Foreach php variable value create while loop

Question

I have a table like this full of orders, each customer will have multiple orders:

Customer   ponumber quantity ..

customer1   234345     56
customer2   343454     34
customer1   w34234     54
customer5   332423     54

I'm trying to loop through each DISTINCT customer and print the corresponding orders with the following code.

<?php

include("php/database_connect.php");

  $query = mysql_query("SELECT DISTINCT customer FROM orders");
  $customer = mysql_fetch_array($query);

foreach($customer as $customers)
{

echo ' <li><h1>'. $customers . '</h1></li>';

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM orders WHERE misc='new' AND customer='$customers'       ORDER BY columnpos ASC ");

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))

         {
         echo'  

         <li id="id_' . $row['id'] . '">
         <div class="card">

         <table>
         <tr>
         <td>' . $row['customer'] . '</td>
         <tr>
         <td>P/O: ' . $row['ponumber'] . '</td>
         </tr>
         <tr>
         <td>' . $row['partnumber'] . '</td>
         </tr>
         <tr>
         <td><b>' . $row['quantity'] . '</b> x ' . $row['foil'] . '</td>
         </tr>
         <tr>
         <td>' . $row['daterequired'] . '</td>
         </tr>
         <tr>
         <td>' . $row['prep'] . '</td>
         </tr>
         </table>
        <input class="hiddenid" type="hidden" value="' . $row['id'] . '" />
         <input class="hiddenquantity" type="hidden" value="' .     $row['quantity'] . '" />
         <input class="hiddenpartnumber" type="hidden" value="' .   $row['partnumber'] . '" />
         <input class="hiddenfoil" type="hidden" value="' . $row['foil'] . '" />
         </div>
         </li>


         ';
         }
}
?>

However the above code currently prints:

customer1 234345
customer1 w34234

customer1 234345
customer1 w34234

which seems odd... its not going through each customer.

any help is greatly appreciated!

Felix Kling · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-13 10:24:27Z

3

Make only one DB query (better performance) but process the results before looping over them:

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM orders WHERE misc='new' ORDER BY customer ASC ");

$ordersByCustomer = array(); // nested array. 1. level: customers, 2. level: orders

while(($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))) {
    if(!array_key_exists($row['customer'], $ordersByCustomer)) {
        $ordersByCustomer[$row['customer']] = array();
    }
    $ordersByCustomer[$row['customer']][] = $row;
}

foreach($ordersByCustomer as $customer=>$orders) {
    echo ' <li><h1>'. $customer . '</h1></li>';
    foreach($orders as $order) {
        // rest of HTML code
    }
}

I also encourage you to use a better separation of HTML and PHP, like so, using the alternative syntax for control structures:

<?php foreach($ordersByCustomer as $customer=>$orders): ?>
    <li><h1><?php echo $customer; ?></h1></li>
    <?php foreach($orders as $order): ?>
        <li id="id_<?php echo $row['id'];?>">
            <div class="card">
                <table>
                    <tr><td><?php echo $order['customer']; ?></td></tr>
                    <!-- and so forth -->
    <?php endforeach; ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>

Btw, you are not generating valid HTML. li element must be contained in ul or ol elements.

edited Dec 13, 2010 at 10:24

answered Dec 13, 2010 at 9:44

Felix Kling

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7 Comments

Alex Over a year ago

Thanks for the reply. I think your operating on a much more advanced level than me, I had trouble understanding this. Thanks for pointing out the alternative syntax for control structures link, I have wondered if there was a better way of structuring php within html. Sorry, I forgot to include the rest of the code with the <ul> tags.

Felix Kling Over a year ago

@Alex: If you don't understand something in code above, just comment and ask me :)

Dainius Over a year ago

1 DB request is better than N+1 and separate logic from view is always good idea.

Alex Over a year ago

ah I see, I'm making a request after each while operation, where I could make one request for everything then sort and display after. I will study your code now...

Felix Kling Over a year ago

@Alex: I had a minor mistake in my code. In the last example, of course it must be $order['customer'] as the loop is foreach($orders as $order)...

|

Fortega · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-13 09:59:45Z

2

use

while($customer = mysql_fetch_array($query){

instead of

$customer = mysql_fetch_array($query);

foreach($customer as $customers)
{

edited Dec 13, 2010 at 9:59

answered Dec 13, 2010 at 9:38

Fortega

19.7k15 gold badges78 silver badges115 bronze badges

1 Comment

Alex Over a year ago

Thanks! this solved my problem. Simple, and works, I should have spotted it.

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