Formatting PHP Output

[MikeX]

Hey all

I've been trying to format my PHP output on my script. So far I can do three things... Bold Italic Underline using b i u but thats it.. I have no clue how to use color or font or anything.

Any ideas? It would be ideal to be able to have no border.. which I know how to do.. and have alternating font/text backing color for each row.

Here's my script:

<?php
  include('dbconnect.php');
?><style type="text/css">
<!--
body {

}
-->
</style>
...

<?php
 // Get all the data from the "Groups" table
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Groups") 
or die(mysql_error());  

echo "<table border='1'>";
echo "<tr> <th><b>University</b></th> <th>Group</th> <th>State</th> <th>Zip Code</th> <th>Website</th> <th>Email</th> </tr>";
// keeps getting the next row until there are no more to get
while($row = mysql_fetch_array( $result )) {
	// Print out the contents of each row into a table
	echo "<tr><td>"; 
	echo $row['University_Name'];
	echo "</td><td>"; 
	echo $row['Group_Name'];
	echo "</td><td>"; 
	echo $row['State'];
	echo "</td><td>"; 
	echo $row['Zipcode'];
	echo "</td><td>"; 
	echo $row['Website'];
	echo "</td><td>"; 
	echo $row['Email'];
        echo "</td></tr>";
} 

echo "</table>";
?>

[cretaceous]

check out css style sheets

the styling is all done in html -nothing to do with the php as such

for alternating lines set a counter variable before the script: $num=0;

check $num value like this
if ($num%2==1) { colour me blue } else { colour me green }

the % operator tells you the remainder of $num divided by, in this case, 2 so its either 1 or 0

then at end of the while statement increment $num like :
$num++;
so $num adds up the rows

[MikeX]

Well I got the jist of what you were saying... but you need to break it down for me a little bit as I am very very green to PHP. (I just started this week)

You already helped alot so don't feel obligated!

[steamPunk]

i I may add my two cents' worth

it's a good idea to uses CSS classes on the stuff you output like so :

echo "<p class=\"my-nice-class\">".$var."</p>";

and either uses global styles for <table>, <tr>, <td> etc or use an id on a table that you want to style specifically

so that if you need to change the style of some text or an element in the page you don't have to go wading back into the php to find it - it's all in the style sheet

[cretaceous]

<?php
 // Get all the data from the "Groups" table
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Groups") 
or die(mysql_error());  

$num='0';

echo "<table border='1'>";
echo "<tr> <th><b>University</b></th> <th>Group</th> <th>State</th> <th>Zip Code</th> <th>Website</th> <th>Email</th> </tr>";
// keeps getting the next row until there are no more to get
while($row = mysql_fetch_array( $result )) {
	// Print out the contents of each row into a table
	echo "<tr>"; 

if ($num%2=='1') { 
echo "<td class='green'>"; 
} else { 
echo "<td class='blue'>"; }

echo $row['University_Name'];
echo "</td><td>"; 
echo $row['Group_Name'];
echo "</td><td>"; 
echo $row['State'];
echo "</td><td>"; 
echo $row['Zipcode'];
echo "</td><td>"; 
echo $row['Website'];
echo "</td><td>"; 
echo $row['Email'];
    echo "</td></tr>";
$num++;
} 

echo "</table>";
?>

[cretaceous]

the css you have to figure out by yourself!

in css file:
.green{
background-color:#12ff56;
font-size:12px;
}

(thing posted before I'd finished)

[MikeX]

Absolutely fantastic.

That makes alot of sense.. and this is going to be SO MUCH EASIER.

Now will it display any CSS code I come up with? Because now I'm just salivating at what I can do...

[MikeX]

.white{
font-color:#12ff56
background-color:#ffffff;
font-size:12px;
}

.blue{
font-color:#ffffff
background-color:#12ff56;
font-size:12px;
}

<?php
  include('dbconnect.php');
?><link href="custom.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<!--
body {

}
-->
</style>
...
<?php
 // Get all the data from the "Groups" table
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Groups") 
or die(mysql_error());  

$num='0';

echo "<table border='1'>";
echo "<tr> <th><b>University</b></th> <th>Group</th> <th>State</th> <th>Zip Code</th> <th>Website</th> <th>Email</th> </tr>";
// keeps getting the next row until there are no more to get
while($row = mysql_fetch_array( $result )) {
	// Print out the contents of each row into a table
	echo "<tr>"; 

if ($num%2=='1') { 
echo "<td class='white'>"; 
} else { 
echo "<td class='blue'>"; }

echo $row['University_Name'];
echo "</td><td>"; 
echo $row['Group_Name'];
echo "</td><td>"; 
echo $row['State'];
echo "</td><td>"; 
echo $row['Zipcode'];
echo "</td><td>"; 
echo $row['Website'];
echo "</td><td>"; 
echo $row['Email'];
    echo "</td></tr>";
$num++;
} 

echo "</table>";
?>

I placed the css file in the directory.. and it changes the font style on the University column but nothing else.. no color or font changes.

[Weedpacket]

That's because the University column is the only one you've applied the style to (whether it's class "blue" or "white").
Perhaps you should add the HTML "class" attribute to the <tr> tag so that it applies to the whole row.