Question

What I’m trying to accomplish is a back-end Admin panel, with multiple forms to edit tables from a database.

I would like to run one SQL query on the page, & refer to it multiple times (possibly creating 3 different loops out of this same query, without having to query it more than once).

I can’t figure out how to make the query work outside of its initial loop, if possible at all.

I already have the SQL statement that would work on all the forms (since basically my forms just query the same 2 tables over & over again), but I can’t use it more than once…
I already tried it, but can’t get it to work.

I just want to run this query once, & simply refer back to it whenever I need to use it again on the page. (Perhaps by creating a new while loop? Tried it, doesn’t work. Use different variables? Doesn’t work. I’m itching to find out what DOES…)

This Admin panel is a single PHP page, divided by compartments based on administrative tasks.

For some idea, it is like so ~

---

// UPLOAD PHOTO //

(options available are…)
– Upload photo
– Add Photo Title
01. Select Category || SQL QUERY! LOOP – Drop-down list of Categories
02. Select Sub-categories || SQL QUERY! LOOP – Checkbox list of Categories + Sub-categories
– Add Tags
– Add Photo Description / Commentary

// MANAGE CATEGORIES //

(options available are…)
– Create a new Category
03. Delete Multiple Categories || SQL QUERY! LOOP – Checkbox list of Categories + # of entries each
04. Rename Category || SQL QUERY! LOOP – List of Categories
05. Edit Sub-Category || SQL QUERY! LOOP – List of Sub-categories

---

So on & so forth…
As you can see, all queries made are related to Categories.

I actually have completed a working version of this but one with too many SQL queries on just a single page (for the exact same tables over & over again), it just seems impractical and thoughtless. There has got to be a better way…

The query I’d like to use just once (& the one I’m using right now) is:

$sql = "SELECT category.id, category.name, COUNT(records.category_id) as number
FROM category
    LEFT OUTER
        JOIN records
        ON category.id = records.category_id
WHERE
    category.active = 1
GROUP
    BY category.id
ORDER
    BY category.name";
$result = mysql_query($sql);

while($rows = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
    echo "SAMPLE LOOP" . $rows['id'] . $rows['name'] . $rows['number']; }

Is there a way to achieve what I am trying to achieve?
Thank you for your time and wisdom!

Answer 1

Save the results to a new array and you can then iterate over that when you need to:

$sql = "SELECT category.id, category.name, COUNT(records.category_id) as number
FROM category
    LEFT OUTER
        JOIN records
        ON category.id = records.category_id
WHERE
    category.active = 1
GROUP
    BY category.id
ORDER
    BY category.name";
$result = mysql_query($sql);
$saved_results = array();
while($rows = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
    echo "SAMPLE LOOP" . $rows['id'] . $rows['name'] . $rows['number']; 
    array_push($saved_results, $rows);
}

Then whenever you want:

foreach($saved_results as $res) {
  dostuff();
}