Newb question about results in a cell

dp63130

Howdy,
Just starting out with php and mySQL and having a tough time...

I'm having some trouble getting a php page to render correctly.
I would like to have the query results in a row of their own. But the results are all publishing to their own column and thus not lining up. -I know not a good way to do it but it was all i could figure out.

Basically I would just like the results loop in a single row with a border dividing each one.
Something like this: http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/engr/databases.html

This is what I have now and as you can see the layout is not easy to read so I'd like to have a border around each result
http://researchmissouri.org/search_archive.php

Guess I should mention that I have 5 fields in the db...

The codes so ugly I dont even wanna show it to ya but if it helps I'll post it. If possible please dumb down the answer so even the newbiest of newbs can try to get a hold of it
Thanks in advance.
d

TheDefender

Something like this is what you need. Note, you will need to fill in your own fields, but this should give you an idea of how to setup the framework...

<?php
// query stuff here
?>

<table>
<tr>
<th>Head 1</th>
<th>Head 2</th>
<th>Head 3</th>
<th>Head 4</th>
<th>Head 5</th>
</tr>

<?php
while($data = mysql_fetch_array($query)) {
	echo "<tr>";
	echo "<td>".$data['field1']."</td>";
	echo "<td>".$data['field2']."</td>";
	echo "<td>".$data['field3']."</td>";
	echo "<td>".$data['field4']."</td>";
	echo "<td>".$data['field5']."</td>";
	echo "</tr>";
}
?>

</table>

dp63130

I'll give it a shot.
Thanks.
d

dp63130

Gave it a shot but am getting an odd error
heres a snippet

<?php
$usr = "";
$pwd = "";
$db = "";
$host = "localhost";

$cid = mysql_connect($host,$usr,$pwd);
if (!$cid) { echo("ERROR: " . mysql_error() . "\n");    }

if ($task=="del") {

    $SQL = " DELETE FROM dbname ";
    $SQL = $SQL . " WHERE id = $id ";
    mysql_db_query($db, $SQL, $cid);

}

?>
<tr>
<th>Head 1</th>
<th>Head 2</th>
<th>Head 3</th>
<th>Head 4</th>
<th>Head 5</th>
</tr>

<?php
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($query)) {
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>".$name['name']."</td>";
echo "<td>".$url['url']."</td>";
echo "<td>".$contact['contact']."</td>";
echo "<td>".$category['category']."</td>";
echo "<td>".$description['description']."</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
?>

Guess I'm most confused about the query stuff and the formating of this tag.

echo "<td>".$['']."</td>";
is this my database or the field?
** is ths the field?
Thanks for helping the newb,
D

TheDefender

if ($task=="del") { 

$SQL = " DELETE FROM dbname "; 
$SQL = $SQL . " WHERE id = $id "; 
$dbQuery = mysql_db_query($db, $SQL, $cid); 

} 


?> 
<tr> 
<th>Head 1</th> 
<th>Head 2</th> 
<th>Head 3</th> 
<th>Head 4</th> 
<th>Head 5</th> 
</tr> 

<?php 
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($dbQuery)) { 
echo "<tr>"; 
echo "<td>".$row['name']."</td>"; 
echo "<td>".$row['url']."</td>"; 
echo "<td>".$row['contact']."</td>"; 
echo "<td>".$row['category']."</td>"; 
echo "<td>".$row['description']."</td>"; 
echo "</tr>"; 
} 
?>

LordShryku

Hrmm...I'd think you'd want all of that within your if statement. Otherwise you're going to get other errors because there was no resultset to build the table with. Unless there's something else above there performing a query.

dp63130

mmmm.
its all pretty much right there..

should I be structuring it a different way?

<table width="800" border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#d7d7d7" bgcolor="#b7b7b7" class="body1">
<tr class="body1">
<td height="17" valign="top" bgcolor="6E7466" class="bodywhite10">Name</td>
<td class="bodywhite10" valign="top" bgcolor="6E7466">Contact</td>
<td class="bodywhite10" valign="top" bgcolor="6E7466"> Convener</td>
<td class="bodywhite10" valign="top" bgcolor="6E7466">Expertise</td>
<td class="bodywhite10" valign="top" bgcolor="6E7466">Area of Strength</td>
</tr>
<tr> <?php
$usr = "";
$pwd = "";
$db = "";
$host = "";

$cid = mysql_connect($host,$usr,$pwd);
if (!$cid) { echo("ERROR: " . mysql_error() . "\n");    }

if ($task=="del") {

$SQL = " DELETE FROM links ";
$SQL = $SQL . " WHERE id = $id ";
$dbQuery = mysql_db_query($db, $SQL, $cid);

}

?>
<tr>
<th>Head 1</th>
<th>Head 2</th>
<th>Head 3</th>
<th>Head 4</th>
<th>Head 5</th>
</tr>

<?php

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($dbQuery)) {

echo "<tr>";

echo "<td>".$row['name']."</td>";

echo "<td>".$row['url']."</td>";

echo "<td>".$row['contact']."</td>";

echo "<td>".$row['category']."</td>";

echo "<td>".$row['description']."</td>";

echo "</tr>";

}

?>

</tr>
</table>

LordShryku

Well, look at it from the perspective of if $task isn't "del". You'll end up with a blank table (just heading content), and an error in the while loop ( while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($dbQuery)) ) because $dbQuery doesn't exist. I'd move that if statement to the top, with a basic error message in an else for the "catch all". Also, I'd probably structure the table only to be build only if a result was returned.

<?php
if(isset($task) && $task == 'del') {
   $usr  = "";
   $pwd  = "";
   $db   = "";
   $host = "";

   $cid = mysql_connect($host,$usr,$pwd) OR die(mysql_error());

   $SQL = " DELETE FROM links WHERE id = $id";
   $dbQuery = mysql_db_query($db, $SQL, $cid);

   if(mysql_num_rows($dbQuery) > 0) {
?>
<table width="800" border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#d7d7d7" bgcolor="#b7b7b7" class="body1">
  <tr class="body1">
    <td height="17" valign="top" bgcolor="6E7466" class="bodywhite10"><strong>Name</strong></td>
    <td class="bodywhite10" valign="top" bgcolor="6E7466"><strong>Contact</strong></td>
    <td class="bodywhite10" valign="top" bgcolor="6E7466"><strong> Convener</strong></td>
    <td class="bodywhite10" valign="top" bgcolor="6E7466"><strong>Expertise</strong></td>
    <td class="bodywhite10" valign="top" bgcolor="6E7466"><strong>Area of Strength</strong></td>
  </tr>
<?php
      while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($dbQuery)) {
?>
  <tr>
    <td><?php echo $row['name']; ?></td>
    <td><?php echo $row['url']; ?></td>
    <td><?php echo $row['contact']; ?></td>
    <td><?php echo $row['category']; ?></td>
    <td><?php echo $row['description']; ?></td>
  </tr>
<?php
      }
?>
</table>
<?php
   }
   else {
      echo 'No rows returned from SQL query';
   }
}
else {
   echo 'Invalid task!';
}
?>

This really has nothing to do with your initial question, and Defender has you covered there, it's more just a question of your logic.

But beyond the structure, I'm also curious as to what you expect to display. This is a delete query, so it's not actually pulling any information...

TheDefender

D'OH! Delete query... I didn't even really look at that or the aspect of the logic... I was focusing on the table structure... ARGH! I hate it when I try to help out in a rush...

Thanks for the clear-up LS...

dp63130

ahhh. I missed that as well. Once I got it working I ignored it.

Thanks for the heads up. -I come from a graphic design background, the hole coding thing is new to me. as I'm sure you could tell.