Add alternating color to mysql_fetch_array row results

Question

I've googled and tried several things all to no avail. I'm taking some classes in PHP and MySQL and I'm trying to add alternating color to the rows in array results. So far nothing has worked. I'm not sure where to put it. This is the code I have:

//assemble the sql query string to insert a record
$query="SELECT * FROM Vehicles WHERE buyer IS NOT NULL ORDER BY StockID asc";

//open a connection and select the database
$conn=mysql_connect($host, $username, $password);
@mysql_select_db($database, $conn) or die ("Unable to select $database database");

//Execute the sql query
if($result=mysql_query($query, $conn)){
$rows=mysql_numrows($result);
echo"<p>There are $rows cars in the system</p>";
?>  

<table border="0" align="center" border="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin:auto; border-spacing:2px 1px; border-collapse:separate; border:ridge 5px; border-color:#669999;">
<tr>
<td style="background-color:#92DEDC">Stock ID</td>
<td style="background-color:#92DEDC">Reg Number</td>
<td style="background-color:#92DEDC">Make</td>
<td style="background-color:#92DEDC">Model</td>
<td style="background-color:#92DEDC">Year</td>
<td style="background-color:#92DEDC">Cost Price</td>
<td style="background-color:#92DEDC">EmpID</td>
<td style="background-color:#92DEDC">Sell Price</td>
<td style="background-color:#92DEDC">Seller</td>
<td style="background-color:#92DEDC">Buyer</td>
<td style="background-color:#92DEDC">Admin Tasks</td>
</tr>

<?php

$i=0;

while($i<$rows){
    $recordArray=mysql_fetch_array($result);//fetch and display a record
        echo "<tr bgcolor='$bgcolor'>   
                <td >$recordArray[StockID]</td>
                <td>$recordArray[Rego_No]</td>
                <td>$recordArray[Make]</td>
                <td>$recordArray[Model]</td>
                <td>$recordArray[Year]</td>
                <td>$recordArray[Cost_Price]</td>
                <td>$recordArray[employeeid]</td>
                <td>$recordArray[Sale_Price]</td>
                <td>$recordArray[emp_name]</td>
                <td>$recordArray[Buyer]</td>
                <td>
                    <a href='edit-car.php?StockID=$recordArray[StockID] & emp_name=$recordArray[emp_name]'>Edit</a>
                </td>
            </tr>";
        $i++;
}else{
echo "Something went wrong. MySQL reports <b>", mysql_error(),"</b>";
}
?>  
</table>
<?php
mysql_close($conn);
?>
</body></html>

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. We are only a week into the course and I'm just trying to dress up the results a little.

mysql_numrows should be mysql_num_rows .. also these mysql_* is deprecated as of PHP 5.5.0 and not recommended by php communtiy. Prefer using PDO or mysqli to avoid issues like mysql injection — Mithun Satheesh
– Mithun Satheesh, Commented Feb 16, 2013 at 5:22
Thank you for telling me that. I'm going to talk to our teacher on Wednesday and ask why we are not learning the current stuff. I would much prefer to be learning what is currently being used. Cheers, Spud — Spud
– Spud, Commented Feb 16, 2013 at 6:18

Dhaivat Pandya · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-16 05:25:13Z

3

Use the counter:

if($i % 2 == 0) {
  $class = "even";
}
else {
  $class = "odd"
}

Then, add that $class to your template (instead of the repeated background-color things), and write CSS with the .even and .odd selectors.

(my PHP is a bit rusty, but, that's the general idea).

Also, as mithunsatheesh pointed out, the mysql_* set of functions is incredibly dangerous and overall just a bad plan to be using - use PDO instead.

edited Feb 16, 2013 at 5:25

answered Feb 16, 2013 at 5:18

Dhaivat Pandya

6,5264 gold badges32 silver badges44 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

Spud Over a year ago

Thanks for the quick response. We are only working in the browser for now and there is no CSS associated with the page. I'm looking for a PHP way to do it. Cheers, Spud

Dhaivat Pandya Over a year ago

That's quite frankly a terrible idea - it will be an incredible pain to fix it later. But, the idea is still the same, change the $class to $color and set $color to the different colors in the if{} and else{} and then set that as your background-color value.

Mithun Satheesh Over a year ago

@Spud: if you dont want to use css. $class="background:#color1" and echo in tr style

Ripa Saha · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-16 05:56:15Z

0

<?php

$i=0;

while($recordArray=mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
    if($i % 2 == 0) 
    {
      $bgcolor= "#006666";
   }
   else 
  {
     $bgcolor= "#CC6699";
  }
   $i++;
    echo "<tr bgcolor='$bgcolor'>   
            <td >$recordArray[StockID]</td>
            <td>$recordArray[Rego_No]</td>
            <td>$recordArray[Make]</td>
            <td>$recordArray[Model]</td>
            <td>$recordArray[Year]</td>
            <td>$recordArray[Cost_Price]</td>
            <td>$recordArray[employeeid]</td>
            <td>$recordArray[Sale_Price]</td>
            <td>$recordArray[emp_name]</td>
            <td>$recordArray[Buyer]</td>
            <td>
                <a href='edit-car.php?StockID=$recordArray[StockID] & emp_name=$recordArray[emp_name]'>Edit</a>
            </td>
        </tr>";


   }
 ?>

edited Feb 16, 2013 at 5:56

answered Feb 16, 2013 at 5:32

Ripa Saha

2,5406 gold badges29 silver badges54 bronze badges

3 Comments

Spud Over a year ago

Hi, when I try the above code it returns this: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '}' in C:\xampp\htdocs\mydatabase\cars-sold.php on line 55. What am I doing wrong? Cheers

Ripa Saha Over a year ago

@Spud there is an ; missing in else part. put a ; in $bgcolor= "#CC6699";

Spud Over a year ago

thanks for that. I'm very new to all of this and it's very helpful when someone takes me little steps at a time. I'll be 60 this year and I thought this would be fun. It is when it works, but I've discovered I'm pretty good at breaking it. Cheers, Spud

Muhammad Haseeb Khan · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-16 05:30:03Z

0

You can use The Idea of Spud and create the string of Style

if($i % 2 == 0) {

$style = "style='background-color:white'";
}
else {
$style = "style='background-color:#eee'";
}`

and can use in place of bgcolor in row tag

<tr $style>

answered Feb 16, 2013 at 5:30

Muhammad Haseeb Khan

8939 silver badges24 bronze badges

Comments

Ben Kirchner · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-16 05:43:49Z

0

Well,

while... else does not work for one. The typical way to do this would be:

$dbx=new mysqli('host','user','pw');
$q=$dbx->query"SELECT * FROM whatever";
if ($q) {
    while ($f=$q->fetch_assoc()) {
       echo "<tr><td>{$f['whatever']}</td></tr>";
    }
} else {
    echo "Problem";
}

THEN: In css, say you have Put in your css file:

#resultsTable tr:nth-child(even) { background-color:blue; }

answered Feb 16, 2013 at 5:43

Ben Kirchner

3033 silver badges9 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Add alternating color to mysql_fetch_array row results

4 Answers 4

3 Comments

3 Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

3 Comments

3 Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related