[RESOLVED] not displaying blank cells

[mjansen]

is there a simple way to not display fields/cells that are blank?

i have one row in the db where there will be blanks and non-blanks, and these are displayed as links via php. but when there is a blank field, i still get a link on the display (which links to the current page).
i don't mind if, when blank, i need to display some text, or nothing, either way.

i've tried to search for an answer, but just got myself even more confused.

here's the code, and '$youtube' is the row i'm concerned with.

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {

$display_block .= "<hr class='small-page-splits'><span class='bodyor'><strong>$fname</strong> from $vendor</br></br>
<table span class='vendorlist'><tr><td width='150'>Nod:</td><td>  $fMG mg/ml</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plid:</td><td> $pPG / $pVG </td></tr><tr><td width='25%'>
Other:</td><td> $m_other </td></tr></table>

<hr class='smaller-page-splits'></br>
<table valign=top span class='vendorlist'><tr>
<td width='150' valign=top>Relative Strength:</td><td width='150'> $fStrength </td><td width='75'>Tangible Hit: </td><td width='100'> $tHit</tr>
<tr><td valign='top'>Stopchecks:</br></br></td><td valign=top> $fQuality </td><td valign=top>Cloud list: </td><td valign=top> $vapor</td></tr></table>

<table span class='vendorlist'><td width='150' valign=top><strong>Overall:</br></br></td><td valign=top> $overall</strong></td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td width='400'> <span class='bodydesc'> $comments </span></td></tr>
<tr><td width='150'>Retarding:</td><td> $retarding</td></tr>
<tr><td> </td><td><a href='$youtube' target='_blank'>Youtube page</td></tr>
<tr><td width='150'>Supplier:</td><td> <a href='$link' target='_blank'>$link </td></tr></table>";
}
?>

[Pikachu2000]

You'll probably want to let a conditional take care of whether to display anything. As a (truncated) example:

while( $array = mysql_fetch_assoc( $result ) {
     if( !empty($array['field']) ) {
          echo( "a href=\"http://www.somesite.com\">" . $array['field'] . "</a>" );
     } else {
          //either leave it blank, or echo some text . . .
     }
}

[mjansen]

thanks for that. while i kind of understand what your code does, i'm not sure how to apply it to my needs. i've been playing around with it but just can't grasp it.

in my example, all fields display in the table (previously defined), but when it gets to the youtube line; if there is data there, it displays the text 'youtube page' appropriately as a link ($youtube). but when there is no data, it displays the text as a link to the current page.

what i'm trying to accomplish is if there is no data in that field for a particular row, then either display nothing or some other text which is not a link.

[Pikachu2000]

mjansen;10946753 wrote:

thanks for that. while i kind of understand what your code does, i'm not sure how to apply it to my needs. i've been playing around with it but just can't grasp it.

in my example, all fields display in the table (previously defined), but when it gets to the youtube line; if there is data there, it displays the text 'youtube page' appropriately as a link ($youtube). but when there is no data, it displays the text as a link to the current page.

what i'm trying to accomplish is if there is no data in that field for a particular row, then either display nothing or some other text which is not a link.

First thing, I just spotted a typo in what I put up there, should be echo( "<a href . . .
instead of echo( "a href . . .

Now that I've had a chance to look over you code more closely, I see a few things I'm unsure of. Is it your intent to create three entire tables for each record returned? If so, do you want to build those tables if the field in question is empty, or not?

[mjansen]

thanks again for your help/input.

yes three tables. i actually used three tables cause i couldn't figure out another way to get a space in between them 😉

but they will all display something, its only the third table that has the field in question, which is the $youtube.
it currently displays the text "youtube page" as a link. if $youtube has content, it will use that as the href link. if it doesn't have content, the href link apparently defaults to the current page. that is what i'm trying to eliminate. either have the text "youtube page" not be a link, not display at all, or display different text (ie "no youtube page available").

[Pikachu2000]

OK. Now that I understand what you're doing . . . In the part of $display_block that has the link, you need to use a conditional to determine what to do there. It's probably best to break it up a little in that spot. If this doesn't make sense, let us know.

[SNIP]
<tr><td width='150'>Retarding:</td><td> $retarding</td></tr>";  // End the string for $display_block here, then add a conditional
if( !empty($row['insert_your_field_name_here']) ) { // if the field contains data, concatenate the string.
     $display_block .= "<tr><td> </td><td><a href='$youtube' target='_blank'>Youtube page</td></tr>";
} else { // if empty, display a message/whatever instead
     $display_block .= "<tr><td>&nbsp:</td><td>Sorry, no link available.</td></tr>";
$display_block .= "<tr><td width='150'>Supplier:</td><td><a href='$link' target='_blank'>$link</td></tr></table>"; // concatenate the last line

[mjansen]

thanks again. i played with it a little bit, and almost have it working. here's the problem now. (excuse my non-knowledge of correct vernacular here).
the page this is on is from a _post from another page, using $fname as the identifier. to help clarify, the ending url on this page is "reviewtest.php?fName=Grand%Central"

$fname contains duplicates, and so this resulting page would list each row with the corresponding $fname (Grand Central in this case) that was selected in the prior page.
while the code below seems to work, it now only displays a single row of $fname, regardless of how many there are. i can't find any rhyme or reason as to which one it picks either.

$display_block .= "<hr class='small-page-splits'><span class='bodyor'><strong>$fname</strong> from $vendor</br></br>
<table span class='vendorlist'><tr><td width='150'>Nod:</td><td>  $fMG mg/ml</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plid:</td><td> $pPG / $pVG </td></tr><tr><td width='25%'>
Other:</td><td> $m_other </td></tr></table>

<hr class='smaller-page-splits'></br>
<table valign=top span class='vendorlist'><tr>
<td width='150' valign=top>Relative Strength:</td><td width='150'> $fStrength </td><td width='75'>Stopchecks: </td><td width='100'> $tHit</tr>
<tr><td valign='top'>Flavor Quality:</br></br></td><td valign=top> $fQuality </td><td valign=top>Vapor: </td><td valign=top> $vapor</td></tr></table>

<table span class='vendorlist'><td width='150' valign=top><strong>Overall:</br></br></td><td valign=top> $overall</strong></td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td width='400'> <span class='bodydesc'> $comments </span></td></tr>
<tr><td width='150'>Retarding:</td><td> $retarding</td></tr>";  // End the string for $display_block here, then add a conditional
if( !empty($row['youtube']) ) { // if the field contains data, concatenate the string.
  $display_block .= "<tr><td> </td><td><a href='$youtube' target='_blank'>Youtube page</td></tr>";
} else { // if empty, display a message/whatever instead
     $display_block .= "<tr><td>&nbsp</td><td>No youtube review</td></tr>";
 $display_block .= "<tr><td width='150'>Supplier website:</td><td><a href='$link' target='_blank'>$link</td></tr></table>"; // concatenate the last line


}
?>

[Pikachu2000]

The changes we made in this part of the code should have no effect on that. Where this code is, the db query has already executed. I'd need to see how you're using the $GET or $_REQUEST values in conjunction with the db query. Are you using a foreach statement somewhere, or something along those lines?

I did notice one thing I didn't catch earlier, but I doubt it's causing the problem, None of your <a href> tags are closed with an </a> tag after the text.

[mjansen]

eh, i'm a moron. this page isn't a _post, its simply a link from the other page.
it's just this:

<a href='reviewtest.php?flavorName=$fname'>$fname</a> </strong></td>

so each specfici $fname link goes to the page in question, which lists all the rows with that $fname. (did that make sense?)

and i agree, the code inserted shouldn't have any effect on that, but apparently it does. i did add the </a>, thanks for that catch. the only denominator i see in the code results is that it never displays a row that actually has a link in $youtube. is there something you see in that?

[Pikachu2000]

Now that I've had my coffee, I see several things in the html that aren't valid markup, and a few missing tags. Also, the closing curly brace for the else{} is after the line that would display the supplier website, and close the table. There may be other issues, but these are what I found. I took the liberty of spacing and indenting the code for clarity. See the comments within. In regards to the value passed in the URL, I can't see that part of the code, so I can't offer any ideas as to what's happening with it.

$display_block .= "<hr class='small-page-splits'>
<span class='bodyor'> <!-- this span tag isn't closed anywhere. -->
<strong>$fname</strong> from $vendor</br></br>

<table span class='vendorlist'> <!-- span isn't a valid attribute for a table tag -->
<tr>
	<td width='150'>Nod:</td>
	<td>  $fMG mg/ml</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td>Plid:</td>
	<td> $pPG / $pVG </td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td width='25%'>Other:</td>
	<td> $m_other </td>
</tr>
</table>

<hr class='smaller-page-splits'></br>

<table valign=top span class='vendorlist'> <!-- span attribute invalid -->
<tr>
	<td width='150' valign=top>Relative Strength:</td>
	<td width='150'> $fStrength </td>
	<td width='75'>Stopchecks: </td>
	<td width='100'> $tHit <!-- Needs a </td> tag -->
</tr>
<tr>
	<td valign='top'>Flavor Quality:</br></br></td> <!-- </br> tag format not valid. should be <br /> throughout the document-->
	<td valign=top> $fQuality </td> <!-- some of your attribute values are enclosed in singl quotes, while some are not. -->
	<td valign=top>Vapor: </td>
	<td valign=top> $vapor</td>
</tr>
</table>

<table span class='vendorlist'> <!-- span attribute invalid -->
<!-- Needs a <tr> open tag -->
	<td width='150' valign=top><strong>Overall:</br></br></td>
	<td valign=top> $overall</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td></td>
	<td width='400'> <span class='bodydesc'> $comments </span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td width='150'>Retarding:</td>
	<td> $retarding</td>
</tr>";  // End the string for $display_block here, then add a conditional
if( !empty($row['youtube']) ) { // if the field contains data, concatenate the string.
	$display_block .= "<tr><td></td><td><a href='$youtube' target='_blank'>Youtube page</td></tr>";
} else { // if empty, display a message/whatever instead
	$display_block .= "<tr><td>&nbsp</td><td>No youtube review</td></tr>";
$display_block .= "<tr><td width='150'>Supplier website:</td><td><a href='$link' target='_blank'>$link</td></tr></table>"; // concatenate the last line
} // <---- Needs to move up above the previous line.
?>

[mjansen]

yikes, how sloppy am i?

interestingly enough, those code fixes corrected everything else as well. 😕

i'd like to know why that would be, if you know, cause i'm all about the learning if it can be had.

in either event, thanks again for all the insight and help!!

[Pikachu2000]

Sometimes an html tag left open can prevent something that follows it from displaying, and a curly brace in the wrong place can wreak all sorts of havoc . . . I got into the habit of using the "View Source" option in my browser when things don't look right. If I've left something open, it's usually pretty obvious in the html source.

So, everything seems to be OK?

[mjansen]

yeah, i guess that must have been it. i've tested on 4 browsers and they all display correctly. good tip on the source view, i'll keep that in mind (as well as watch my code a little better).

thanks once more for the help, i'll make this thread resolved now 😃