[Resolved] count if filled, by row in table

[zapa]

stuck in a jam here, would like to try to find a answer before doing a work around.

Want to Count number for Selected Field in a Table if its filled
return how many are not empty.

my table would look like this:
Table Name: EXAMPLE

Inserted 1

event_id: 1
child_1: joe
child_2: sam
child_3:
child_4
etc...child_25

child_age_1:12
child_age_2:3
child_age_3:6
child_age_4
etc...child_age_25
extra_field
other_field

etc...

Inserted 2

event_id : 2
child_1: Jack
child_2: Lue
child_3: sam
child_4
etc...child_25

child_age_1:12
child_age_2:13
child_age_3:14
child_age_4
etc...child_age_25
extra_field
other_field

other..

How to count Number of Child_# IF NOT empty? $count++ for each differnt Inserted record.

i tryed using a while and mysql_fetch_array but that would return each row..

want to make a page that shows a quick over view of how many flled and if not filed dont count.

want the output to be:
event 1:
number of child attending: 2
event 2:
number of child attending: 3

any help would be grate!

[tekky]

I would have to say your Database is setup wrong to do it easily.... with PHP you could do...

SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY event_id ASC

//do your query and such
$replace = array(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9); //used to remove #'s from the keys
unset($events); //storage array for events
while( $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
    $curID = $row['event_id'];
    foreach($row as $key => $value)
    {
//note used child_age_ here because it would set off the loop
//if you triggered on child_ alone
        if ((str_replace($replace, '',$key) == 'child_age_') && (strlen((!empty($value)))
            $events[$curID]++; //increment current events count by 1
    }
}
//whatever else you need to do.... 
//how to display the stats...

foreach($events as $key => $value)
{
    echo "Event #$key: $value participants.<br>";
}