php grouping in tables based on category

Question

Im currently sitting with the problem of grouping an array into html tables based on a item in the array called category.

I have the following code:

foreach ($this->items as $item) {
    $categories[] = $item->category;
}

<?php foreach ($categories as $category): ?>
        <table class="table table-bordered">
        <?php foreach ($this->items as $item) :?>
            <tr>
                <td></td>
                <td><?php echo $item->description; ?></td>
                <td><?php echo $item->price; ?></td>
            </tr>
        <?php endforeach; ?>
        </table> 
    <?php endforeach; ?>

But how do i tell it, that based on its category it needs to go into a table or create a table for that category?

end result for each separate category should look like:

Adding a description:

Think I fixed it.. I used this code:

foreach( $this->items as $item ){
if( !isset( $zones[ $item->zone ] ) )
$zone_items[ $item->zone] = array();
$zone_items[ $item->zone ][] = $item;

    $zones[$item->zone] = array(
        'zone' => $item->zone,
        'zone_description' => $item->zone_description,
        'items' => $zone_items[$item->zone]
    );

}


<?php foreach( $zones as $zone): ?>
    <?php echo $zone['zone']; ?><br />
    <?php echo $zone['zone_description']; ?>

    <?php foreach( $zone['items'] as $items ) :?>
        <?php echo $items->name; ?>
        <?php echo $items->description; ?>
        <?php echo $items->category; ?>
    <?php endforeach; ?>

<?php endforeach; ?>

and I get the name and description but no items.. Help Greatly Appreciated.

Answer 1

How about this? I didn't test it so pardon any bugs but, you get the idea :) The table in my example is also screwy, umm... Will just take some fiddling to get it right from here ;P

$categories = array();
foreach( $this->items as $item )
{
    if( !isset( $categories[ $item->category ] ) ) $categories[ $item->category] = array();
    $categories[ $item->category ][] = $item;
}

<?php foreach( $categories as $category => $items ): ?>
    <table class="table table-bordered">
        <tr>
            <td rowspan="<?php echo count( $items ); ?>"><?php echo $category; ?></td>
            <?php foreach( $items as $item ) :?>
                <td><?php echo $item->description; ?></td>
                <td><?php echo $item->price; ?></td>
            <?php endforeach; ?>
        </tr>
    </table>
<?php endforeach; ?>

To include a description for categories, you'll want to rework the array. Now, I don't know where your category descriptions are coming from, so I'll just show you how the array and output should look, and leave it up to you how to build it;

<?php
$categories = array(
    array(
        'name' => 'Category Name',
        'description' => 'This is the category description',
        'items' => $itemsForThisCategory //you can still sort the items by category like I did above and then do "$itemsSortedByCategory[ 'Category Name' ]" here
    ),
    array(
        'name' => 'Another Category Name',
        'description' => 'This is the description for another category',
        'items' => $itemsForAnotherCategory
    ),
    //etc... as many categories as you have
);
?>

Then the output would look like this;

<?php foreach( $categories as $category ): ?>
    <table class="table table-bordered">
        <tr>
            <td rowspan="<?php echo count( $category['items'] ); ?>">
                <?php echo $category['name']; ?><br />
                <?php echo $category['description']; ?>
            </td>
            <?php foreach( $category['items'] as $item ) :?>
                <td><?php echo $item->description; ?></td>
                <td><?php echo $item->price; ?></td>
            <?php endforeach; ?>
        </tr>
    </table>
<?php endforeach; ?>

Answer 2

$categories = [];

foreach( $this->items as $item )
{
    $categories[$item->category][] = $item;
}

Now you should have an associative $categories array, with each index being a category, and containing items of that category. Now you would just loop through that with a foreach, output the $category index, and output the objects contained within.