Extracting array.

Shaped

Hi people.

the array = Anthony;User submitted comments.][John;User 2 comments][Dva;User3comments][Gringo;User4 comments

The above is in the database.

Im using

					
						$op = explode("][","$comments");
						foreach($op as $value)
						{
								$content .= '<br /><table>';
								$content .= '<tr><td>'.$value.'</td></tr>';
								$content .= '</table><br />';
						}

To get the data into seperate tables. Works ok.

What i want to do is the same thing but get the names on a diffrent cell. As you can see the names are seperated by a ;

I can do a foreach again and extract just that info in side the first array, but this leaves the main "comments" still saying eg: john wrote: blah blah blah.

I dont want to hold the commenters name in a diffrent field in the database. i want it all in 1 field.

Im new to arrays, so im a little stuck with this.

Thankyou..

devinemke

Originally posted by Shaped
I dont want to hold the commenters name in a diffrent field in the database. i want it all in 1 field.

why? why on earth would you want all that data crammed into 1 field that obviously requires you to write a complex parser to extract it back out? this defeats one of main purposes of using a database in the first place.

Shaped

is there no way i can strip the ; and everything before it like strip
this part.

Anthony; from a
Anthony;User submitted comments.][

Its like this, if its to complex to do , then ill have to hold the names in diffrent fields, but im not expecting much input at all. And theres 1 thing i can not stand and thats 500 tables for 1 application. i try my best to keep things small.

devinemke

Originally posted by Shaped
And theres 1 thing i can not stand and thats 500 tables for 1 application. i try my best to keep things small.

putting the data in separate fields would not require any more tables, just extra fields in your existing table. you say you want to keep things small but in fact what you are doing is making your data larger since you have to have all those extra repeated delimiters in your data.

AstroTeg

Originally posted by Shaped

Its like this, if its to complex to do , then ill have to hold the names in diffrent fields, but im not expecting much input at all. And theres 1 thing i can not stand and thats 500 tables for 1 application. i try my best to keep things small.

You wouldn't need 500 tables. Maybe 2 tables...

Table 1: holds your main data
Table 2: holds the comments, who made the comment, and what they were commenting on (hint: the ID to table 1).

This is a one to many join. Using inner joins, you'll be able to easily query the comments, the number of comments, and who commented much easier than trying to fiddle with arrays within a field.

My rule of thumb: If you're trying to save an array in 1 field, then you have a table design problem.

Shaped

Originally posted by AstroTeg
You wouldn't need 500 tables. Maybe 2 tables...

Table 1: holds your main data
Table 2: holds the comments, who made the comment, and what they were commenting on (hint: the ID to table 1).

This is a one to many join. Using inner joins, you'll be able to easily query the comments, the number of comments, and who commented much easier than trying to fiddle with arrays within a field.

My rule of thumb: If you're trying to save an array in 1 field, then you have a table design problem.

Everything ive wrote in the past i have done this way. and works ok. Linking through id's. Im not sure on joining tables so ive not gone down that path.

I thought id try something diffrent by doing it this way, maybe not the best way, but at least its diffrent.

Ive managed to strip the name and delimiter from the first array values. Now im stuck with it looping everything twice.

												$pattern = "^([[:alnum:]-])+(;)";
						$op = explode("][","$comments");
						foreach($op as $value)
						{
							$opa = explode(";","$value");
							foreach($opa as $val)
							{						
								$con .= '<br /><table>';
								$con .= '<tr><th>'.$val.'&nbsp;Wrote:</th></tr>';
								$con .= '<tr><td>'.ereg_replace("$pattern","",$value).'</td></tr>';
								$con .= '</table><br />';
							}
						}

					$content .= $con;
					$content .= '</td></tr></table>';

I know this is because im using 2 foreach statements arround the table. Im nearly there with this im sure..

You can see whats happening here.
http://www.sagez.co.uk/download.php?fct=download&id=1

Shaped


					$pattern = "^([[:alnum:]-])+(;)";
					$op = explode("][","$comments");
					foreach($op as $value)
					{
							$a = explode(";","$value");
							$con .= '<br /><table id=content1 width="80%" border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0">';
							$con .= '<tr><th>'.$a[0].'&nbsp;Wrote:</th></tr>';
							$con .= '<tr><td>'.ereg_replace("$pattern","",$value).'</td></tr>';
							$con .= '</table><br />';
					}

Ok ive managed to do it. Dont think its to complex. Its just took me 3 days to get it to work.