Sorting and Grouping Alphabetically

[chefou]

Hi All,
I am having a hard time grouping a query listing Alphabetically.
My query gets a list of designers (about 10000). I am currently able to display the list ordered alphabetically but not grouped using my current code below.

What I would to do is display these designers on a webpage while grouped alphabetically something like:

(designer names starting with a non-alphabet)

designer_#1 designer#2 designer#3
designer#4 designer#5 designer#6
A
designer1 designer2 designer3
designer4 designer5 designer6
....
B
designer7 designer8 designer9
designer10 designer11 designer12
....
and so on.

Here is my current php code.

<?php
// Get manufacturers info
global $db;

$manufacturers_query = "select distinct m.manufacturers_id, m.manufacturers_name, m.manufacturers_image, mi.manufacturers_url
from (" . TABLE_MANUFACTURERS . " m
left join " . TABLE_MANUFACTURERS_INFO . " mi on m.manufacturers_id = mi.manufacturers_id)
left join " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p on m.manufacturers_id = p.manufacturers_id
where p.manufacturers_id = m.manufacturers_id
and (p.products_status = 1
and p.products_quantity > 0)
order by LEFT (m.manufacturers_name,1)";

$manufacturers = $db->Execute($manufacturers_query);
$manu_content = '';
$manu_row=0;

while (!$manufacturers->EOF) {

	$manu_content .= '<div id="ManuWrapper"><a href="' . DIR_WS_CATALOG . 'index.php?main_page=index&amp;manufacturers_id=' . $manufacturers->fields['manufacturers_id'] . '">';
	$manu_content .= $manufacturers->fields['manufacturers_name'] . "</a>";
	$manu_content .= '</div>';
	$manu_row++;

  $manufacturers->MoveNext();

  }

?>

Thanks in advance for any help.

[johanafm]

$fistChar = substr($manufacturers->fields['manufacturers_name'], 0, 1);

//Used to group a block of manufacturers
echo '<div>';
while (!$manufacturers->EOF) {
	// New first character?
	if ($firstChar != substr($manufacturers->fields['manufacturers_name'], 0, 1) {
		// End the previous block and create a new one
		echo '</div><div>';
		$firstChar = substr($manufacturers->fields['manufacturers_name'], 0, 1);
	}
	// your current loop
}
echo '</div>';

Also, validate your code. This is not ok

// If you have more than one row...
while (!$manufacturers->EOF) {
	// ... you will have several elements with the same id.
	$manu_content .= '<div id="ManuWrapper">

[chefou]

Thanks a lot for all your insight and help. I appreciate it. I was really stuck.

Here is the final code I used.

    global $db;

$manufacturers_query = "select distinct m.manufacturers_id, m.manufacturers_name, m.manufacturers_image, mi.manufacturers_url
                        from (" . TABLE_MANUFACTURERS . " m
                        left join " . TABLE_MANUFACTURERS_INFO . " mi on m.manufacturers_id = mi.manufacturers_id)
                        left join " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p on m.manufacturers_id = p.manufacturers_id
                        where p.manufacturers_id = m.manufacturers_id
                        and (p.products_status = 1
                        and p.products_quantity > 0)
                        order by m.manufacturers_name";

$manufacturers = $db->Execute($manufacturers_query);

$manu_content = '';

$firstChar = substr($manufacturers->fields['manufacturers_name'], 0, 1); 
        $manu_content .= '<div id="ManuWrapperHeading">';
//Used for Manufacturers that do not start with Alphabet

    $manu_content .= '#';
	$manu_content .= '</div>'; 
$manu_content .= '<div id="ManuWrapper1">';

//Used to group a block of manufacturers 
while (!$manufacturers->EOF) { 
    // New first character? 
    if ($firstChar != substr($manufacturers->fields['manufacturers_name'], 0, 1)) { 

    // End the previous block and create a new one 
	$manu_content .= '</div><br><br>'; 

    $firstChar = substr($manufacturers->fields['manufacturers_name'], 0, 1); 
    $manu_content .= '<div id="ManuWrapperHeading">';
    $manu_content .= $firstChar;
	$manu_content .= '</div>'; 
	$manu_content .= '<div id="ManuWrapper1"><ul>';

// 		$manu_content .= '</div>'; 
    } 
    // your current loop 

	$manu_content .= '<li><a href="' . DIR_WS_CATALOG . 'index.php?main_page=index&amp;manufacturers_id=' . $manufacturers->fields['manufacturers_id'] . '">';
	$manu_content .= $manufacturers->fields['manufacturers_name'] . "</a></li>";
	$manu_row++;

  $manufacturers->MoveNext();

} 

$manu_content .='</ul></div>';