How can I get MySQL data into different AP-Div's?

[EDR78]

Hi,

I am builing my first website with PHP and MySQL and I am running into some problems.
The website is built in DreamweaverCS4 using a lot of AP Div elements with fixed positions. Filling each element seperately is easy, but

So, for one page, I need to select the 5 latest items and display them on the website. It is kind of like a blog site, so the newest item needs to be displayed first. I want to try several nested 'if' statements in a loop, but I get the message: "Warning: extract() [function.extract]: first argument should be an array".
Also, I get the oldest item on top, not the newest. Using ORDER BY DESC didn't help.

Can anyone find my errors, or perhaps has a better way of doing these things? (For another page I need to be able to shuffle content around the web page, all being placed in specific AP Div elements)

here's the code:

<?php
   include ("login.inc");
   $cxn = mysqli_connect($host,$user,$password,$dbname)
     or die ("Can't connect to server");

   $query = "SELECT NewsTitle,VolgNr,NewsText,DisplayDate FROM NewsItems ORDER BY 'VolgNr' LIMIT 5";

   $result = mysqli_query($cxn,$query)
     or die ("Couldn't execute select query: " . mysqli_error($cxn));

   for ($i=0;$i<=5;$i++)
   {
	   $row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
       extract($row);
	   if($i==0)      

	   {
		   echo "<div id='apDiv136'>";  

		   echo "<div id='apDiv137'></div>"; 
           echo "<div class='verdana10' id='apDiv138'>$DisplayDate</div>";
           echo "<div class='verdana10bold' id='apDiv139'>$NewsTitle</div>";
           echo "<div class='verdana10' id='apDiv140'>$NewsText</div>";
           echo "<div id='apDiv37'></div>";
           echo "</div>";
	   }
	   else
	   {	
	   	   if($i==1)    

		   {
			   echo "";
	       }
	       else
	       {
		       if($i==2)
			   {
				   echo "";
			   }
			   else
				   if($i==3)
				   {
					   echo "";
				   }
				   else
					   if($i==4)
					   {
						   echo "";
					   }
				   }
			   }
		   }




  ?>

[kkobashi]

Try this and adapt it:

PHP
-----

   include ("login.inc");
   $cxn = mysqli_connect($host,$user,$password,$dbname) or die ("Can't connect to server");
   $query = "SELECT NewsTitle,VolgNr,NewsText,DisplayDate FROM NewsItems ORDER BY 'VolgNr' LIMIT 5";

   $result = mysqli_query($cxn,$query) or die ("Couldn't execute select query: " . mysqli_error($cxn));
   while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
     echo "<div class='NewsItem'>";
     echo "<span class='title'>$result["NewsTitle"]</span><br/>";
     echo "<span class='date'>$result["DisplayDate"];</span><br/>";
     echo "<span class='content'>$result["NewsText"]</span>";
     echo "</div>";
   }

CSS
-----
.NewsItem {
   padding: 1em;
   color: black;
   background-color: white;
   border: 1px solid black;
   font-size: 1em;
   font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif;
}
.NewsItem .title {
  color: red;
  font-size: 1.2em;
}

To save yourself time in the future, and less grief, may I suggest you go grab a beginning PHP tutorial book first? Its clear to me you have little understanding of PHP, if not programming by looking at the code. Don't mean to be mean, just trying to save you and everyone else on here time.

Also, you need to use Dreamweaver as a general tool to layout PHP templates and not put too much emphasis on what it generates. WYSIWYG html editors are great for protyping and making demos, but anything other than that will only lead to pain.

[EDR78]

Yes, like I said, it is my first website, and I don't know much about programming.
I am using PHP and MySQL for Dummies by Janet Valade and Dreamweaver CS3 for Dummies by Janine Warner (both Dutch editions). I think I came pretty far i just a few days, but I know I still have a lot to learn.

I hope you noticed I didn't yet finish the code. I wanted to fix the error before diplaying the rest. I don't think your method will work for shuffling content across the website. I will try it out of course.

<?php 
   include ("login.inc"); 
   $cxn = mysqli_connect($host,$user,$password,$dbname) 
     or die ("Can't connect to server"); 

   $query = "SELECT NewsTitle,VolgNr,NewsText,DisplayDate FROM NewsItems ORDER BY 'VolgNr' LIMIT 5"; 

   $result = mysqli_query($cxn,$query) 
     or die ("Couldn't execute select query: " . mysqli_error($cxn)); 

   for ($i=0;$i<=5;$i++) 
   { 
       $row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result); 
       extract($row); 
       if($i==0)       

       { 
           echo "<div id='apDiv136'>";   

           echo "<div id='apDiv137'></div>"; 
           echo "<div class='verdana10' id='apDiv138'>$DisplayDate</div>"; 
           echo "<div class='verdana10bold' id='apDiv139'>$NewsTitle</div>"; 
           echo "<div class='verdana10' id='apDiv140'>$NewsText</div>"; 
           echo "<div id='apDiv37'></div>"; 
           echo "</div>"; 
       } 
       else 
       {     

              if($i==1)     

           { 
               echo "<div id='apDiv141'>";   

               echo "<div id='apDiv137'></div>"; 
               echo "<div class='verdana10' id='apDiv138'>$DisplayDate</div>"; 
               echo "<div class='verdana10bold' id='apDiv139'>$NewsTitle</div>"; 
               echo "<div class='verdana10' id='apDiv140'>$NewsText</div>"; 
               echo "<div id='apDiv37'></div>"; 
               echo "</div>"; 

       } 
       else 
       { 
           if($i==2) 
           { 
               echo "<div id='apDiv144'>";   
               echo "<div id='apDiv137'></div>"; 
               echo "<div class='verdana10' id='apDiv138'>$DisplayDate</div>"; 
               echo "<div class='verdana10bold' id='apDiv139'>$NewsTitle</div>"; 
               echo "<div class='verdana10' id='apDiv140'>$NewsText</div>"; 
               echo "<div id='apDiv37'></div>"; 
               echo "</div>"; 

           } 
           else 
               if($i==3) 
               { 
                   echo "<div id='apDiv147'>";   
                   echo "<div id='apDiv137'></div>"; 
                   echo "<div class='verdana10' id='apDiv138'>$DisplayDate</div>"; 
                   echo "<div class='verdana10bold' id='apDiv139'>$NewsTitle</div>"; 
                  echo "<div class='verdana10' id='apDiv140'>$NewsText</div>"; 
                  echo "<div id='apDiv37'></div>"; 
                  echo "</div>"; 

               } 
               else 
                   if($i==4) 
                   { 
                       echo "<div id='apDiv151'>";   
                       echo "<div id='apDiv137'></div>"; 
                       echo "<div class='verdana10' id='apDiv138'>$DisplayDate</div>"; 
                       echo "<div class='verdana10bold' id='apDiv139'>$NewsTitle</div>"; 
                       echo "<div class='verdana10' id='apDiv140'>$NewsText</div>"; 
                       echo "<div id='apDiv37'></div>"; 
                       echo "</div>"; 

                   } 
               } 
           } 
       } 




  ?> 

CSS

#apDiv136 {
position:absolute;
width:420px;
height:447px;
z-index:1;
}

#apDiv141 {
position:absolute;
width:420px;
height:447px;
z-index:2;
left: 0px;
top: 896px;
}

#apDiv144 {
position:absolute;
width:420px;
height:447px;
z-index:5;
left: 0px;
top: 1792px;
}

etcetera...