.

BTW Thanks for the speedy response. I have read all sorts of documentation and when I am finished reading I only wish they wrote that stuff for newbies like myself.

Appreciate the help,
Kevin

nemonoman

Unless you are significantly more experienced than you appear, may I recommend that you follow my suggestion and create one table, not many, along the lines I described earlier. This may seem counterintuitive at the moment. As you get further into it you will better understand why it is a better design.

I learned this the hard way. You can do it your way, and then spend hours and hours trying to work around an inherently difficult design...like I did, way too often until I wised up...or you can do it on the order of what I describe, cursing my name as you go; but if you do it my way, it won't be long before you start to understand the inherent wisdom of the design I'm proposing.

I sincerely doubt that any experienced hands would fundamentally disagree with my suggestions.

smoke

Not that even I, in my infinite lack of PHP knowledge dout you either. You my friend have hit the nail directly on the head as I have spent hours, days trying to fumble my way through a project that was entirely out of my scope. Thanks again for all of the help, and for your advice.

Kevin