More proficient code?

[Kudose]

Is there a more proficient way to build this code, which builds a link bar for a shopping cart, for PHP 4.3.8?

Thanks!

print ("<table border='0' width='100%' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='2'><tr><td width='100%'><a href='index.php'>$la_search_home</a>");

	$sql_1 = "select * from ".$prefix."store_category where cat_id = $cat_id";
	$result1 = mysql_query ($sql_1);
	$row = mysql_fetch_array($result1);

	$catid_1 = $row["cat_id"];

	$catfatherid_1 = $row["cat_father_id"];

	$catname_1 = $row["category"];

	$t1 = $catname_1;

	$catid1 = $catid_1;

    if ($catfatherid_1 <> 0)
		{
			$sql_lowercat = "select * from ".$prefix."store_category where cat_id = $catfatherid_1";
			$result = mysql_query ($sql_lowercat);
			$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
			$catid_2 = $row["cat_id"];
			$catfatherid_2 = $row["cat_father_id"];
			$catname_2 = $row["category"];
			$t2 = $catname_2;
			$catid2 = $catid_2;
		}

    if ($catfatherid_2 <> 0)
		{
			$sql_lowercat = "select * from ".$prefix."store_category where cat_id = $catfatherid_2";
			$result = mysql_query ($sql_lowercat);
			$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
			$catid_3 = $row["cat_id"];
			$catfatherid_3 = $row["cat_father_id"];
			$catname_3 = $row["category"];
			$t3 = $catname_3;
			$catid3 = $catid_3;
		}

    if ($catfatherid_3 <> 0)
		{
			$sql_lowercat = "select * from ".$prefix."store_category where cat_id = $catfatherid_3";
			$result = mysql_query ($sql_lowercat);
			$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
			$catid_4 = $row["cat_id"];
			$catfatherid_4 = $row["cat_father_id"];
			$catname_4 = $row["category"];
			$t4 = $catname_4;
			$catid4 = $catid_4;
		}

    if ($catfatherid_4 <> 0)
		{
			$sql_lowercat = "select * from ".$prefix."store_category where cat_id = $catfatherid_4";
			$result = mysql_query ($sql_lowercat);
			$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
			$catid_5 = $row["cat_id"];
			$catfatherid_5 = $row["cat_father_id"];
			$catname_5 = $row["category"];
			$t5 = $catname_5;
			$catid5 = $catid_5;
		}

    if ($catfatherid_5 <> 0)
		{
			$sql_lowercat = "select * from ".$prefix."store_category where cat_id = $catfatherid_5";
			$result = mysql_query ($sql_lowercat);
			$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
			$catid_6 = $row["cat_id"];
			$catfatherid_6 = $row["cat_father_id"];
			$catname_6 = $row["category"];
			$t6 = $catname_6;
			$catid6 = $catid_6;
		}

    if ($catfatherid_6 <> 0)
		{
			$sql_lowercat = "select * from ".$prefix."store_category where cat_id = $catfatherid_6";
			$result = mysql_query ($sql_lowercat);
			$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
			$catid_7 = $row["cat_id"];
			$catfatherid_7 = $row["cat_father_id"];
			$catname_7 = $row["category"];
			$t7 = $catname_7;
			$catid7 = $catid_7;
		}

	if ($catfatherid_7 <> 0)
		{
			$sql_lowercat = "select * from ".$prefix."store_category where cat_id = $catfatherid_7";
			$result = mysql_query ($sql_lowercat);
			$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
			$catid_8 = $row["cat_id"];
			$catfatherid_8 = $row["cat_father_id"];
			$catname_8 = $row["category"];
			$t8 = $catname_8;
			$catid8 = $catid_8;
		}

	if ($catfatherid_8 <> 0)
		{
			$sql_lowercat = "select * from ".$prefix."store_category where cat_id = $catfatherid_8";
			$result = mysql_query ($sql_lowercat);
			$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
			$catid_9 = $row["cat_id"];
			$catfatherid_9 = $row["cat_father_id"];
			$catname_9 = $row["category"];
			$t9 = $catname_9;
			$catid9 = $catid_9;
		}

// print resultant data with links
if ($t9)
print " > <a href='index.php?cat_id=$catid8&amp;catname=" . urlencode($t9) . "'>$t9</a>";

if ($t8)
print " > <a href='index.php?cat_id=$catid8&amp;catname=" . urlencode($t8) . "'>$t8</a>";

if ($t7)
print " > <a href='index.php?cat_id=$catid7&amp;catname=" . urlencode($t7) . "'>$t7</a>";

if ($t6)
print " > <a href='index.php?cat_id=$catid6&amp;catname=" . urlencode($t6) . "'>$t6</a>";

if ($t5)
print " > <a href='index.php?cat_id=$catid5&amp;catname=" . urlencode($t5) . "'>$t5</a>";

if ($t4)
print " > <a href='index.php?cat_id=$catid4&amp;catname=" . urlencode($t4) . "'>$t4</a>";

if ($t3)
print " > <a href='index.php?cat_id=$catid3&amp;catname=" . urlencode($t3) . "'>$t3</a>";

if ($t2)
print " > <a href='index.php?cat_id=$catid2&amp;catname=" . urlencode($t2) . "'>$t2</a>";

if ($t1)
print " > <a href='index.php?cat_id=$catid1&amp;catname=" . urlencode($t1) . "'>$t1</a>";
print "</td></tr></table>";

[Weedpacket]

Whenever you write the same chunk of code more than twice, it's a pretty fair guess to suspect that you're doing something better left to a machine to do 🙂

function subcategories($cat_id, &$results)
{
	$query = 'select cat_id, cat_father_id, category from '.$prefix.'store_category where cat_id='.$cat_id;
	$result = mysql_query($query);
	$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
	// Shove them onto the beginning of the array so
	// that they end up in reverse order.
	array_unshift($results, $row);
}




print ("<table border='0' width='100%' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='2'><tr><td width='100%'><a href='index.php'>$la_search_home</a>");

$results = array();

while($cat_id!=0)
{
	subcategories($cat_id, $results);
	$cat_id = $results[0]['cat_father_id'];
}

foreach($results as $result)
{
	print "> <a href='index.php?cat_id=".$result['cat_id']."&catname=".urlencode($result['category'])."'>".$result['category']."</a>";
}

print "</td></tr></table>";

That looks about right, but it's completely untested. The basic idea is there, though.

[Kudose]

I havent tried it yet, but I grasp the idea.

I must say that you, nenemon(sp?), devinemke, and a handful of other thread resolvers are the coolest and I appreciate your assistance more than you know.