relational database with php

Question

well,
I've got 3 tables with foreign keys on similar words:

assignment :
idassignment,
idshift
idworker

shift :
idshift
name

worker :
idworker
name

I made a select (using joins where needed) that takes all of the relevant data from them.
I want to make an array that resembles the DB's structure.

today I just iterate over assignments, and use keys from that table
to look into shift and worker.

any comment would help.

example:
(ignore fields not specified in the end example) I use this SQL:

SELECT
    `assignment`.`assignmentid`,
    `assignment`.`date`,
    `assignment`.`shiftid`,
    `assignment`.`workerid`,
    `shift`.`ShiftsID`,
    `shift`.`WorkersNum`,
    `shift`.`ShiftsType`,
    `shift`.`length`,
    `worker`.`WorkerID`,
    `worker`.`FirstName`,
    `worker`.`LastName`,
    `worker`.`Email`,
    `worker`.`phone`
    FROM `mydb`.`assignment` LEFT JOIN `mydb`.`shift` ON ShiftsID=shiftid
    LEFT JOIN `mydb`.`worker` USING (`workerid`)

with this data:

assigment
(1,1,1),
(2,2,1),
(3,2,2)

shift
(1,"morning")
(2,"lunch")

worker
(1,"john")
(2,"doe")

and I want the array to look like:

Array
{
    [0]=>Array
        {
            [assignmentID]==>1;
            [shift]==>Array
                {
                    [shiftid]=1;
                    [name]="morning";
                }
            [worker]==>Array
                {
                    [idworker]=1;
                    [name]="john";
                }
        }
    [1]=>Array
        {
            [assignmentID]==>2;
            [shift]==>Array
                {
                    [shiftid]=2;
                    [name]="lunch";
                }
            [worker]==>Array
                {
                    [idworker]=1;
                    [name]="john";
                }
        }
    [2]=>Array
        {
            [assignmentID]==>3;
            [shift]==>Array
                {
                    [shiftid]=2;
                    [name]="lunch";
                }
            [worker]==>Array
                {
                    [idworker]=2;
                    [name]="doe";
                }
        }
}

I just used a function for each table which returns me the array for it.

function shift(id)
function worker(id)

and I traverse assignment between dates. and call those and put them all into an array;

Answer 1

$sql = /* your sql statement */;
if (($data = mysql_query($sql)) !== false)
{
  $details = array();
  while (($row = mysql_fetch_array($data)) !== false)
  {
    $details[] = array(
      'assignmentID' => $row['assignmentid'],
      'shift' => array(
        'shiftid' => $row['ShiftsID'],
        'name' => // i don't see `shift`.`name`, but that goes here
      ),
      'worker' => array(
        'idworker' => $row['WorkerID'],
        'name' => $row['FirstName']
      )
    );
  }

  // $details is now populated with the structure you were looking for.
}

Something like that? Though your initial database column names and those in your query don't align, so I'm a little confused. Made a best-guess for that.

EDIT

Could also get more creative and check if worker/shift are supplied (given a left join) and then only add the array information for them when results are returned in the query. eg

$details[] = array(
  'assignmentID' => $row['assignmentid']
  'shift' => (!is_null($row['ShiftsID'])?array(
    ...
  ):null), // null when there's no shift
  'worker' => (!is_null($row['WorkerID'])?array(
    ...
  ):null) // null when there's no worker
);