[RESOLVED] Help with Table Data

[AHoward007]

echo '<tr><td>'. $row['word_count'].'</td><td>'. $row['word'].'</td><td >'. $commentinput.'</td></tr>';

I have three data columns in my table word_count, word, and $commentinput.
The $commentinput field is optional. Whenever there is nothing entered in the data field the table does not print out the border around this field so the table looks incomplete.

I think I need an IF statement that states if $commentinput is empty then echo " "; to put something in this field to get HTML to create a square border around this field.

I can't seem to get it to work.

[NogDog]

The most reliable solution I've found is to output a non-breaking space character entity:

function padCell($text)
{
   if(trim($text) === '')
   {
      $text = ' ';
   }
   return $text;
}

printf(
   '<tr><td align="center">%s</td><td align="center">%s</td><td valign="middle">%s</td></tr>',
   padCell($row['word_count']),
   padCell($row['word']),
   padCell($commentinput)
);

[AHoward007]

I think it works there is now a border around the empty data field but it doesn't seem to like being in a loop function. I'm getting an Error message saying: Cannot redeclare padcell() (previously declared in C:\wamp\www\processforms.php:line68)

Instead of running the loop five times it terminates after printing the first loop.

$englishinput=mysql_real_escape_string(@$_POST['englishinput']);
$query="SELECT word, COUNT(word) AS word_count FROM dictionary WHERE english='$englishinput' 
GROUP BY word ORDER BY word_count DESC LIMIT 5";
$result=mysql_query($query) or exit(mysql_error());
while ($row=mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
 {
	 function padCell($text)
{
   if(trim($text) === '')
   {
      $text = ' ';
   }
   return $text;
}

printf(
   '<tr><td align="center">%s</td><td align="center">%s</td><td valign="middle">%s</td></tr>',
   padCell($row['word_count']),
   padCell($row['word']),
   padCell($commentinput)
); 
 }    

 echo '</table>';

[AHoward007]

Fixed it.

Corrected code by putting loop function where it belongs:

$englishinput=mysql_real_escape_string(@$_POST['englishinput']);
$query="SELECT word, COUNT(word) AS word_count FROM dictionary WHERE english='$englishinput'
GROUP BY word ORDER BY word_count DESC LIMIT 5";
$result=mysql_query($query) or exit(mysql_error());

{
     function padCell($text)
{
   if(trim($text) === '')
   {
      $text = ' ';
   }
   return $text;
}
while ($row=mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
printf(
   '<tr><td align="center">%s</td><td align="center">%s</td><td valign="middle">%s</td></tr>',
   padCell($row['word_count']),
   padCell($row['word']),
   padCell($commentinput)
);
}    

echo '</table>'; 

Thanks NogDog