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...if you don't mind. I'm starting to dislike all those php-freak forums out there because there's alot of attitude. Since I know there's a few php coders 'round here - and everyone here is friendly, I'll try here first.

I need some help with multi-dimensional arrays... I've managed to bush-whack my way through creating one which works beautifully but I still can't quite wrap my head around how they work... The code currently dumps that array into a MySQL db, sorts it, and then spits it out - clearing the table at the end. Nothing is actually stored in the db, it's just a fancy calculator. Anyway, the number of queries is HUGE so I'd like to find a way to do it with arrays... Here's the function, annotated for your viweing pleasure...

Code:
function results($divs, $pnames, $partynum, $seatnum)      //$divs is a multi-array, $pnames is an associative array, $partynum & $seatnum are simple vars

{

    for($pcount=0; $pcount<$partynum; $pcount++){

        for($scount=0; $scount<$seatnum; $scount++){

            $query=mysql_query("INSERT INTO pr (div, party, partyid) VALUES ('{$divs[$pcount][$scount]}', '{$pnames[$pcount]}', '$pcount')");   

// this dumps the $divs array into the db along with identifying variables - keeping these together while sorting is the hard part

        }

    }

     $query="select * FROM pr ORDER BY div DESC LIMIT $seatnum";  //this sorts the  list and spits out the top X numbers

     if ($r = mysql_query($query)) {

         $counter=1;

         while ($row = mysql_fetch_array ($r)) {   //basically how do I creat this array with using MySQL...

             //print $row['div']."&nbsp;".$row['party']."<br>\n";    //USE THIS TO DISPLAY ORDERED LIST FOR VERIFICATION

             if ($counter==1){

                 $winner=$row['partyid'];

             }

             $partyid=$row['partyid'];  //these two lines count the number of times each identifier appears witha div number

             $results[$partyid]++;

             $counter++;

         }

         $results['divlimit']=$results[$winner];

     }else{

         mysql_error();

     }        

return ($results);

}

If you's like to see what this code does, look here.

Thanks in advance... Smile

I agree that it's using a DB unnecessarily. Essentially a db table is basically a 2D array, and the good thing with php is that you can have pointers to arrays within arrays (arrays of arrays).

So it looks like the db is being constructed using:
VALUES ('{$divs[$pcount][$scount]}', '{$pnames[$pcount]}', '$pcount')

I guess create a 2D array with those values as items... easier said than done though! Smile

Not sure what the query itself is trying to do though...

I did a fair bit of mysql in the past but haven't done so in a while so I'll probably have to go back to php.net and browse through the function lists again (or trawl google for examples). By the way, quick tip - just go to php.net/<function> to quickly jump to reference for that function.

The conceptual problem I have is that the new array would contain two more arrays ($divs & $pnames) which makes it quite complex...

Yeah, it would be messy indeed...

Alternative is to look simplifying your data structure, or accessing / manipulating those arrays in such a way that you can avoid the complexity.

It's a bit hard looking at code without context - maybe take a different approach - can you describe the inputs (and structure) and what output you're expecting from the function?

Funny how once you try to explain things to someone else, they become simpler?? Anyway, I think I've got the array structure down (much simpler than I thought) but I am getting an error I've never seen... Code first: (note that $div is now $quot because apparently I don't know the diff between a dividend and a quotient!!)

Code:
57function results($quots, $pnames, $partynum, $seatnum)

58{       

59    $counter=0;

60    $db=array();

61    for($pcount=0; $pcount<$partynum; $pcount++){

62        for($scount=0; $scount<$seatnum; $scount++){

63            $db[$counter]=$quots[$pcount][$scount];

64            $db[$counter]['party']=$pnames[$pcount];

65            $db[$counter]['partyid']=$pcount;

66            $counter++;

67        }

68    }

69     rsort($db);

70     for($scount=0; $scount<$seatnum; $scount++) {

71         $partyid=$db[$seatnum][partyid];

72         $results[$partyid]++;

73     }

74     //$winner=$db[0][partyid];

75     //$results['quotlimit']=$results[$winner];

76    $results['quotlimit']=$seatnum-1;

77     var_dump($db);             

78return ($results);

79}

The error I'm getting is:

Quote:Warning: Cannot use a scalar value as an array in C:\~~~.php on line 64
Warning: Cannot use a scalar value as an array in C:\~~~.php on line 65

Any ideas?

Well, I managed to solve it!!!! Thanks ST for your help - even if it was just so I wasn't talking to myself, exactly. Wink

If you're interested, here's the code:

Code:
function results($quots, $pnames, $partynum, $seatnum)

{       

    $counter=0;

    for($pcount=0; $pcount<$partynum; $pcount++){

        for($scount=0; $scount<$seatnum; $scount++){

            $db[$counter]['quots']=$quots[$pcount][$scount];

            $db[$counter]['party']=$pnames[$pcount];

            $db[$counter]['partyid']=$pcount;

            $counter++ ;

            }

    }

     rsort($db);

     for($scount=0; $scount<$seatnum; $scount++) {

         $partyid=$db[$scount]['partyid'];

         $results[$partyid]++;

     }

     $winner=$db[0]['partyid'];

     $results['quotlimit']=$results[$winner];

 return ($results);

}

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