database ques

Anon

im new to php. i know how to set up a dtabase and tables and stuff. but what im trying to do is get the inf out of the table by the id number in the link .. like www.blah/blah.php?id=1
and i wanted to be able to put all of that info into a nice table by using $name, $product etc.
is there any tutorials somewhere that explains this. im new so this is probably a dumb question

siwis

http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/99/21/index2a.html

Assuming you've got your database WITH some data in it, plus you've previously opened your connection you need a simple database query.

Lets assume you have a database table called "mytable" with 3 columns:
ID, NAME, TEXT.

$db = mysql_connect("hostname" , "username" , "password");

@mysql_select_db("$dbname",$db);

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE ID = $id", $db);
list($id, $name, $text) = mysql_fetch_row($result);

Feed the variable $id into the page via URL/page.php?id=1

Make sure you look to ensure that if the page is called without an id that the script will not fall over.

Anon

thankyou. i was up for a while trying things over and over and got it to work beofre i saw this reply. this is the code i was using but ill use your and see if it works since im new id think yours would be better than mine since i kinda just threw stuff together till it worked

my code....

mysql_connect($DBhost,$DBuser,$DBpass) or die("Unable toconnect to database");

@mysql_select_db("$DBName") or die("Unable to select database $DBName");

$sqlquery = "SELECT * FROM $table WHERE id = $id";

$result = mysql_query($sqlquery);

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
echo "$row[name]";
?>

another question . im having trouble printing this info im getting into tables. i guess doing tables in php is diff from html. do you know any tutorials that explain the tags for making tables

thanks alot

siwis

pretty simple really. If you're more of a html coder than a php coder, then skip out of php and back into html for various sections.

So perform your query:
<?PHP
$result = mysql_query($sqlquery);
?>
<table>
<?PHP
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
$row_name = $row['name'];
?>
<tr>
<td><?PHP echo "$row_name"; ?></td>
</tr>
<?PHP
};
?>
</table>

So effectively you start your table before commencing the loop, then just get the loop to write all the tags for your rows and cells, then terminate your loop and subsequently your table.

The above should create a table 1 column wide by X rows with each name entered into a seperate row.

I don't profess to be any kind of expert, I mean I've only actually been coding PHP from scratch for about 8 months and we all have to start somewhere!

I found the link to the hotwired tutorial gave me enough to get me going but then went and purchased a book (The PHP4 Bible) which has been a tremendous help. Don't give up! Similarly, I took a long hard look at many many scripts I downloaded from places like hotscripts etc, and after disecting them, began to get a feel for the necessary structure.

Anon

yea thats what i was thinking about doing. just closing the php tags , and having a seperate one inside each table . instead of trying to duplicate that table inside the php tag.
i havent tried it yet, but once the php tag is closed will it still store the variable like $name = row name etc.
or do i have to repeat the databse connection/query in each tag
and if so wont this be slow?

siwis

the variables remain in place until the script terminates or is overwritten by a subsequent variable value assignment.

Simply skipping in and out of the php code will make very little difference. I drop in and out all the time. It's just far simpler and you end up with less arse errors (owing to unescaped double quotes!) If its html, write html, then simply echo the variables into place. Similarly, as I came from html rather than coding roots, I can spot errors far faster by dropping in and out than I can when using print printf and echo all the time. The final reason I prefer it is that it allows me to format my html far more neatly than I can using php.

The other, and I suppose realistic reason for doing it this way is to get used to the way template inclusion works, where a team of coders and a team of html designers work independently. The designers simply create templates with markers as to where they want the inserts to be made and the coders write the apps that simply call the templates and replace certain character strings with the outputs they wish to place into the page (in a really simplified descriptive fashion!)