[RESOLVED] Table - # of columns

[ginginca]

I have a question about understanding how to tell my page when to move down to the next row when displaying a result (a list).

If I want to have for example a fixed number of columns (perhaps two or three.)

I understand to put the TD command in for each column ... but how does the </TR> etc come into the syntax?

[nnichols]

If you want three columns, every third iteration you would print </tr><tr>. There's your starting point.

[ginginca]

nnichols wrote:

every third iteration

That's the part I don't quite understand.

[nnichols]

There are lots of tutorials on this sort of thing all over the net. What don't you understand? Here is a very simple example based on a single field -

$num_columns = 3;

$result = mysql_query("some query");

$counter = 0;

while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	// increment counter
	$counter++;

// use modulus operator to determine whether this is the first column in row
if ($counter % $num_columns == 1) {
	// is first column of row
	print '<tr>';
}

print "<td>{$row[some_field]}</td>";

// use modulus operator to determine whether this is the last column in row
if ($counter % $num_columns == 0) {
	// is last column of row
	print '</tr>';
}
}

// fill empty cells in last row if needed
$empty_num = $num_columns - ($counter % $num_columns);
if ($empty_num > 0){
	for($i = 1; $i <= $empty_num; $i++) {
		echo '<td>&nbsp;</td>';
	}
	echo '</tr>'; // close last row
}

This is only intended as a starting point. I have not tried to run this code so it may contain the odd typo. See how you get on. You will probably want to read the php documentation on the use of modulus operator

[ginginca]

This should help.

What was confusing me was that I have seen it done a number of ways (as there's always more than one way to skin a cat) and didn't understand what they were actually doing.

Your comments will guide me through.

Big Thanks!

[ginginca]

It worked perfectly.

My list was previously being displayed from the "echo" command and now it is being displayed from the print command, so I have an error in putting in my hyperlink. (Prior to putting in the hyperlink it worked like a charm).

print "<td><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">{<.$row['mfr_url'].'">.$row['manufacturer'].'</a>'}</td>";

this produces an error of:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_ENCAPSED_AND_WHITESPACE, expecting T_STRING or T_VARIABLE or T_NUM_STRING in /home/pssi-ftp/public_html/heating-test.php on line 191

And one related (and somewhat stupid question - sorry) what is the difference between ECHO and PRINT?