displaying data by Category

linda_thomas

Would someone either be able to give me a link to point me in the right direction or explain how I might display data on a page by the category field? At the moment on my partners business site I have a page of useful addresses, and would Idealy like to as follows:

Display list of categories (each is a link) on page opening in browser. No other data.
When Category is clicked display data for this category which will be displayed on the same page beneath the category list.

Is there a way of doing this? I am very new to php, and have spent all morning trying to figure out how I might achieve this. So I've been going now where fast.

Any help would be gratefully received!

Best wishes,
Linda

tjohnson_nb

I think your question is too general, why not proceed one step at a time? What specifically have you got so far?

linda_thomas

At the moment, all I have been able to manage (due to my lack of php knowledge) is as follows:

A list of categories on the useful address page (each is a link)
Each category link opens another page with all the useful addresses for that category

I've done this by (excuse my lack of knowledge, it's probably called something else) sending the category details in a link to the next page ie:

<li><a href="addresses.php?cat=<? echo $cat;?>"><? echo $cat;?></a></li>

And then using the GET command:

	$cat=$_GET['cat'];

to display the details for that category on this page.

BUT what I would idealy like to do is have it all displayed on the same page. Instead of the link taking me to another page to display the addresses for that category, I would like to when the link was clicked dispaly that information below the category list in a table. But it would not show until you click on the link (so it wouldn't show up when you first viewed the page basicaly) I know you can use something called _SELF but I'm so new at this, that every day is a learning event.

I just need some one to briefly explain what I need to be looking into or a link or even if it's at all possible. I hope I've explained myself better! I'm terrible at explaining things.

Many many thanks for taking the time to have a look at this for me, I'm very greatful!

Best wishes,
Linda

tjohnson_nb

Well you could do something like this;

<li><a href="addresses.php?cat=category_1">category_1</a>
<? if ($cat=='category_1'){<display category-1 html here>}?>
<li><a href="addresses.php?cat=category_2">category_2</a>
<? if ($cat=='category_2'){<display category_2 html here>}?>

Does that help?

linda_thomas

Would you mind explaining briefly how this would work? I hate to trouble you, but I lack so much php knowledge. I see what you doing (I think!) with the if statement, I just don't understand it fully. As I only have the one list item on the page, the others are then repeated for each category. How would I impliment this for each of the categories list item?

Best wishes,
Linda

tjohnson_nb

Each time addresses.php is loaded via a URL like this

[url]http://your_domain/addresses.php?cat=category[/url]

Initially $cat will be empty but when someone clicks on a link the value of $cat will be passed and then the if clause corresponding to that value of cat will execute and display the information for that category directly below the link.

linda_thomas

Thank you very much, I'm going to have a go at this tonight and will let you know how I got on! I'm very greatful for you patience.

Best wishes,
Linda

ragedigital

Is the information in a database?