query with left join and grouping.

[harmor19]

I have two tables, "custom_droplinks_cat" and "custom_droplinks".
Below is the tables' layout. I hope it is easy to understand.

----------------------------------------
| Table: custom_droplinks_cat 
----------------------------------------
| catid: 1
| title: Test Category 1
----------------------------------------
| catid: 2
| title: Test Category 2
----------------------------------------

----------------------------------------
| Table: custom_droplinks 
----------------------------------------
| linkid: 1
| title: Test Link 1
| catid: 1
----------------------------------------
| linkid: 2
| title: Test Link 2
| catid: 1
----------------------------------------
| linkid: 3
| title: Test Link 4
| catid: 2
----------------------------------------
| linkid: 4
| title: Test Link 4
| catid: 2
----------------------------------------

I don't want to ask more than I need to so I'll just ask "How do I make "Test Category" bold then place "Test Link" immediately after followed by a break (br />)?

PHP Code:

$getdroplinks_cat = $db->query_read("SELECT
    droplink_cat.catid as dlc_catid,
        droplink_cat.title as dlc_title,
    droplink.catid as dl_catid,
    droplink.title as dl_title,
    
    FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "custom_droplinks_cat AS droplink_cat
    LEFT JOIN " . TABLE_PREFIX . "custom_droplinks AS droplink ON (droplink_cat.catid=droplink.catid)
    WHERE droplink_cat.catid = droplink.catid ");
    while($dlink = $db->fetch_array($getdroplinks_cat))
{
  echo "<b>".$dlink['dlc_title']."</b><br />
  ".$dlink['dl_title']."<br /><br />";
} 


I want the result to be

Test Category 1
Test Link 1
Test Link 2

Test Category 2
Test Link 3
Test Link 4

[Marco van Herwaarden]

A basic example on how you could do this:

PHP Code:

$last_cat = null;
while (my loop conditions)
{
 if ($last_cat != $current_cat)
 {
  $last_cat = $current_cat;
  echo "my nice bold line with the category";
 }
 echo "and my link";
} 


[harmor19]

Thanks for answering my question. I'm going to try it out soon.

[harmor19]

I thought I could apply the solution Marco gave me to the real query but I can't get it to work.

Here is the actual code

PHP Code:

    <template name="custom_droplinks" templatetype="template" date="1176624912" username="harmor" version="1.6.0"><![CDATA[<div class="vbmenu_popup" id="adv$dlink[dlc_catid]menu_menu" style="display:none">
        <table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" border="0">        
        <tr><td class="thead">$dlink[title]</td></tr>    
$custom_droplinks_bit
        </table>
    </div>]]></template>
        <template name="custom_droplinks_cat" templatetype="template" date="1176624827" username="harmor" version="1.6.0"><![CDATA[<td id="adv$dlink[dlc_catid]menu" class="vbmenu_control">
    <a href="#">$dlink[title]</a>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        vbmenu_register("adv$dlink[dlc_catid]menu");
    </script>
</td>
]]></template>


        <plugin active="1" executionorder="5">
            <title>Custom Links</title>
            <hookname>global_start</hookname>
            <phpcode><![CDATA[
    
    $last_cat = '0';
    $getdroplinks_cat = $db->query_read("SELECT
    droplink_cat.catid as dlc_catid,
    droplink.catid as dl_catid,
    droplink.new_window,
    droplink.link_perms,
    droplink.name,
    droplink.image,
    droplink.url,
    droplink.alt,
    droplink.number,
    droplink_cat.title,
    droplink_cat.permissions,
    droplink_cat.display
    
    FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "custom_droplinks_cat AS droplink_cat
    LEFT JOIN " . TABLE_PREFIX . "custom_droplinks AS droplink ON (droplink_cat.catid=droplink.catid)
    ORDER BY dl_catid ASC ");
    while($dlink = $db->fetch_array($getdroplinks_cat))                        
    {
            
        eval('$custom_droplinks_cat .= "' . fetch_template('custom_droplinks_cat') . '";');                                
        
        $custom_droplinks_bit .= "<tr><td class='vbmenu_option'>$img<a href='".$dlink['url']."' target='$new' title='".$dlink['alt']."'>".$dlink['name']."</a></td></tr>";
            
        eval('$custom_droplinks = "' . fetch_template('custom_droplinks') . '";');
        
    } 


[Marco van Herwaarden]

Please post the actually code, i don't want to go decode your XML.
Also telling what is not working might also help.

[harmor19]

In the screenshot "Test1" is supposed to have "vBulletin" and "Test2" is supposed to have "Xen Web".

I'm not sure if this code snippet will suffice but I don't want to post all the code as it may be overwhelming.

PHP Code:

if($last_cat != $dlink['dlc_catid'])
{
    $last_cat = $dlink['dlc_catid'];
    eval('$custom_droplinks_cat .= "' . fetch_template('custom_droplinks_cat') . '";');                                
}
        

$custom_droplinks_bit .= "<tr><td class='vbmenu_option'>$img<a href='".$dlink['url']."' target='$new' title='".$dlink['alt']."'>".$dlink['name']."</a></td></tr>"; 


Edit: I think I may have to do two separate queries.

[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'];

    }