Help pls! Need simple fix but don't know how to do it- rows/columns results display

[murphdev]

New here and new to php but learning. Using template sites and making my way around but some things I just don't know how to do yet. Here is one of them 🙂 Please don't laugh at me as I really am a newbie!!

I have a classified ads site. On the home page it automatically displays and rotates "featured ads" with images, works great. But it's setup to only display 2 ads. The way the table is setup it can only hold 2 ads side by side. What I want to do is display 6 ads instead of 2, so 3 rows of 2 ads each. I have monkeyed with the code to change it to 4 (by changing "limit 0, 2 to 0,4), and it does pull up 4 but then they are all 4 side by side and you have to scroll way over on the page. I tried entering a row variable after the colspan but nothing happens. I'm sure this is dead simple but how the heck do I get the ads to display in rows of 2 :bemused: ???

Here is the code, could someone please tell me what and where to change it? Thanks so much in advance for any help!!!

//get the featured listings

$q1 = "select * from class_catalog, class_categories where class_catalog.CategoryID = class_categories.CategoryID and class_catalog.FeaturedStatus = '1' order by rand() limit 0,2 ";
$r1 = mysql_query($q1) or die(mysql_error());

if(mysql_num_rows($r1) > '0')
{
$FeaturedAds .= "<table align=center width=431><tr>\n\t<td colspan=2 align=center valign=top class=thead align=center>Featured Ads</td>\n</tr>\n\n<tr>\n\t";

while($a1 = mysql_fetch_array($r1))
{
	$al++;

	if($al == '1')
	{
		$align = "align=left";
	}
	elseif($al == '2')
	{
		$align = "align=center";
	}
	else
	{
		$align = "align=right";
	}

	$FeaturedAds .= "<td width=216 $align>\n\n\t\t";

	$FeaturedAds .= "<table width=200 cellspacing=0 border=1 bordercolor=DCDCDC rules=rows>\n\t\t<tr>\n\t\t";

	if(!empty($a1[images]))
	{
		$ShowImage = explode("|", $a1[images]);
		$FeaturedAds .= "<td width=120 height=96 align=center valign=top><img src=\"images/$ShowImage[0]\" width=120 height=96></td>\n\n\t\t<td width=120 height=96 valign=top><a class=BlackLink href=\"info.php?id=$a1[ProductID]\">$a1[ProductName]</a></td>\n\t\t</tr>\n\t\t";
	}
	else
	{
		$FeaturedAds .= "<td width=200 height=100 align=left valign=top><a class=BlackLink href=\"info.php?id=$a1[ProductID]\">$a1[ProductName]</a></td>\n\t\t</tr>\n\t\t";
	}

	$FeaturedAds .= "</table>\n\n\t";

	$FeaturedAds .= "</td>\n\n\t";

	$fa++;
}

for($fe = '1'; $fe <= (2 - $fa); $fe++)
{
	$FeaturedAds .= "<td width=200>&nbsp;</td>\n\t";
}

$FeaturedAds .= "</tr>\n\n";

$FeaturedAds .= "<tr>\n\t<td colspan=2 align=center valign=top height=5></td>\n</tr>\n</table>\n\n";

}

[paulnaj]

Hi murphdev,

In order to try and help you, I've tweaked (!) your code to make it readable (to me). Hope you're not offended.

Seems to me that you're trying to write 'minimal' code for some reason. Don't bother with that ... much, much better to write everything out in full, especially if you're a noob.

You'll give yourself a chance to see how to adapt stuff later, without having to 'unpack' the logic first. I know a lot of coders will go your way, but that's because they absolutely know what they're doing, and don't have to 'unpack'.

So, here's a copy of your code ... I may have a made a typo or two, but I can't test it without access to your database!!

<?php
$q1 = "
	SELECT *
	FROM class_catalog, class_categories 
	WHERE class_catalog.CategoryID = class_categories.CategoryID 
	AND class_catalog.FeaturedStatus = '1' 
	ORDER BY rand() 
	LIMIT 0, 2 
"; 

$r1 = @mysql_query($q1) or die(mysql_error()); 
if(mysql_num_rows($r1) > 0){ 
	$FeaturedAds .= '
<table align="center" width="431">
	<tr>
		<td colspan="2" align="center" valign="top" class="thead" align="center">Featured Ads</td>
	</tr>
	<tr>';
	$al = 0; // Why not just declare it here and give it a comment
	while($a1 = mysql_fetch_array($r1)){ 
		$al++; 
		if($al == 1){ 
			$align = 'align="left"'; 
		} elseif($al == 2){ 
			$align = 'align="center"'; 
		} else { 
			$align = 'align="right"'; 
		} 
		$FeaturedAds .= '
		<td width="216" '.$align.'>'; 
		$FeaturedAds .= '
			<table width="200" cellspacing="0" border="1" bordercolor="#DCDCDC" rules="rows">
				<tr>'; 
		if(!empty($a1['images'])){ 
			$ShowImage = explode('|', $a1['images']); 
			$FeaturedAds .= '
					<td width="120" height="96" align="center" valign="top"><img src="images/'.$ShowImage[0].'" width="120" height="96"></td>
					<td width="120" height="96" valign="top"><a class="BlackLink" href="info.php?id='.$a1['ProductID'].'">'.$a1['ProductName'].'</a></td>
				</tr>'; 
		} else { 
			$FeaturedAds .= '
					<td width="200" height="100" align="left" valign="top"><a class="BlackLink" href="info.php?id='.$a1['ProductID'].'">'.$a1['ProductName'].'</a></td>
				</tr>'; 
		} 
		$FeaturedAds .= '
			</table>
		</td>'; 
		$fa++; 
	} 
	for($fe = 1; $fe <= (2 - $fa); $fe++){ 
		$FeaturedAds .= '
		<td width="200"> </td>'; 
	} 
	$FeaturedAds .= '
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<td colspan="2" align="center" valign="top" height="5"></td>
	</tr>
</table>'; 
}
?>

Notice a couple of things ...

1) I use single quotes for ALL strings and DON'T embed variables. This, for me, is an absolute no-no.

2) Layout the HTML without \n and \t. Note that using single-quoted strings still allows you to do it my way, but won't allow you to use \n or \t which need to be embedded in double-quoted strings.

3) Always put quotes around array keys
Good: $a1['ProductID']
Bad:$a1[ProductID]

4) Don't put quotes around numeric variables
Good: if($al == 1)
Bad: if($al == '1')

5) Although HTML doesn't care at the moment if you don't put double-quotes around attribute values, it is becoming standard practise. For XHTML it is absolutely required.
Good: <table align="center" width="431">
Bad: <table align=center width=431>

6) Comment your code!!!!

Hope that helps ... maybe you can see what to do now ... come back if not.

Paul. 🙂

[murphdev]

Hi Paulnaj and thank you so much for your input here 🙂 I put your code in but I still have the same problem in that only 2 ads are showing and if I change that 0,2 to 0,4 then the 4 show all the way across and I need to have them show 2 to a row times 3 rows for a total of 6. I suspect you just forgot that part when you went to all the work to clean up that code 🙂

Could you tell me how/where to make these show up as rows of 2 ads? The original code you saw is from a template, I didn't write it and I am only just learning to even understand the basics of php, so I don't know where to begin in terms of getting the results I want from this code. I am studying both the original and your changed version and trying to understand it better.

Could you please help me with that one issue? Thanks SO much!!!!

[paulnaj]

Hi Brenda,

Please don't think I'm being stroppy, but the point of this forum is to help people who already know roughly what's going on. It's going to be really difficult to explain how to do it if you're not really familiar with PHP.

I cleaned up the script, but didn't make it do the double row thing because I thought you might be able to do it for yourself afterwards.

But, since it's 'somebody else's' script, and not one you've wrote yourself, then I really don't want to put any more time in to get the code exactly right, I'm afraid. :queasy: The right thing to do is pay someone to do it for you (but don't ask on the forum, or you'll get told off).

Having said that ... the principle is this:

echo '<tr>'.
Cycle through the six records (while loop).
On each pass you echo a td, but if you are on the second or fourth record, then echo '</tr><tr>' before the td.

For the alignment...
1st, 3rd and 5th record will be left
2nd, 4th and 6th will be right

Try and do it for yourself ... if it doesn't work, come back and show us what you tried.

Paul.