Question

I’ve tried looking for a solution in other questions asked before (as always), but I can’t seem to wrap my head around this.

See, I want to get a number of unique IDs (in random order) from one table and store them in an array without echoing them. Then I want to use that array variable in a loop, so that I can increment the key with every pass, and set another variable to that array variable. Confusing? I think looking at the code will make it more clear.

The problem is I can’t seem to store the values that I’ve queried into an array for later use in the code. I pasted the pertinent part of the code with my spots of trouble indicated by comment /* */ tags.

Any help is appreciated.

<?php

include ('parse_functions.php');

if ($fetch['use_rand']=='yes')

{ $loop = 5;    
$concept = $fetch['concept'];
$countRandom = "SELECT exID FROM examples WHERE concept='$concept' ORDER BY RAND()";
$askForRandom = mysql_query($countRandom) or die(mysql_error());
/* HERE I NEED TO STORE RANDOM KEYS (exID) INTO AN ARRAY */ }

else

{  if (!empty($fetch['ex5'])) { $loop = 5; }
 elseif (!empty($fetch['ex4'])) { $loop = 4; }
 elseif (!empty($fetch['ex3'])) { $loop = 3; }
 elseif (!empty($fetch['ex2'])) { $loop = 2; }
 elseif (!empty($fetch['ex1'])) { $loop = 1; }
 else { $loop = 0; }

    }

     if ($loop!==0)

      {

         echo '<div id="examples">' . "\n";
         echo '<table class="showExample" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="center">' . "\n";

         $turns = 1;

             do {

             if ($fetch['use_rand']=='no')

              { $exID = $fetch['ex'.$turns.'']; }

             else

              { $exID = /* THIS IS WHERE I WILL USE "RANDOM VARIABLE" */; }

             $askExamples = "SELECT * FROM examples WHERE exID='$exID'";
             $getExamples = mysql_query($askExamples) or die(mysql_error());
             $sortExamples = mysql_fetch_assoc($getExamples);

             echo '<tr>' . "\n";

// ...and so on

Answer 1

If all you need to do is store the info in an array, here’s an easy way about it.

/* code 
to open
db here
*/

/* assuming you have a value for $concept */

$countRandom = "SELECT exID FROM examples WHERE concept='$concept' ORDER BY RAND()";
$askForRandom = mysql_query($countRandom) or die(mysql_error());

$Element = 0; //Array elements start at ZERO. So this is to intialise it.
while ($Fields = mysql_fetch_array($askforRandom)) //As long as there are records, get them.
    {
    //Records are retrieved one at a time. So store each one's exID in the array element
    $Data[$Element] = $Fields["exID"];
    //Soon after storing one, increment the value of the $Element variable so it is ready for the next one.
    $Element++
    }

/* now you have the data in the array. So you can do what you like with it. */

hope it helps

NOTE: when reading the array, make sure you put the condition to check that your counter is LESS than $Element. This is because after reading the last record, $Element is incremented by one. Hope this is clear.