Database listing in a table

deejayhallam

I have the following code that lists my database information as follows:

  <?php //alphalist.php
Connect to database.......

for ($ascii=0; $ascii<26; $ascii++) { 
$letter = chr($ascii+65); 
$result = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT(id) FROM wanted WHERE surname LIKE '$letter%'"); 
$count = mysql_result($result,0); 
if ($count>0) { 
  echo '<a href="category.php?cat=' . $letter . '">'; 
  echo "$letter</a> ("; 
  echo $count; 
  echo ' links)<br><br>'; 
} else { 
  echo '<a href="category.php?cat=' . $letter . '">'; 
  echo "$letter</a> (0 links)<br><br>"; 
} }
?>

which gives me the links listed in a long column as below:

A (0 links)

B (0 links)

C (0 links)

D (5 links)

E (1 links)

F (2 links)

and on and on to z - to the bottom of the page!

Question? - How do I put this in a table across the page - in 3 columns
such as:
A (0 links) I (0 links) Q (0 links)

B (0 links) J (0 links) R (5 links)

C (1 links) K (2 links) S (1 links)

D (5 links) L (0 links) T (0 links)

E (0 links) M (0 links) U (0 links)

And on And on And on

Many thanks for your help

devinemke

here's a rough example:

for ($ascii = 0; $ascii < 26; $ascii++)
{ 
	$letter = chr($ascii+65); 
	$result = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT(id) FROM wanted WHERE surname LIKE '$letter%'");
	$array[$letter] = mysql_result($result, 0);
}

$chunks = array_chunk($array, ceil(count($array) / 3));

echo '<table border=1><tr valign="top">';
foreach ($chunks as $value)
{
	echo '<td>';
	foreach ($value as $letter => $count)
	{
		echo $letter . ' (' . $count . ' links)<br>';
	}
	echo '</td>';
}
echo '<tr></table>';

deejayhallam

Hi devinemke,

Sorry but it doesn't quite work! Also the href link is not there!
This is what I get: see attached jpeg Sorry will not attach
PM 'd you!

Many thanx
Dave

Roger_Ramjet

A SIMPLE answer: with HTML table columns

You need to calculate how many rows there will be in each column, ie row count/3 for 3 columns. If the remainder is 0 then that is the number in each column, if >0 then add 1. Use this as an index for a loop. Fill column 1, then 2, then 3.

I'm not going to write the code for you, it should be straight forward: table columns are about as basic as html gets.

PHP: use DO ... WHILE instead of WHILE for the loop count: http://uk2.php.net/manual/en/control-structures.do.while.php

sarahk

Here's a more complete example:

http://sarahk.pcpropertymanager.com/muck/ultimate_columns.php