help with this while (loop script)

aron

this is the script and it works

<? while ($line_suburb = mysql_fetch_array($sql_result_suburb, MYSQL_ASSOC)) { ?>
<a href="simsub.php?suburb=<? print $line_suburb["suburb_name"]; ?>&nav=ss&order=id" class="body"><? print $line_suburb["suburb_name"]; ?></a> <? } ?>

but it pricts like this

ALberton Bahrs Scrub Beenleigh Beenleigh Belivah Berrinba Bethania Boronia Heights Browns Plains Buccan Burbank Calamvale Capalaba Carbrook etc.....

i want to print it into columns and hopfully be able to tell it how many colums to make for starters 2 is good but if i think 3 will be better id like to be able to change it to 3 without to mu mucking around.

so this for 2 colums

ALberton Bahrs Scrub
Beenleigh Beenleigh
Belivah Berrinba
Bethania Boronia Heights
Browns Plains Buccan
Burbank Calamvale
Capalaba Carbrook

etc......

or this for 3

ALberton Bahrs Scrub Beenleigh

Beenleigh Belivah Berrinba
Bethania Boronia Heights Browns Plains

Buccan Burbank Calamvale
Capalaba Carbrook

etc......

sneakyimp

your post is a bit confusing, but you are either going to have to work in a FOR loop somehow (which will complicate your query/fetch array stuff) or you are going to have to keep track of a COLUMN variable...maybe like this:

$num_columns = 2;
$col = 0;
echo "<table>";
while($line_suburb = mysql_fetch_array($sql_result_suburb, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
   $col++;
   if ($col == 1) {
      echo "<tr>"; 
   } 
   echo "<td>$line_suburb</td>";
   if ($col == $num_columns) {
      echo "</tr>"; 
      $col = 0;
   } 
}
echo "</table>";

hope that helps.

aron

thanks ill check it out.

aron

ok it works but it prints like this

1 2 3
4 5 6
etc..

any way to get it like this

1 3 5
2 4 6
etc...

<?
$num_columns = 3; 
$col = 0; 
echo "<table>"; 
while($line_suburb = mysql_fetch_array($sql_result_suburb, MYSQL_ASSOC)) { 
   $suburbs = $line_suburb["suburb_name"];
   $col++; 
   if ($col == 1) { 
      echo "<tr>";  

   }  

   echo "<td width=150 >$suburbs</td>"; 
   if ($col == $num_columns) { 
      echo "</tr>";  

      $col = 0; 
   }  

} 
echo "</table>";
?>

cheers aron.

sneakyimp

hmmmm....

i'm not sure off the top of my head, but i think you'll have to specify exactly how many rows you want and let the columns work themselves out...is that OK? If not, your logic regarding the query is going to have to change so that you can make some decisions in your code about how many rows and columns you want.

what i mean i guess is that you have to pick either the number of rows OR the number of columns. and if you want to start filing out rows first and you don't know how many items you have total, you're going to have to pick a number of rows--unless you want to rip through your query results real quick and count them up.

...it's a bit trickier this way because tables are rendered left-to right in HTML....a multi dimensional array might do the trick.

 <? 
$num_rows = 2;
$row = 0;  

while($line_suburb = mysql_fetch_array($sql_result_suburb, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
   $suburb = $line_suburb["suburb_name"];
   $row++;
   if ($row > $num_rows) {  

      $row = 1;
   }
   $output_rows[$row] .= "<td width=150 >$suburb</td>";
}  

echo "<table>";
for($i=1; $i<=$num_rows; $i++) {
   echo "<tr>" . $output_rows[$i] . "</tr>";
}
echo "</table>"; 
?>

hope that might help.