Most effcient technique for extracting values from array

[Prine]

Hi guys, this is weird because i know how to extract the information i need. But i know theres a more effcient way of doing it. So id like your input!

consider this list of results from DB

Thats needs to look like this

And heres the array with the results

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [id] => 1
            [product] => kings puzzle
            [category] => childrens puzzles
            [group] => puzzels
        )

[1] => Array
    (
        [id] => 1
        [product] => kings puzzle
        [category] => 250 pieces
        [group] => puzzels
    )

[2] => Array
    (
        [id] => 5
        [product] => window wars
        [category] => 250 pieces
        [group] => puzzels
    )

[3] => Array
    (

        [id] => 7
        [product] => hershual
        [category] => 500 pieces
        [group] => puzzels
    )

[4] => Array
    (

        [id] => 2
        [product] => queens puzzle
        [category] => 1000 pieces
        [group] => puzzels
    )

[5] => Array
    (

        [id] => 1
        [product] => kings puzzle
        [category] => multibox packs
        [group] => puzzels
    )

)

Group and Category are unique whereas Products are allowed to repeat

So whats your way of structuring the results as my image suggests?

[rulian]

consider reorganizing your array into a multidimensional array organized in the way you want

$Array[Group][category][id]=product;

That way it groups things of similar indexes
and when you iterate through the array it will display in the manner in which you described

[Prine]

your a genius. Thanks

much simpler than my nested loop complicated mess.

Hardly much coding needed!!

[Prine]

Array
(
    [puzzels] => Array
        (
            [childrens puzzles] => Array
                (
                    [1] => kings puzzle
                )

        [250 pieces] => Array
            (
                [1] => kings puzzle
                [5] => window wars
            )

        [500 pieces] => Array
            (
                [7] => hershual
            )

        [1000 pieces] => Array
            (
                [2] => queens puzzle
            )

        [multibox packs] => Array
            (
                [1] => kings puzzle
            )

    )

)

Now that i get the result above, i find myself going back into the bad habbit of multiple loops. 🙁 Is it possible to exract it all through a single loop?

[Prine]

while(list($key,$value) = each($array)){

	echo "<h1>$key</h1>";

	foreach($value as $k=>$v){

		echo "<h2>$k</h2>";

		while( list($prod_id,$prod_name) = each($v) ){
			//print  $prod_name here
		}			

	}

}// END WHILE LOOP

This is what i came up with

[Weedpacket]

Any particular reason you're switching back and forth between while(...each) and foreach()?

There's nothing inherently bad about having nested loops when you have a nested data structure. What's more important is that the data structure better reflects what it is supposed to represent; by putting the smarts into the structure you can dumb down the code (as you've noticed).

[Prine]

Im switching between those loops because i need to display the key names then the values (which happen to be arrays)

I understand what you are saying though. Like a puzzle, requires a lot of thought

[rulian]

I think it's fine to have nested loops,
as long as you can keep track of which loop you are in your fine.
It gives you better control over what level in the array you are in, specially if you are going to use the information differently or treat it differently

There is a multidimensional walk you can do with arrays, but the problem is it becomes more difficult to nest information like you are trying to do.
If you simply wish to extract every value you can do a very simple function like:
which is a custom built version of the array_walk

function in_my_array($array)
{
if (is_array($array)) 
{
while (list($key) = each($array))
{
if (is_array($array[$key])) in_my_array($array[$key])
else execute_this($array[$key]); 
}
}

}

[Weedpacket]

Prine wrote:

Im switching between those loops because i need to display the key names then the values (which happen to be arrays)

That doesn't explain it. All three loops are providing both keys and values (and the only one that isn't obviously being used is $prod_id).