php/html ordered lists?

angelwatt said:

Depends what your database tables look like, but would be something like,

Code:

SELECT * FROM videos ORDER BY views DESC;

if you want videos with the most views first.

Click to expand...

notjustjay said:

So what you want to do is query your list, store the info in a PHP array, and then sort the array by title. Then iterate through the array and output the appropriate HTML.

Click to expand...

notjustjay said:

Yeah, HTML is just a mark-up language, meaning it only specifies to the browser how to format a block of text. An "ordered list" just means a list that is assumed to have some sort of order (like a list of instructions, hence the typical rendering with sequential numbers 1, 2, 3, ...) HTML markup can't actually change the physical order of a list of items.

Anything where the block of text is dynamically generated or altered (and that includes changing the sort order of a list) must be done using some other program which does the change and then generates the appropriate HTML code, whether it's data pulled from an SQL query, or a PHP script, or a Javascript, or whatever.

That's another option too, you could probably find some Javascript code that could read the contents of a table and dynamically sort them.

Click to expand...

some html headers and such

db connection and all...

$num1 = mysql_fetch_row(mysql_query("select views from views where id = 1"));
	$num2 = mysql_fetch_row(mysql_query("select views from views where id = 2"));
	$num3 = mysql_fetch_row(mysql_query("select views from views where id = 3"));
	$num4 = mysql_fetch_row(mysql_query("select views from views where id = 4"));
	$num5 = mysql_fetch_row(mysql_query("select views from views where id = 5"));
			
	?>
<p> <a href="./falconssaints.php">Falcons @ Saints</a> <?php echo "Total Views: ".number_format($num1[0]);?></p>
		
<p><a href="./heaven.php">Heaven</a> <?php echo "Total Views: ".number_format($num2[0]);?></p>
		
<p><a href="./NoCountryForOldMen.php">No Country For Old Men</a> <?php echo "Total Views: ".number_format($num3[0]);?></p>

<p><a href="./valentinesday2008.php">Valentine's Day 2008</a> <?php echo "Total Views: ".number_format($num4[0]);?></p>

<p><a href="./underworld.php">Underworld</a> <?php echo "Total Views: ".number_format($num5[0]);?></p>
		
	</div>

notjustjay said:

So what I would do there is put each filename in an array associated with the file's ID number, link description, and view count (initialized to 0). (Look up PHP's multidimensional arrays, or use strings and delimiters).

Then put your SQL queries in a loop: Walk through every element in the array, build the query from the ID number, store the view count.

Then sort the array by view count.

Then walk through the array elements again, this time generating the appropriate HTML code including the filename link, description, and view count.

This code will have the added advantage of reducing a lot of repetition (where you generate the links and do the SQL queries) and it will be that much easier to add more links in the future. Just add to the array and let the code do the rest. You could even take it a step further and store the array in another file and read them in.

Click to expand...

Jas123 said:

If I'm not mistaken, couldn't you create another table with that information, join it, then add it to your variables when you add the views to it.

Click to expand...

notjustjay said:

There's probably quite a few ways to get this done. By no means am I suggesting my approach is the "best" one.

I can try to come up with some simple examples later. It's not as much work as it sounds. And the payoff will be big if you expect to keep updating this page of links. You'll spend a bit of extra time getting the PHP code going, but right now if you want to add more links you need to change your code in two different places.

Click to expand...