[RESOLVED] Displaying a reference

[Beatnik]

First off let me say thanks for the wealth of information found on this site, it has gotten me miles beyond where I was just a short time ago.

What I am trying to do is 'display' the value of a field as its reference. ( I hope I am saying this right) This particular field (items.type) relates to the key of another table (item_type.id), I am trying to 'display' the item_type.type related to that id.

Heres a snipit of the code as it relates to this.

 $output .= "<script type=\"text/javascript\">
	answerbox.btn_ok='{$lang_global['yes_low']}';
	answerbox.btn_cancel='{$lang_global['no']}';
	var question = '{$lang_global['are_you_sure']}';
	var del_items = 'item_entry.php?action=del_items&amp;order_by=$order_by&amp;start=$start&amp;dir=$dir&amp;id=';
 </script>
 <table class=\"lined\">
   <tr>
	<th width=\"5%\">{$lang_global['delete_short']}</th>
	<th width=\"5%\"><a href=\"item_entry.php?order_by=id&amp;start=$start&amp;dir=$dir\"".($order_by=='id' ? " class=\"$order_dir\"" : "").">{$lang_itemsum['id']}</a></th>
	<th width=\"10%\"><a href=\"item_entry.php?order_by=item_id&amp;start=$start&amp;dir=$dir\"".($order_by=='item_id' ? " class=\"$order_dir\"" : "").">{$lang_itemsum['item_id']}</a></th>
	<th width=\"29%\"><a href=\"item_entry.php?order_by=name&amp;start=$start&amp;dir=$dir\"".($order_by=='name' ? " class=\"$order_dir\"" : "").">{$lang_itemsum['name']}</a></th>
	<th width=\"7%\"><a href=\"item_entry.php?order_by=type&amp;start=$start&amp;dir=$dir\"".($order_by=='type' ? " class=\"$order_dir\"" : "").">{$lang_itemsum['type']}</a></th>
	<th width=\"7%\"><a href=\"item_entry.php?order_by=vend&amp;start=$start&amp;dir=$dir\"".($order_by=='vend' ? " class=\"$order_dir\"" : "").">{$lang_itemsum['vend']}</a></th>
	<th width=\"7%\"><a href=\"item_entry.php?order_by=req&amp;start=$start&amp;dir=$dir\"".($order_by=='req' ? " class=\"$order_dir\"" : "").">{$lang_itemsum['req']}</a></th>
	<th width=\"7%\"><a href=\"item_entry.php?order_by=ord_allo&amp;start=$start&amp;dir=$dir\"".($order_by=='ord_allo' ? " class=\"$order_dir\"" : "").">{$lang_itemsum['ord_allo']}</a></th>
	<th width=\"7%\"><a href=\"item_entry.php?order_by=on_hand&amp;start=$start&amp;dir=$dir\"".($order_by=='on_hand' ? " class=\"$order_dir\"" : "").">{$lang_itemsum['on_hand']}</a></th>
	<th width=\"7%\"><a href=\"item_entry.php?order_by=allo&amp;start=$start&amp;dir=$dir\"".($order_by=='allo' ? " class=\"$order_dir\"" : "").">{$lang_itemsum['allo']}</a></th>
	<th width=\"7%\"><a href=\"item_entry.php?order_by=avail&amp;start=$start&amp;dir=$dir\"".($order_by=='avail' ? " class=\"$order_dir\"" : "").">{$lang_itemsum['avail']}</a></th>
   </tr>";

while ($data = $sql->fetch_row($query) & $query_t = $sql->query("SELECT `type` FROM `item_type` WHERE `id` = $data[3]")){
	//$query_t = $sql->query("SELECT `type` FROM `item_type` WHERE `id` = $data[3]");
   	$output .= "<tr>
			<td><img src=\"img/aff_cross.png\" alt=\"\" onclick=\"answerBox('{$lang_global['delete']}: <font color=white>{$data[1]}</font> <br /> ' + question, del_items + $data[0]);\" style=\"cursor:pointer;\" /></td>
			<td>$data[0]</td>
			<td>$data[1]</td>
			<td><a href=\"item_entry.php?action=edit_items&amp;id=$data[0]\">$data[2]</a></td>
			<td>$query_t</td>
			<td>$data[4]</td>
			<td>$data[5]</td>
			<td>$data[6]</td>
			<td>$data[7]</td>
			<td>$data[8]</td>
			<td>$data[9]</td>
            </tr>";
}

 $output .= "<tr><td colspan=\"8\" class=\"hidden\" align=\"right\">{$lang_itemsum['tot_items']} : $all_record</td></tr>
   </table></center>";

 $sql->close();
}

everything works great if I just display $data[3] but that doesnt really show me the "Type", just an integer.

Ive tried various other things such as:

<td>$query_t[$data[3]]</td>

$query_t = $sql->query("SELECT type, id FROM item_type AS type");

and various combinations of things.

If someone could point me in the direction of some documentation about this kind of thing I would greatly appreciate it. Ive searched around here and the PHP manual quite a bit but I guess I dont really know enough to even know "what" to look for. Ive tried looking for various things like passing variables as reference on fetch_assoc() but either I didnt look deep enough or thats not really what Im trying to do.

Again, thanks for any assistance you can provide.

[Beatnik]

Ok, it seems I was over thinking this approach and did accomplish this task in the original query.

SELECT items.id, items.item_id, items.name, item_type.name ....etc.... FROM items, item_type WHERE items.type = item_type.id;

If there any way to actually achieve this in the way I was trying to I would love to know where I can find some where I can find more info on that kind of thing.

BTW, I could not find any way to edit my original post so Im guessing thats been disabled or did I just miss it?

Again, thanks.