[RESOLVED] Help with an array

[leeparts]

Hello All,
New to the board with very basic PHP skills. I am building or I should say trying to build a new shipping calculator. I need to define what items can be combined into one package and ones that can not before I send the package details to UPS. I have played around and I can not seem to make it work. Here is an example:

foreach ($items as $thisitem) {
$units=$thisitem[units];
$length=$thisitem[package_length];
$width=$thisitem[package_width];
$height=$thisitem[package_height];

Item 1 - $units=2, $length=4, $width=4, $height=4;
Item 2 - $units=4, $length=6, $width=6, $height=6;
Item 3 - $units=24, $length=67, $width=22, $height=11;

$girth=$length+$length+$width+$width+$height;

	if ($girth<61) {
		$combine=1;
		$total_weight=$total_weight+$units;
	}
	if ($girth>60) {
		$combine=0;
		$total_weight+$units;
	}

}
Now he lies the problem I am having. Item 1 and 2 are combineable and Item 3 is not. I need to add the weight and dimensions for Items 1 and 2 for package 1 and the dimensions for package 3 remain unchanged. Maybe I have starred at this too long, but I also end up with 3. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Thank you in advance.

[Tonsil]

I'm guessing a little bit as to your intentions. Here's a stab at a solution:

<?php

// this just recreates the supplied data
$items = array(
    '1' => array(
        'units' => 2,
        'length' => 4,
        'width' => 4,
        'height' => 4
    ),
    '2' => array(
        'units' => 4,
        'length' => 6,
        'width' => 6,
        'height' => 6
    ),
    '3' => array(
        'units' => 24,
        'length' => 67,
        'width' => 22,
        'height' => 11
    ),
);

$packages = array();
$max_girth = 60;

foreach ($items as $id => $i) {
  $girth = 2 * $i['length'] + 2 * $i['width'] + $i['height'];

  foreach($packages as &$p) {
      if (($p['girth'] + $girth) <= $max_girth) {
          $p['girth'] += $girth;
          $p['weight'] += $i['units'];
          $p['items'][$id] = $i;
          continue(2); // this skips ahead to the next item
      }
  }
  $packages[] = array(
      'girth' => $girth,
      'items' => array($id => $i),
      'weight' => $i['units']
  );
}
unset($p); // best not to leave references hanging around

var_export($packages);

?>

A couple of points on your code. When using associative arrays, you should put quotes around your indexes, e.g. $thisitem['units'] instead of $thisitem[units]. Your girth calculation - should that just be volume, like lengthheightwidth? At any rate, I took some liberties with your example. I build a packages array, each package may contain multiple items. Each package contains either one item that exceeds the maximum girth or possibly multiple items that have a combined girth less than the maximum. It's not the most efficient way to do this, but should be enough for a small number of items. I'll probably get some flak for the continue(2) call, but I was being lazy.

Does that help you?

[leeparts]

This is very close! Couple of quick things. I need to total the units, girth and dimension for the package containing the two combineable items. Meaning the total units will be 6, girth will be 50, etc. I also need to get length, width and height into the array. I will keep messing with it and post if I get it. Thank you very much for your help so far.

[Tonsil]

If you look at the data in the $packages array, you'll see that some of those totals already exist. For example:

foreach ($packages as $count => $package) {
    echo 'Package ' . ($count+1) . ":\n";
    echo "\ttotal weight: " . $package['weight'] . "\n";
    echo "\tgirth: " . $package['girth'] ."\n";
    echo "\tnumber of items: " . count($package['items']) ."\n";
}

Weight is units. As far as total dimensions go, I'll leave that one up to you as that doesn't make any sense (you cannot simply combine widths, lengths and heights).

[leeparts]

Got it! Again, Thank you very much! You have saved me tons of time.
If you ever need anything automotive related, look me up. I will try to return the favor.

[bradgrafelman]

Don't forget to mark this thread resolved (if it is) using the link on the Thread Tools menu above.

[leeparts]

Done.

Thank You

[leeparts]

One more thing has popped up. It related to quantity. I've made some changes to the code. Basically if I have 2 of item 1 and 1 of item 2 my total weight needs to be 8. I need to multiply combinable items units by their quantity and then add the units all together. My total weight for package 1 should be 8, but no matter what I do the total weight is 6. Here is the code:

<?php

// this just recreates the supplied data
$items = array(
    '1' => array(
        'units' => 2,
        'length' => 4,
        'width' => 4,
        'height' => 4,
        'qty' => 2
    ),
    '2' => array(
        'units' => 4,
        'length' => 6,
        'width' => 6,
        'height' => 6,
        'qty' => 1
    ),
    '3' => array(
        'units' => 24,
        'length' => 67,
        'width' => 22,
        'height' => 11,
        'qty' => 1
    ),
);

$packages = array();
$max_girth = 60;

foreach ($items as $id => $i) {
  $girth = 2 * $i['length'] + 2 * $i['width'] + $i['height'];

  foreach($packages as &$p) {
      if (($p['girth'] + $girth) <= $max_girth) {
          $p['girth'] += $girth;
          $p['weight'] += $i['units'] * $i['qty'] ;
          $p['items'][$id] = $i;
          continue(2); // this skips ahead to the next item
      }
  }
  $packages[] = array(
      'girth' => $girth,
      'items' => array($id => $i),
      'weight' => $i['units']
  );
}
unset($p); // best not to leave references hanging around

echo "<pre>\n";
var_export($packages);
echo "</pre>\n";


foreach ($packages as $count => $package) {
    echo 'Package ' . ($count+1) . ":\n";
    echo "\ttotal weight: " . $package['weight'] . "\n";
    echo "\tgirth: " . $package['girth'] ."\n";
    echo "\tnumber of items: " . count($package['items']) ."<br><br>\n";
} 

?>

And the output:

array (
  0 => 
  array (
    'girth' => 50,
    'items' => 
    array (
      1 => 
      array (
        'units' => 2,
        'length' => 4,
        'width' => 4,
        'height' => 4,
        'qty' => 2,
      ),
      2 => 
      array (
        'units' => 4,
        'length' => 6,
        'width' => 6,
        'height' => 6,
        'qty' => 1,
      ),
    ),
    'weight' => 6,
  ),
  1 => 
  array (
    'girth' => 189,
    'items' => 
    array (
      3 => 
      array (
        'units' => 24,
        'length' => 67,
        'width' => 22,
        'height' => 11,
        'qty' => 1,
      ),
    ),
    'weight' => 24,
  ),
)

Package 1: total weight: 6 girth: 50 number of items: 2

Package 2: total weight: 24 girth: 189 number of items: 1

[leeparts]

Figured it out.