php function to return sql results that contain arrays, as an array

Question

So im having a problem (obviously). I have the following MySQL table data

7   USER1    1,1,1,10,1   The Guys Team   8,7,13,14,16
8    USER1     1,1,1,10,1  The Girls Team  7,12,15
10  USER1   1,1,1,10,1  Dog Team  8,7,14,15

I wrote a function to retrieve the data, and return it.

function ShowSetTeams($coach){
 $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `teams` WHERE coach = '$coach'") or trigger_error(mysql_error()); 
 while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){ 
  foreach($row AS $key => $value) { $row[$key] = stripslashes($value); } 
   $id = $row['id'];
   $teamname = $row['teamname'];
   $team = $row['team'];
   $event = $row['event'];
   $push .= array($id, $teamname, $team, $event);
 }
 return $push;
}

When i call the function, as below

$info = ShowSetTeams("USER1");

I get this

ArrayArrayArray

I tried echoing $info[0], $info[1], and $info[2], but get this

Arr

So each line in the info array, is the result array. I should be able to do $info[0][0] and get the first ID value, from the first result right?

Fatal error: Cannot use string offset as an array

Im at a loss. How can i get to each of the values of the returned arrays? And more to the point, how could i run a foreach operation on them such as

foreach( $info as $key => $value){
$key[0] //ID
$key[1] //TEAMNAME
$key[2] //TEAM
$key[3] //EVENT
}

Answer 1

You're using string concatenation instead of array notation:

$push[] = array($id, $teamname, $team, $event);

You should also initialise $push = array(); before you start using it.

You're also doing a lot of extra work... you could just do:

function ShowSetTeams($coach)
{   
    $push = array();
    $result = mysql_query("SELECT id, teamname, team, event FROM `teams` WHERE coach = '$coach'") or trigger_error(mysql_error());
    while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_NUM))
    {
     // I doubt you actually need to run stripslashes on your data...
     $row = array_map('stripslashes', $row);
     $push[] = $row;
    }

    return $push;
}

Unless you have to, I wouldn't use re-key it to a numerically indexed array either - you're just making it harder to understand in your later code. Use mysql_fetch_assoc() to do this

Answer 2

Don't concatenate the $push but use

$push[] = array();

return $push;

A few other remarks:

• your database schema is not properly normalised! you should not have strings of userIDs stored in your table but have a reference many-to-many table between the teams table and the players table.

• you should never (almost never) use the * selector in queries. You build yourself traps with that. Instead indicate the exact columns you want to retrieve.

• you could get the same information without having to put together the $push array yourself. If the database columns are properly named you can use a fetch_assoc and just do $push[] = $row

Answer 3

I think they problem is with the line:

 $push .= array($id, $teamname, $team, $event);

That treats $push as a string and concatenates an array which gets turned into a string. Try:

 $push[] = array($id, $teamname, $team, $event);

Answer 4

You’re using a string concatenation and assignment operator .= that will convert your arrays into strings. Try the array push operator $array[] instead:

function ShowSetTeams($coach) {
    $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `teams` WHERE coach = '$coach'") or trigger_error(mysql_error()); 
    $array = array();
    while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
        $array[] = array(stripslashes($row['id'], stripslashes($row['teamname'], stripslashes($row['team']), stripslashes($row['event']));
    }
    return $array;
}

Answer 5

1. You should use mysql_fetch_assoc() instead of mysql_fetch_array()
2. You should define $push as array by $push = array(); before "while"
3. You should use $push[] = ... instead of $push .= ...