PHP sort causing slowdowns?

[jpipitone]

I have 101 or so records that this query fetches and sorts into a table. Everytime the query executes, it takes around 6-7 seconds to parse on screen. What could be the cause of this slowdown?

echo "<table width='100%' border='0' cellspacing='1' cellpadding='4'>";
$columnspan = PBK_AS_MD_SHOWSTAFFIN + PBK_AS_MD_SHOWSTAFFOUT + PBK_AS_MD_SHOWPHONE + PBK_AS_MD_SHOWFAX + PBK_AS_MD_SHOWMAIL + PBK_AS_MD_SHOWWEBSITE + PBK_AS_MD_SHOWLOCATION + PBK_AS_MD_SHOWSTATUS + _PBK_AS_MD_SHOWAGE + 2;
$database->setQuery( "SELECT c.*, COUNT(DISTINCT s1.id) AS num"
. "\nFROM #categories AS c"
. "\nLEFT JOIN #peoplebook AS s1 ON s1.catid = c.id"
. "\nWHERE c.section='com_peoplebook' AND c.published='1'"
. "\nGROUP BY c.id"
. "\nORDER BY c.ordering, c.name"
);
$rows = $database->loadObjectList();
foreach($rows as $row1) {
if ($row1->num > 0) {
$line=1;

  if ( isset($_GET['sort_field']) && $_GET['sort_field'] != '' ) {
        $sort_field = $_GET['sort_field'];
        $sort_order = $_GET['sort_order'];
  }
  else {
     $sort_field = 'name';
     $sort_order = 'ASC';
  }

  #Prepare Content
  if( !isset($search) || $search == '' ) {
     $database->setQuery("SELECT * FROM #__peoplebook WHERE published='1' AND catid='$row1->id' ORDER BY LOWER($sort_field) $sort_order");
        $srows = $database->loadObjectList();
  }
  else {
          if ( !is_array($search) ) {
       $search_cour = $search." AND published='1' AND catid='$row1->id' ORDER BY LOWER($sort_field) $sort_order";
         $database->setQuery($search_cour);
           $srows = $database->loadObjectList();
       }
       else {
              foreach ($search as $search_line) {
          $search_cour = $search_line." AND published='1' AND catid='$row1->id' ORDER BY LOWER($sort_field) $sort_order";
               $database->setQuery($search_cour);
                 $srows += $database->loadObjectList();
       }
       }
  }
  if ( count($srows) > 0 ) {
       $as_result = true;
      echo "<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>";
        echo "<tr><td colspan=$columnspan><b>$row1->title</b><br /><font class='small'>$row1->description</font></td></tr>";
        echo $tab_header;
  }

  foreach($srows as $srow1) {
    $linecolor = ($line % 2) + 1;
    # Choose name and nick display
    if (_PBK_AS_MD_SHOWNICK=="1") {
      $asd_name = "$srow1->nick";
    } elseif (_PBK_AS_MD_SHOWNICK=="2") {
      $asd_name = "$srow1->name ($srow1->nick)";
    } elseif (_PBK_AS_MD_SHOWNICK=="3") {
      $asd_name = "$srow1->nick ($srow1->name)";
    } else {
      $asd_name = "$srow1->name";
    }
    # Check list format and display things
    echo "<tr class='sectiontableentry".$linecolor."'>";
    echo "<td valign='top'>";

[superwormy]

Is it actually PHP being slow... or is the database slow to return the result? Have you timed anything to find out which query is theh slow one? Do you have proper indexes on the tables.