CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpsql
user73119
user73119

Reputation: 2413

array structure of database results

This might be quite a trivial question, but which of these methods is best practice for structuring an array for return db results? say a list of blog posts... Sorting and grouping posts? or sorting and grouping elements? 

Array
(
    [title] => Array
        (
            [0] => Untitled
            [1] => Untitled
        )

    [id] => Array
        (
            [0] => 8
            [1] => 11
        )

)

or

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            ['id']=> 8
            ['title'] => Untitled
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            ['id']=> 11
            ['title'] => Untitled
        )

)

The first way seems the easiest and the way I have been doing it. I can simply:

while ($row = $result->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) {
    $post['title'][] = $row['title'];
    $post['id'][] = $row['id'];
}

and then 

$count = count($post['id']);

but the second way seems to make better sense and structure the information more logically. It is just a little more complicated to set up, filter and work with in the template.

$c = 0;
while ($row = $result->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) {
    $post[$c]['title'] = $row['title'];
    $post[$c]['id'] = $row['id'];
    $c++;
}

Upvotes: 0

Views: 304

Answers (2)

Tyler Carter
Tyler Carter

Reputation: 61567

No use making a data structure that doesn't look right when you output it. The second data set it also way more usable which is why it is used in bigger projects like Wordpress.

Upvotes: 1

PatrikAkerstrand
PatrikAkerstrand

Reputation: 45721

The second is better AND simpler to set up:

while ($row = $result->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) {
    $posts[] = $row;
}

// total number of posts
$nrPosts = count($post);

This will auto-index the array numerically, and you don't need to copy anything from $row into $post, it'll simply copy the whole row.

The second structure is better:

  • It logically groups the data of a post into a structure
  • It requires no handling of the data, more than the initial filling of the $post-array
  • You can easily handle any number of blog posts with a single index / range of indexes

Upvotes: 3

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