Arranging the display of SQL results alphabetically

MagicalMonkey

Hi, I'm relatively new to the workd of PHP and have come across a problem.

I am trying to arrange the results of a mySQL query in a way where the results are placed into seperate div tags down a page so that they are in rows of three.

The first thing I need to do is to count how many start with a or b etc. and then divide that number by three so that the height can expand as more info is added to the database.

Secondly I need to create a header and the three rows of divs before moving onto the next letter. eg.

alpha anthony angry
apple ant
artichoke autumn

banana buster bang
bart brainwave brains
baby bacon

etc. Is there away this can be acheived simply?

cheers.

anakadote

So you're only going to display 3 results for each letter? Or you want to display them all but in groups of three? (If the total is not divisible by 3 should that last row have the remaining 1 or 2 results?)

dalecosp

Three rows of divs?

I know that this is 2010, but tables were invented to hold tabular data.

amax

Not sure if this is the best solution but might be quick and dirty to create an array for each letter of the alphabet. Then, when you do your query, check for the first letter of each result returned, and depending on what it is, place it in the correct letter array. Each of your DIVS would then jsut print out the array using for each etc

MagicalMonkey

Hi, thanks all for your replies.

The best example I can find of this is at the following page http://www.vouchercodes.co. uk/all-voucher-codes.html

I am not the best at working with arrays, how would you go about the method of divinding word with the first same letter into one?

Cheers

dalecosp

Take a look at the [man]string[/man] functions ... nice for all sorts of operations with letters 🙂

mrbaseball34

Well, if you look at the source for that page, they use an unordered list not divs...
Rethink your problem.

MagicalMonkey

From what I can see (and I might be wrong) the columns are sperated by divs (one div per column, class="first"). I understand the div part its the bringing a header for each alphabet letter and seperating I cant figure out.

eg.

I would create a counter variable.

add one to the counter everytime a result is brought forward.

Divide the number of results that start with a letter by three.

When the counter hits the limit that is equal to a third of the results : if ($counter == 23) {echo "</div><start div again>"; $counter = 0;}

would this work? and if so how do I know how many results start with a certain letter?

Regards
Steven