Columnizing

[The-Ensemble]

I've NO idea what I am doing wrong here.

PHP Code:

$counter = 0;

$result = mysql_query("query");

while ($category = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {

$columncount = '3';
$counter++;

$categoryname = $category['catname'];
$catid = $category['catid'];
$catdesc = $category['catdesc'];

eval('$cats .= "' . fetch_template('template') . '";');

if ($counter == $columncount)
{
echo '</tr><tr>';
$counter = 0;
}

} 


It resets the counter to zero yet won't print </tr><tr> I've tried dump it with

PHP Code:

?> <?php

tags and that did nothing, I don't get what I've done wrong for it to not work. In theory it should all be working fine, but its not.

NOTE: I cut out the template name and query because they aren't really relevant they both work perfectly and this is a snippet of the overal code the rest of it isn't relevant to this part (or even executed yet) hence why I haven't posted it.

[Opserty]

There is a closing curly brace (}) missing from your while() statement. Also you don't need the single quotes around the 3 in [minicode]$columncount = '3';[/minicode]. Run

PHP Code:

var_dump($cats); 


and throw in an echo statement into your while and see if you get any output. Also run var_dump() on $counter to see if it is changing.

Maybe check that you are getting results from the database first.

[The-Ensemble]

The query is working fine, its returning all 4 records from the database with errors and the counter is working fine as I've put $counter in the template and its clearly stating 1-3 then resets to 1 without adding the </tr><tr> on 3.

See attached picture. Its returning the names, the descriptions and the counter.

[MoT3rror]

Well if you are using templates you can't echo or print anything but what you can do is something like this.

PHP Code:

$counter = 0;

$result = mysql_query("query");

while ($category = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {

$columncount = 3;
$counter++;

$categoryname = $category['catname'];
$catid = $category['catid'];
$catdesc = $category['catdesc'];

eval('$cats .= "' . fetch_template('template') . '";');

if ($counter == $columncount)
{
$cats .= '</tr><tr>';
$counter = 0;
}

} 


[The-Ensemble]

Oh wow, that works. Thanks!

Question: what does the . in .= do?

[Dismounted]

Concatenate

Google it.

[Opserty]

Always check the HTML source of the output when you're using PHP and things do go to plan. Sometimes the browser hides incorrectly placed code so you don't always see the exact output. It probably would have shown you your error.

[The-Ensemble]

Originally Posted by Opserty

Always check the HTML source of the output when you're using PHP and things do go to plan. Sometimes the browser hides incorrectly placed code so you don't always see the exact output. It probably would have shown you your error.

It didn't output the </tr><tr> at all I put <!-- cat --> at the top and <!-- / cat --> at the bottom of the template to check if it was being outputted but in the wrong place. And It wasn't. But its working nicely now so thats all that matters. :up: