Sortable Tables Using a .csv File and PHP

Here I will show how to make this sortable tables become generically useful on any php enabled web server. This example, available for downloading in .txt format (simply save as a .php, .php3, or .php4 file as required on your server). Click here to view a sample of this Generic Sortable Tables using PHP.

We will automate by enabling this one php file to process any .csv (comma delimited file). These .csv files can easily be created in Excel and exported as a comma delimited file. Make the first row the Headers for the table, being sure there is one header for each column in the table. Data fields in some columns may be blank but be sure each column has a header value in the A row.

This php generic program functions as follows:

• Define the values to be received from the invoking link:

  $tableName = $fname;
  $tableWidth = $twidth;
  $tableAlign = $talign;
  $borderSize = $bsize;
  $tableNumerics = $tnums;
  

• Then create javascript code from php.

  echo "<scr" . "ipt language=\"javascript\">\n";

• Open the .csv file and setup some values

  $fp = fopen($tableName,"r");
  $needTitles = true;
  $rows = 0;
  $cols=0;
  $continue = true;
  $buffer = fgets($fp,4096);
  if ($buffer == false) $continue = false;
  

• Start the loop for reading lines in the file and fix each line by removing white space (the carriage return) and forcing a acomma at the end of each line (which helps establish in the first row how many columns exist in this .css file.

  while ($continue != false) {
          $buffer = trim($buffer); 
                  /* get rid of carriage returns */
          $buffer = $buffer . ",";
  

• On the first pass, read this line, counting the commas

          if ($needTitles) {
                  $start = 1;
                  $comma = ",";
                  $temp = $buffer;
                  $pos = strpos($temp,$comma);
                  while ($pos > 0) {
                          $cols = $cols + 1;
                          $start = $pos + 1;
                          $temp = substr($temp,$start); 
          /* bug doesn't recognize start parm in strpos */
                          $pos = strpos($temp,$comma);
                  }
                  $cols = $cols; 
          /* becaue the last column doesn't end in a comma */
          }
  

• Initialize the output line for javascript, and create the javascript array values.

          $rows = $rows + 1;
          $theLine = "";
          $tok = strtok($buffer,",");
          while ($tok) {
                  $theLine = $theLine . "\"" 
                  . htmlspecialchars($tok) . "\",";
                  $tok = strtok(",");
          }
  

• Remove the trailing comma so that javascript won't fail, read the next line of the .csv file, and set the conditional

          if (strlen($theLine) > 0) $theLine = 
          substr($theLine,0,(strlen($theLine) - 1));
          $buffer = fgets($fp,4096);
          $continue = $buffer;
  

• If processing the first line, setup the Titles. Otherwise, output the javascript array statement. Close the file.

          if ($needTitles) {
                  $needTitles = false;
                  $Titles = $theLine;
                  }
          else {
                  
                  if ($continue == false) 
                          echo "new Array(" . 
                                  $theLine . ")\n";
                  else 
                          echo "new Array(" . 
                                  $theLine . "),\n";
          }
          
  }
  fclose($fp);
  

var data = new Array(
new Array("George","Wade","676 781-5181","5"),
new Array("Rebecca","Wade","676 781-5181","9"),
new Array("Christia","Lewis","676 375-3775","21"),
new Array("Kalamazoo","SDA School","342-8983"),
new Array("Matthew","lewis","676 375-3991","15")
)
var buttons = new Array("First Name","Last Name",
                                "Phone Number"," Age")

We allow javascript to create the buttons and the data table with the following assistance:

var buttons = new Array(<?php echo $Titles; ?>)
var table = new SortableTable("<?php echo $tableName; ?>",
        <?php echo $rows; ?>,<?php echo $cols; ?>,
        <?php echo $borderSize; ?>,
        "<?php echo $tableWidth; ?>%",
        "<?php echo $tableAlign; ?>") 
                /*id,rows,columns,border,width,align*/

<?php
        $v = $tableNumerics;
        for ($i=0;$i<strlen($v);$i=$i + 2) {
                $c = substr($v,$i,2);
                if ($c >= 0) 
                echo "table.setNumeric(" . ($c - 1) . ")\n";
        }
?>

Oh, you want to know how to call this generical Sortable Tables page? Create this link:

<a href="genSortTables.php3?fname=phonelist.csv&twidth=90&talign=right&bsize=1"> MyLink</a>

or for numeric columns

<a href="genSortTables.php3?fname=phonelist.csv&twidth=90&talign=right &bsize=1&tnums=00000004">MyLink</a>

Enjoy using sortable Tables in the future. Just download this example as instructed above and use this code without changing anything within the script tags. Just link to the page using the parms shown.