query with left join and grouping.

[harmor19]

I figured out the mistake and I fixed it.
Thanks Marco for atleast making an effort to help.

I ran into another problem but I got it situated.
I'm posting the working code here for two reasons. One is if I lose the code and the other is for other people to look at.
I wanted to use "left join" but the query got to be too complicated for me.

PHP Code:

$last_cat = '0';
    $getdroplinks_cat = $db->query_read("SELECT *
    FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "custom_droplinks_cat ORDER BY catid");
    while($dlink = $db->fetch_array($getdroplinks_cat))                        
    {
    
        $dlink['permissions'] = explode(",", $dlink['permissions']);
    
        if($last_cat != $dlink['catid'])
        {
            if(in_array($vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid'], $dlink['permissions']) )
            {
                eval('$custom_droplinks_cat .= "' . fetch_template('custom_droplinks_cat') . '";');    
            }
                                            
        }
        
        $custom_droplinks_bit .= "<div class='vbmenu_popup' id='adv$dlink[catid]menu_menu' style='display:none'>
                <table cellpadding='4' cellspacing='1' border='0'>        
                <tr><td class='thead'>".$dlink['title']."</td></tr>";
        
        $getdroplink_bits = $db->query_read("SELECT * FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "custom_droplinks WHERE catid = '$dlink[catid]' ");
        while($droplink_bits = $db->fetch_array($getdroplink_bits))
        {
    
            if($droplink_bits['new_window'] == 1)
               {
                $new = "_blank";
            }
            else
            {
                $new = "";
            }
            
            if(!empty($droplink_bits['image']))
            {
                $img = "<img src='".$droplink_bits['image']."' width='16' height='16' />";
            }
            else
            {
                $img = "";
            }
            
           
            
            $droplink_bits['link_perms'] = explode(",", $droplink_bits['link_perms']);    
        
            
            if(in_array($vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid'], $droplink_bits['link_perms']) )
            {
                $custom_droplinks_bit .=
                "<tr><td class='vbmenu_option'>$img<a href='".$droplink_bits['url']."' target='$new' title='".$droplink_bits['alt']."'>".$droplink_bits['name']."</a></td></tr>";
            }    
            
            
        }
        
        $custom_droplinks_bit .= "</table></div>";
        
        eval('$custom_droplinks = "' . fetch_template('custom_droplinks') . '";');
        
        $last_cat = $dlink['catid'];

    }