Lanse wrote:
> On Apr 1, 2:10 pm, "Peter H. Coffin" <hell...@ninehells.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, 1 Apr 2008 10:19:47 -0700 (PDT), Lanse wrote:
>>> On Apr 1, 9:42 am, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attglobal.net> wrote:
>>>> Lanse wrote:
>>>>> Hi all, I'm not a programmer AT ALL, but I've managed to set up a
>>>>> website that uses PHP to query a MySQL database for a very basic
>>>>> output of data. My apologies in advance for any use of incorrect
>>>>> terminology!
>>>>> The one thing I still haven't managed is to sort the resulting array
>>>>> according to a predefined list. I have two fields I'd like to sort
>>>>> on, "month_in" (a text field) and "day_in" (number field). I'd like
>>>>> to sort by month (as seen below), and then by day. The example below
>>>>> is my attempt at the solution,based on a Google search for an answer,
>>>>> but it's obviously not working. Any help would be GREATLY
>>>>> appreciated!
>>>>> Lanse
>>>>> $the_query =
>>>>> 'SELECT * FROM `requests`
>>>>> ORDER BY find_in_set(month_in,
>>>>> 'May','June','July','August','September'), `day_in` ASC;
>>>>> $results = mysql_query($the_query, $dbh);
>>>> I would think you would be better off having a DATE column and just sort
>>>> by that column.
>>>> --
>>>> ==================
>>>> Remove the "x" from my email address
>>>> Jerry Stuckle
>>>> JDS Computer Training Corp.
>>>> jstuck...@attglobal.net
>>>> ==================
>>> Yes, but my html form just has a month input field and a day input
>>> field... it's for selecting from a small, preset group of dates...
>> Months still got numbers, even if you're starting at 5 instead of 1.
>>
>> Let's back up a bit. What problem are you trying to solve? Do you only
>> want to see stuff with dates five months out? Or in a certain range?
>>
>> --
>> Usenet should require licenses; licenses that can be revoked.
>> -- Abigail
>
> Sorry for not being very clear...
> The webpage form is for submitting reservations for a small campsite,
> only available May to September. I made the Month field 'user-
> friendly' by using month names instead of numbers... therefore my
> dilemma. I can change the page to use numbers... I just hoped there'd
> be a simple MySQL way of re-ordering based on a fixed list of values
> (like "May, June, July, August, September"). The database is cleared
> each year, so there's no need for a 'year' value.
>
> TIA, Lanse
>

Not a problem. Just because you have a month field and a date field on
the form doesn't mean you need to use them in the database.

I virtually always use January-December and a day of month. But when
the form is submitted I convert it to a date for storing in the database.

It makes things a lot easier all around - for instance, reserving a
campsite on June 28th for 7 nights can be handled with standard date
functions in either MySQL or PHP. Your way makes things much harder.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

On 1 Apr, 21:08, Lanse <filema...@jillo.com> wrote:
> On Apr 1, 4:10 pm, "Paul Lautman" <paul.laut...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Lanse wrote:
> > > On Apr 1, 2:10 pm, "Peter H. Coffin" <hell...@ninehells.com> wrote:
> > >> On Tue, 1 Apr 2008 10:19:47 -0700 (PDT), Lanse wrote:
> > >> > On Apr 1, 9:42 am, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attglobal.net> wrote:
> > >> >> Lanse wrote:
> > >> >> > Hi all, I'm not a programmer AT ALL, but I've managed to set up
> > >> >> > a website that uses PHP to query a MySQL database for a very
> > >> >> > basic output of data. My apologies in advance for any use of
> > >> >> > incorrect terminology!
>
> > >> >> > The one thing I still haven't managed is to sort the resulting
> > >> >> > array according to a predefined list. I have two fields I'd
> > >> >> > like to sort on, "month_in" (a text field) and "day_in" (number
> > >> >> > field). I'd like to sort by month (as seen below), and then by
> > >> >> > day. The example below is my attempt at the solution,based on a
> > >> >> > Google search for an answer, but it's obviously not working.
> > >> >> > Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!
>
> > >> >> > Lanse
>
> > >> >> > $the_query =
> > >> >> > 'SELECT * FROM `requests`
> > >> >> > ORDER BY find_in_set(month_in,
> > >> >> > 'May','June','July','August','September'), `day_in` ASC;
> > >> >> > $results = mysql_query($the_query, $dbh);
>
> > >> >> I would think you would be better off having a DATE column and
> > >> >> just sort by that column.
>
> > >> >> --
> > >> >> ==================
> > >> >> Remove the "x" from my email address
> > >> >> Jerry Stuckle
> > >> >> JDS Computer Training Corp.
> > >> >> jstuck...@attglobal.net
> > >> >> ==================
>
> > >> > Yes, but my html form just has a month input field and a day input
> > >> > field... it's for selecting from a small, preset group of dates...
>
> > >> Months still got numbers, even if you're starting at 5 instead of 1.
>
> > >> Let's back up a bit. What problem are you trying to solve? Do you
> > >> only want to see stuff with dates five months out? Or in a certain
> > >> range?
>
> > >> --
> > >> Usenet should require licenses; licenses that can be revoked.
> > >> -- Abigail
>
> > > Sorry for not being very clear...
> > > The webpage form is for submitting reservations for a small campsite,
> > > only available May to September. I made the Month field 'user-
> > > friendly' by using month names instead of numbers... therefore my
> > > dilemma. I can change the page to use numbers... I just hoped there'd
> > > be a simple MySQL way of re-ordering based on a fixed list of values
> > > (like "May, June, July, August, September"). The database is cleared
> > > each year, so there's no need for a 'year' value.
>
> > > TIA, Lanse
>
> > Store the months as numbers but display as words (using a Select box for
> > instance)
>
> OK, I understand how to do the html for the Submit side of things,
> where the displayed info is text, and the submitted value is a
> number. But then I'm displaying the query results from the
> database... so I convert the numbers back to the text format? My
> skills are very meager there...
>
> Lanse

Join to a table containing the the month name and number. Or do as
Jerry suggested and store all the entries as dates in a single (hard
coded) year. Then you can use the FORMAT_DATE and associated date
functions to display in whatever format you like.