Topic: Multi-column Results

[ober]

Q: How do I create a multi-column layout for my gallery/store from MySQL results or an array?

A: A lot of times you'll see people suggest using CSS for layouts.  This is one time 99% of developers are going to tell you to use a table.

Code: [Select]

<table cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3">
<?php
$query = "SELECT product FROM selling_items ORDER BY prod_id";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die("There was a problem with the SQL query: " . mysql_error()); 
if($result && mysql_num_rows($result) > 0)
{
    $i = 0;
    $max_columns = 3;
    while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))        
   {
       // make the variables easy to deal with
       extract($row);

       // open row if counter is zero
       if($i == 0)
          echo "<tr>";

       // make sure we have a valid product
       if($product != "" && $product != null)
          echo "<td>$product</td>";
    
       // increment counter - if counter = max columns, reset counter and close row
       if(++$i == $max_columns) 
       {
           echo "</tr>";
           $i=0;
       }  // end if 
   } // end while
} // end if results

// clean up table - makes your code valid!
if($i < $max_columns)
{
    for($j=$i; $j<$max_columns;$j++)
        echo "<td>&nbsp;</td>";
}
 ?>
</tr>
</table>

To modify this for an array, just replace the while loop with a for loop and use your array as the input instead of the mysql fetch results.

[ober]

Updated 11/10/2006... contained a slight error with a call to "mssql_fetch_array()" instead of "mysql_fetch_array()".

[.josh]

A slight alternative to this is to use the modulus operator:

example.php

<?php
   $cols = 0;
   echo "<table><tr>";
   while ($cols < 20) {
      echo ($cols % 3 == 0)? "</tr><tr>" : "";
      echo "<td>$cols</td>";
      $cols++;
   }
   echo "</tr></table>";
?> 

[sasa]

this part of codeif($i < $max_columns)
{
    for($j=$i; $j<$max_columns;$j++)
        echo "<td>&nbsp;</td>";
}
 ?>
</tr>
</table>shold beif($i > 0)
{
    for($j=$i; $j<$max_columns;$j++) echo "<td>&nbsp;</td>";
   echo '</tr>';
}
 ?>
</table>