[RESOLVED] Assign to diff variables the same key word

[Simplyput]

My brain is fried but here I go. I am trying to get certain RSS feed to pull up on a page based on a keyword in a url. However, the data lies in two tables and the ids for each table do not match up. i.e. $pid = 3 and $parent = 6. I am thinking of using a join to pull the url based on the keyword. My issue is how do I assign 2 diff variables with the same key words.

Example.

$pid = '2'= $parent = '2'= Barter / Rental
$pid = '3'= $parent = '6'= Business
$pid = '4'= $parent = '15'=Creative Arts
$pid = '5'= $parent = '22'=General Labor
$pid = '6'= $parent = '33'=Health & Beauty
$pid = '7'= $parent = '40'=Motor Repair
$pid = '8'= $parent = '46'=Skilled Labor
$pid = '9'= $parent = '65'=Technology
$pid = '10'= $parent ='72'=Wedding Services

Maybe I am thinking about this part wrong because the more I look at it the more stupid it looks. please help.

[bradgrafelman]

I don't really understand your description at all, but would using an [man]array[/man] be more appropriate here? Example..

$data = array(
    array(
        'pid' = 2,
        'parent' = 2,
        'name?' = 'Barter / Rental'
    ),

array(
    'pid' = 3,
    'parent' = 6,
    'name?' = 'Business'
),

// etc.
);

[Simplyput]

bradgrafelman;10999705 wrote:

I don't really understand your description at all, but would using an [man]array[/man] be more appropriate here? Example..

$data = array(
    array(
        'pid' = 2,
        'parent' = 2,
        'name?' = 'Barter / Rental'
    ),

array(
    'pid' = 3,
    'parent' = 6,
    'name?' = 'Business'
),

// etc.
);

Okay I get this and you are right an array is what I needed thanks. I tried to make my code work with this and was not successful. Basically the main category in the db is Barter / Rental and under sub categories I have equipment and other. To use the sub categories can I do this for the array assignment.

$data = array(
    array(
        'pid' = 2,
        'parent' = 2,
        'ref' = 'Barter / Rental' => 'Equipment', =>  'Other'
    ),

What I am trying to accomplish is when the url shows ?ref='' Barter / Rental, Equipment, or Other I can pull in the pid or parent ID from the db? Do I have this array code correct?

OR after hours of goggling should I do this below

$data['Barter / Rental'] = array('cid' => 2, 'parent' => '2');
$data['Equipment'] = array('cid' => 2, 'parent' => '2');
$data['Other'] = array('cid' => 2, 'parent' => '2');

if (in_array($_GET['ref'], $data)){
foreach($array as $key => $value) {
  if ($value['parent'] === 'cid') { //Not sure if I got this line right.
    return $key;
  }
}

Any help will be gladly appreciated.

[bradgrafelman]

Simplyput;10999969 wrote:

What I am trying to accomplish is when the url shows ?ref='' Barter / Rental, Equipment, or Other I can pull in the pid or parent ID from the db?

So wait... is all of this data coming from the DB? If so, why do it in PHP at all? Why not just pass in the "ref" name in the SQL query and let the SQL server take care of finding the related data? That is, after all, one of the (many) reasons to use a database in the first place. 🙂

Simplyput;10999969 wrote:

OR after hours of goggling should I do this below

Depending upon your answer above, this all may be irrelevant now, but note that you could get rid of the loop (why is it even there in the first place?) because it's entirely unnecessary. Just access the relevant item in the $data array directly.

[Simplyput]

bradgrafelman;10999974 wrote:

So wait... is all of this data coming from the DB? If so, why do it in PHP at all? Why not just pass in the "ref" name in the SQL query and let the SQL server take care of finding the related data? That is, after all, one of the (many) reasons to use a database in the first place. 🙂

Depending upon your answer above, this all may be irrelevant now, but note that you could get rid of the loop (why is it even there in the first place?) because it's entirely unnecessary. Just access the relevant item in the $data array directly.

Okay in the db the ref name is in one table separate from where the cid id for the RSS url is located. I thought I was passing the ref in the sql by assigning the variables to an array to pull in the correct cid and parent ID that corresponded with the right URL based on the ref? If I am wrong then how should I go about doing that? Any help will be greatly appreciative.

[bradgrafelman]

Simplyput;10999986 wrote:

Okay in the db the ref name is in one table separate from where the cid id for the RSS url is located.

Sounds like a simple JOIN is all you need.

Simplyput;10999986 wrote:

I thought I was passing the ref in the sql by assigning the variables to an array to pull in the correct cid and parent ID that corresponded with the right URL based on the ref?

But what if the ID values change? Or what if you add/remove/edit the entries in the DB? You'd have to also duplicate all of that work by editing the static values in your PHP script as well.

In other words, you've negated one of the main reasons for using a DB in the first place and you might as well just store all of your data in arrays inside of PHP scripts. 🙂

Simplyput;10999986 wrote:

If I am wrong then how should I go about doing that?

See above - you'd want to JOIN the tables together based on some common value (such as the ID). However, if you don't know what a JOIN is, you might want to take a step back and find some basic SQL tutorials, because it's a pretty fundamental/core concept when it comes to RDBMSs.

[Simplyput]

Thanks for the help the join function was my first attempt and I thought I was going about it all wrong.