Associating Colums and tables

[franknu]

Ok, I have a database and i want to associate colums to be display when a user type in something in categories. I created a diffrent table for almost everything. I was just wondering if i have to create a full table with the information i want to associate or if it is ok to have in diffrent tables

here is the code

PHP Code:

<?php 
print_r($_POST); 

if(isset($_POST['submit'])) 


$host = "localhost"; 
$username = "localhost"; 
$password = "abc123"; 
$database = "contacts"; 

if(isset($_POST['Categories'])) 
{ 
    $Categories = trim(addslashes($_POST['Categories'])); 
} 
else 
{ 
    echo 'No Category Passed'; 
    exit; 
} 

$db = mysql_connect($host, $username, $password); 
mysql_select_db($database); 
$query = "SELECT * FROM Categories WHERE Categories LIKE '%$Categories%'"; 
$result = mysql_query($query) or die (mysql_error()); 
$num_result = mysql_num_rows($result); 

if($num_result == 0) 
{ 
    echo("No Results found."); 
    exit; 
} 

echo "<p>Number of business found: $num_result </p>"; 
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) 
{ 
     echo '<p><strong>Business Name (' . stripslashes($row['BusinessName']) . ')'; 
     echo '(' . $row['slogan'] . ')</strong><br />'; 
     echo 'Address (' . stripslashes($row['BusinessAddress']) . ')<br />'; 
     echo 'State (' . stripslashes($row['make']) . ')<br />'; 
     echo 'City (' . stripslashes($row['type']) . ')<br />'; 
     echo 'Tel (' . stripslashes($row['tel']) . ')<br /></p>'; 
} 

?>

this is what i am displaying

Array ( [make] => Massachusetts [type] => Lawrence [Categories] => printing [textfield] => [submit] => Search )
Number of business found: 1

BusinessName ()()
Address ()
State ()
City ()
Tel ()

i have a business name MASS AD
Address 19 Central St
In MAKE MASSACHUSETTS
TYPE LAWRENCE
978.327.5139

how can i make like that for now it is just showing that i have a category Name "Printing"

[etono]

I think I know what you mean. So, basically their is categories in a category table, their are Businesses with thier addresses in another table? Perhaps you may want to create a new field in your business table which is category_id which would be the primary key of the category table. Then you would LEFT JOIN the businesses table on the category_id.

PHP Code:

<?php
//assume connection to db
$sql = "SELECT * FROM categories
          LEFT JOIN businesses ON (categories.category_id = businesses.category_id)
          WHERE category.category_name LIKE %$clean_category%";
$result = mysql_query( $sql );
while( $row = mysql_fetch_array( $result, MYSQL_ASSOC ) ) {
    //encode or strip slashes for output
    echo "Name: {$row['business_name']}";
    echo "Address: {$row['business_address']}";
    //etc
}
?>