Question

I seem to be stuck on a concept in database query and website development.

I have a website that will reflect what data is stored in a database and the website needs to change depending on that data: therefore, my menu system will not be hardcoded in. It builds my menu system based off a query of all the models in my database. The action of clicking on the menu will show tables without changing the page (a simple javascript “showtables” function). like so:

        function showTables(TABLE_NAME)
{
    if(TABLE_NAME != "PRINTER_TABLE")
    {
        document.getElementById("PRINTER_TABLE").style.display ="none";

    }
    if(TABLE_NAME != "show_ALL_PRINTERS")
    {
        document.getElementById("show_ALL_PRINTERS").style.display ="none";
    }
    document.getElementById(TABLE_NAME).style.display ="block";
}

I did not include all of my other if statements because there are about 15 of them. These statements will hide everything and the only show the formatted table of “TABLE_NAME” at the end of that script.

My problem is that, if all of the data will not be hardcoded in either HTML or PHP, I need to pass into my function “showTables” a model type or ID that will come from my query.

My Menu system code snipet:

     <li class="hasmore"><a href="#" onClick="showTables('show_ALL_PRINTERS')"><span>Printer Parts</span></a>
      <ul class="dropdown">
      <?php
        include 'connection.php';

        $query = "SELECT * FROM all_printers";
        $result = mysql_query($query);
        while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
        {
            #echo "<h3>" . $row['printer_model'] . "</h3>";
            echo "<li><a href=\"#\" onclick=\"showTables('PRINTER_TABLE'")\">" .$row['printer_model']."</a></li>\n";
        }
    ?>

This puts the model into the menu system and the “PRINTER_TABLE” will access my showTables function, which then will show that table. But there are many different printer models and I need to tell my table query what specific model to get info on.

I hope this makes sense as there is a lot of logic behind it. Maybe there is an easier way..?

In my tables I have:

    <table id="table">
    <thead>
          <tr>
              <th scope="col" id="table">Type</th>
              <th scope="col" id="table">Size</th>
              <th scope="col" id="table">S/N</th>
              <th scope="col" id="table">Model</th>
              <th scope="col" id="table">Connection Type</th>
              <th scope="col" id="table">Surplus</th>
              <th scope="col" id="table">Amount</th>
          </tr>
     </thead>
     <tbody>     
            <?php
            include 'connection.php';
            $query_misc = "SELECT * FROM all_parts WHERE part_type='MISC'";
            $result_misc = mysql_query($query_misc);
            while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result_misc))
            {
                echo "<tr>";
                echo "<td><div align=\"center\">".$row['part_type']."</div></td>";
                echo "<td><div align=\"center\">".$row['part_size']."</div></td>";
                echo "<td><div align=\"center\">".$row['part_sn']."</div></td>";
                echo "<td><div align=\"center\">".$row['part_model']."</div></td>";
                echo "<td><div align=\"center\">".$row['part_connection']."</div></td>";
                echo "<td><div align=\"center\">".$row['part_surplus']."</div></td>";
                echo "<td><div align=\"center\">".$row['part_temp_amount']."/".$row['part_amount']."</div></td>";
                echo "</tr>";
            }

….. etc

Any ideas?

EDIT:

I do now know how to put what I click on, into the url properly..

    <?
        $query = 'SELECT printer_id, printer_model FROM printer_table WHERE 1 ORDER BY name';
        $products = mysql_query($query);
        while ($product = mysql_fetch_assoc($products)) :
    {
        echo "<li><a href=\"inventory_admin.php?product_id='".$product['printer_id']."'\" onclick=\"toggleVisibility('".$product['printer_model']."')\">" .$product['printer_model']."</a></li>\n";
    }

     ?>

or

    <li><a href="inventory_admin.php?product_id=<?=$product['printer_id']?>" onclick="toggleVisibility('<?=$product['printer_model']?>')"><?=$product['printer_model']?></a></li>

doesnt work properly, because i need to call the suggested part list php part, but do not know where to do so..

EDIT:

I placed that php within a div and the echos will fill out my table, but how am I suppose to call that div to only run when that onclick action? I know that is not how divs work, It would seem I would need a JS function but I know you cannot do php within JS. AJAX perhaps?

EDIT—————————————————-

The call here to the DB is correct, tested it manually without any errors, but I am still receiving a syntax error upon loading my home page. Here is my call to the DB via PHP…

    <?
    if (!isset($_GET['action']))
    {
        //If not isset -> set with dumy value
        $_GET['action'] = "undefine";
    } 
    include 'connection.php';
    $query = 'SELECT ppart_table.* FROM ppart_table LEFT JOIN printer_part_relation ON ppart_table.part_id = printer_part_relation.part_id WHERE printer_part_relation.printer_id ='.mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['printer_id']);

    $parts = mysql_query($query) or die("Query failed with error: ".mysql_error());
    while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($parts)) 
    {
        echo table blah blah    
    }       
?>

I have tried supressing all errors via this:

    <?php error_reporting (E_ALL ^ E_NOTICE); ?>

And the syntax error at page load still exist.

My home page of this site does NOT have the “product_id=” after mysite.php

Answer 1

I would recommend using PHP’s PDO class for database access. I would also recommend using JQuery for all of you javascripting. It makes things VERY simple. It would also be advantagious to keep your display code away from your business logic (two languages should for the most part not be in the same source file ie: HTML/PHP/Javascript). I will stick with what is familiar for now however. perhaps something like this?

menu

<ul>

   <?
      $query = 'SELECT id, name FROM product_category_table WHERE 1 ORDER BY name';
      $product_categories = mysql_query($query);
      while ($product_category = mysql_fetch_assoc($product_categories)) :
   ?>

   <li>
      <a href="#" onclick="toggleVisibility('<?= $product_category['id'] ?>')">$product_category['name']</a>
      <ul id="<?= $product_category['id'] ?>" style="display: none;">

         <?
            $query = 'SELECT id, name FROM product_table WHERE category_id = ' . $product_category['id'] . ' ORDER BY name';
            $products = mysql_query($query);
            while ($product = mysql_fetch_assoc($products)) :
         ?>

         <li><a href="thispage.php?product_id=<?= $product['id'] ?>"><?= $product['name'] ?></a></li>

         <?
            endwhile;
         ?>

      </ul>
   </li>

   <?
      endwhile;
   ?>

</ul>

javascript

function toggleVisibility(category) {
   var element = document.getElementById(category);
   if (element.style.display == 'none') {
      element.style.display = 'block';
   } else {
      element.style.display = 'none';
   }
}

part list

<?
$query = 'SELECT part_table.* FROM part_table LEFT JOIN product_to_part_associations_table ON parts_table.id = product_to_part_associations_table.part_id WHERE product_to_part_associations_table.product_id = ' . mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['product_id']);
$parts = mysql_query($query);
while ($part = mysql_fetch_assoc($parts)) {
   echo part table blah blah
}
?>

db tables

product_category_table
id, name, etc

product_table
id, category_id, name, etc

part_table
id, name, etc

part_to_product_association_table
id, product_id, part_id

set the proper indexes on your table columns for speed. the part_to_product_association table allows for a many to many relationship between records in the product table and records in the parts table (needed in the case one part could be used in multiple products, and one product can use multiple parts).