[RESOLVED] Field names: Looking for a mysql_ or mysqli_ shortcut...

[Joseph_Sliker]

Hi; I trying to figure out if any of the mysql or mysql commands will return a query's FIELD NAMES into an array BEFORE the whole script runs. (ie. like mysqli_num_fields($Q_result) will return the number of columns.)

Here is my basic Query/Table creation script.

$Q_LABEL="(generic table query)"; // or whatever
$Q_SQL="SELECT * FROM SOMETABLE";
$Q_result = mysqli_query($link,$Q_SQL);
$columns=mysqli_num_fields($Q_result); // for width of table/top line

// RIGHT HERE, I'd like to have access to the array of column names without having to run a second or preliminary query to get them.  Seems like it should be possible.

$rowcounter=0;
echo "<table>";	
echo "<tr><th align=left colspan=$columns>$Q_LABEL</th></tr>";	
while ($line = mysqli_fetch_array ($Q_result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
if ($rowcounter==0) {echo "<tr>"; 
foreach ($line as $col_key => $col_value) {echo "<th>$col_key</th>";} 
echo "</tr>";} 
$row_color = ($rowcounter % 2) ? $color1 : $color2;
echo "<tr bgcolor=\"$row_color\">"; 
foreach ($line as $col_value) {echo "<td>$col_value</td>";} 
echo "</tr>"; 
$rowcounter++;}	
echo "<tr><th align=left colspan=$columns></th></tr>"; // skinny bottom line to end table	
echo "</table>";

Thanks.

[dagon]

mysqli_fetch_fields() ?

[johanafm]

If you use prepared statements you can

$meta = $stmt->result_metadata();
$fields = $meta->fetch_fields();

If you don't have a prepared statement you could just iterate over the field numbers and retrieve the field names individually

for ($i = 0; $i < $columns; ++$i) {
	$field = $result->fetch_field_direct($i);
	echo $field['name'];
}

See the php doc for more info.
$row = $result->mysqli_fetch_assoc();

[Joseph_Sliker]

Thanks for these suggestions. I have tried mysqli_fetch_fields() and mysqli_list_fields() as well as the second suggestion (just now) and always get a reply telling me:

Fatal error: Cannot use object of type stdClass as array in /usr/local/www/htdocs/rti/_blahblah.php on line 'n'

I CAN print_r($Q_Result) when I add the following code under the line

...
$columns=mysqli_num_fields($Q_result); // for width of table/top line

$colNAMES=mysqli_fetch_fields($Q_result); // field names?
print_r($colNAMES); // I can SEE all the table info/field names here, but I can't seem to tap it to get the fieldname values.

...but if I try to iterate through it, again I get the error that I "Cannot use object of type stdClass as array"

So, still no luck....

I'm wondering if there is some way to convert convert $colNAMES into an array that I can actually USE?

[johanafm]

That's because $colNames is an array of objects, just like print_r tells you.

foreach($colNAMES as $field) {
	echo $field->name;
}

[Joseph_Sliker]

Brilliant!

The following does exactly what I want!

$Q_result = mysqli_query($link,$Q_SQL);
$columns=mysqli_num_fields($Q_result); // for width of table/top line
$coltemp=mysqli_fetch_fields($Q_result); // field names!  Even on an empty table! 
foreach($coltemp as $field) {$colnames[$field->name]=$field->name;}

I had figured out a kludge/work-around (doing a preliminary one-record query) BUT that would not work on an empty table. This does!

Thanks so much!