Retrieve data from multiple mySQL tables

Question

I will try and explain this as succinctly as possible as I'm quite new to this.

I have 3 tables: articles; categories; articles_to_categories

The complete Article class is below. The function getById is where I am aiming to pull the category through too.

<?php

/**
 * Class to handle articles
 */

class Article
{

  // Properties

  /**
  * @var int The article ID from the database
  */
  public $id = null;

  /**
  * @var int When the article was published
  */
  public $publicationDate = null;

  /**
  * @var string Full title of the article
  */
  public $title = null;

  /**
  * @var string A short summary of the article
  */
  public $summary = null;

  /**
  * @var string The HTML content of the article
  */
  public $content = null;


  /**
  * Sets the object's properties using the values in the supplied array
  *
  * @param assoc The property values
  */

  public function __construct( $data=array() ) {
    if ( isset( $data['article_id'] ) ) $this->id = (int) $data['article_id'];
    if ( isset( $data['publicationDate'] ) ) $this->publicationDate = (int) $data['publicationDate'];
    if ( isset( $data['title'] ) ) $this->title = preg_replace ( "/[^\.\,\-\_\'\"\@\?\!\:\$ a-zA-Z0-9()]/", "", $data['title'] );
    if ( isset( $data['summary'] ) ) $this->summary = preg_replace ( "/[^\.\,\-\_\'\"\@\?\!\:\$ a-zA-Z0-9()]/", "", $data['summary'] );
    if ( isset( $data['content'] ) ) $this->content = $data['content'];
  }


  /**
  * Sets the object's properties using the edit form post values in the supplied array
  *
  * @param assoc The form post values
  */

  public function storeFormValues ( $params ) {

    // Store all the parameters
    $this->__construct( $params );

    // Parse and store the publication date
    if ( isset($params['publicationDate']) ) {
      $publicationDate = explode ( '-', $params['publicationDate'] );

      if ( count($publicationDate) == 3 ) {
        list ( $d, $m, $y ) = $publicationDate;
        $this->publicationDate = mktime ( 0, 0, 0, $m, $d, $y );
      }
    }
  }


  /**
  * Returns an Article object matching the given article ID
  *
  * @param int The article ID
  * @return Article|false The article object, or false if the record was not found or there was a problem
  */

  public static function getById( $id ) {
    $conn = new PDO( DB_DSN, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD );
    $sql = "SELECT *, UNIX_TIMESTAMP(publicationDate) AS publicationDate FROM articles WHERE article_id = :id";
    $st = $conn->prepare( $sql );
    $st->bindValue( ":id", $id, PDO::PARAM_INT );
    $st->execute();
    $row = $st->fetch();
    $conn = null;
    if ( $row ) return new Article( $row );
  }


  /**
  * Returns all (or a range of) Article objects in the DB
  *
  * @param int Optional The number of rows to return (default=all)
  * @param string Optional column by which to order the articles (default="publicationDate DESC")
  * @return Array|false A two-element array : results => array, a list of Article objects; totalRows => Total number of articles
  */

  public static function getList( $numRows=1000000, $order="publicationDate DESC" ) {
    $conn = new PDO( DB_DSN, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD );
    $sql = "SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS *, UNIX_TIMESTAMP(publicationDate) AS publicationDate FROM articles
            ORDER BY " . mysql_escape_string($order) . " LIMIT :numRows";

    $st = $conn->prepare( $sql );
    $st->bindValue( ":numRows", $numRows, PDO::PARAM_INT );
    $st->execute();
    $list = array();

    while ( $row = $st->fetch() ) {
      $article = new Article( $row );
      $list[] = $article;
    }

    // Now get the total number of articles that matched the criteria
    $sql = "SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS totalRows";
    $totalRows = $conn->query( $sql )->fetch();
    $conn = null;
    return ( array ( "results" => $list, "totalRows" => $totalRows[0] ) );
  }


  /**
  * Inserts the current Article object into the database, and sets its ID property.
  */

  public function insert() {

    // Does the Article object already have an ID?
    if ( !is_null( $this->id ) ) trigger_error ( "Article::insert(): Attempt to insert an Article object that already has its ID property set (to $this->id).", E_USER_ERROR );

    // Insert the Article
    $conn = new PDO( DB_DSN, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD );
    $sql = "INSERT INTO articles ( publicationDate, title, summary, content ) VALUES ( FROM_UNIXTIME(:publicationDate), :title, :summary, :content )";



    //PDO prepare escapes string like mysql_real_escape_string
    //PDO Allows you to enforce a datatypye ie. Sting, Integer etc
    $st = $conn->prepare ( $sql );
    $st->bindValue( ":publicationDate", $this->publicationDate, PDO::PARAM_INT );
    $st->bindValue( ":title", $this->title, PDO::PARAM_STR );
    $st->bindValue( ":summary", $this->summary, PDO::PARAM_STR );
    $st->bindValue( ":content", $this->content, PDO::PARAM_STR );
    $st->execute();
    $this->id = $conn->lastInsertId();
    $conn = null;
  }


  /**
  * Updates the current Article object in the database.
  */

  public function update() {

    // Does the Article object have an ID?
    if ( is_null( $this->id ) ) trigger_error ( "Article::update(): Attempt to update an Article object that does not have its ID property set.", E_USER_ERROR );

    // Update the Article
    $conn = new PDO( DB_DSN, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD );
    $sql = "UPDATE articles SET publicationDate=FROM_UNIXTIME(:publicationDate), title=:title, summary=:summary, content=:content WHERE id = :id";
    $st = $conn->prepare ( $sql );
    $st->bindValue( ":publicationDate", $this->publicationDate, PDO::PARAM_INT );
    $st->bindValue( ":title", $this->title, PDO::PARAM_STR );
    $st->bindValue( ":summary", $this->summary, PDO::PARAM_STR );
    $st->bindValue( ":content", $this->content, PDO::PARAM_STR );
    $st->bindValue( ":id", $this->id, PDO::PARAM_INT );
    $st->execute();
    $conn = null;
  }


  /**
  * Deletes the current Article object from the database.
  */

  public function delete() {

    // Does the Article object have an ID?
    if ( is_null( $this->id ) ) trigger_error ( "Article::delete(): Attempt to delete an Article object that does not have its ID property set.", E_USER_ERROR );

    // Delete the Article
    $conn = new PDO( DB_DSN, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD );
    $st = $conn->prepare ( "DELETE FROM articles WHERE id = :id LIMIT 1" );
    $st->bindValue( ":id", $this->id, PDO::PARAM_INT );
    $st->execute();
    $conn = null;
  }

}

?>

What I need to do is output which multiple categories the article is in. Would I have to create another SQL statement within this function or can I do it in the one statement.

Table/Columns overview: articles - id, publicationDate, title, summary, content categories - id, categoryTitle articles_to_categories - article_id, category_id

I hope this is enough information for someone to help me on my way.

Thanks.

Answer 1

I think you should modify your class and add

public $categorie = null; //because you will add new column to table article 

and modify all the code that depends on it, add the column to your db. etc