Please point me in the right direction (php/mysql)

[rowman]

I have been trying to learn php/mysql on my own and have been doing pretty good from tutorials and online manuals but have hit a wall here.

What I am trying to figur out is how to use info from a table such that

Table name profiles

Table Fields

1. instructional_area

2. first_name

3. last_name

4. title

I want to create a loop that returns:

<h1>instructional_area1</h1>
<ul>
<li>first_name1 lastname1- title1
<li>first_name2 lastname2- title2
</ul>

<h1>instructional_area2</h1>
<ul>
<li>first_name1 lastname1- title1
<li>first_name2 lastname2- title2
</ul>

I have done somethin similar with two tables but not with all the data in the same table. foreach seems like it has potential to do it but I can't seem to get it right, or should I be looking at sql statement join or grouping?

I am running this sql statement:
$profiles= @("SELECT * from profiles ORDER BY last_name, first_name");

[coreyp_1]

simething like this, perhaps:

$profiles= @mysql_query("SELECT * from `profiles` ORDER BY `instructional_area`, `last_name`, `first_name`");

$previous_area = '';

while ($row = mysql_get_array($profiles)) {
  if ($previous_area != $row['insructional_area']) {
    if ($previous_area != '') {
      echo '</ul>';
    }
    echo '<h1>'.$row['instructional_area'].'</h1><ul>';
    $previous_area = $row['instructional_area'];
  }
  echo '<li>'.$row['first_name'].' '.$row['last_name'].' - '.$row['title'].'</li>';
}
echo '</ul>';

[rowman]

That looks like a great idea I think it will work. Is mysql_get_array a real function or is it supposed to be mysql_fetch_array?

[coreyp_1]

BAH! :glare:

it's mysql_fetch_array().

that's what I get for typing off the top of my head, and not checking the code!

Oh, well. I guess I'll live... :rolleyes:

[rowman]

thanks. I thought maybe I was missing something.