Thread

Here’s what I want to do:

* query the gallery to get the entry id’s for all the entries in a particular category
* store those in an array
* based on the URL segment (in the pagination), pull out an entry id via the index

So my thought was to combine the EE Query module along with some PHP for the array.

How do I have to set my PHP processing to make this work? Input or Output?

Thanks

If you’re using PHP to query the gallery and store that info, you would put it on input because you’ll want to use that info inside an EE tag itself…  Should work, but one thing to keep in mind is the parse order, which can come back to bite you in some situations.  Here’s an article about input/output PHP parsing:

http://expressionengine.com/knowledge_base/article/whats_the_difference_between_input_and_output_for_php_parsing/

And this list here is the bible for parse order:

http://expressionengine.com/wiki/Parse_Order/

Here’s what I have so far, and it seems to be working:

<?php $entry_ids = array(); ?>
    {exp:query sql="SELECT entry_id FROM exp_gallery_entries WHERE cat_id = 2"}
        
      <?php array_push($entry_ids, {entry_id}); ?>
        
    {/exp:query}
    
    <?php print_r(array_values($entry_ids)); ?>

Do you have it on output currently?

If you’re going to use $entry_ids in another EE tag after this code it won’t work because it has parsed all the EE tags already. One thing you can do as well is just do a global $DB, and use the $DB class directly.  That way you can get around some parse order issues you might run into.

If it’s working for you though, you can ignore everything I’ve said 😉

I was going to use $entry_ids later yes, but I haven’t yet.

I have PHP processing set to output currently.

I was looking at the DB class last night thinking that that might be a better solution.

Ideally, I will get this working and hopefully someone else can make it a plugin or something.

Can I use the $DB class in a templat?

How do I start?

All I really need is the entry_ids in an array so I can reference them later.

Can I do in EE directly some how?

What is it you’re trying to do, rather than how you are trying to do it?

To use the $DB class all you need to do it put this:
<?php
global $DB;
?>

In your template.  You’ll want PHP parsing on input for what you’re trying to do.

There is development documentation here.

And $DB class specific info here.

What is it you’re trying to do, rather than how you are trying to do it?

In my new gallery, I have the first image automatically loaded. The problem lies when you switch to the second (or third) page. I would like the correct image (the first one on the *page*)  loaded.

EE won’t let me get an image by index out of its query, so to get around that, I want to get the list of entry ids (which I can do), store in an array (which I can do), then parse the last segment (P2, P3), do some calcuations to figure the correct index, then load the correct image.

If you have any suggestions as to how else I can do this, I would really appreciate hearing them.

OK, I am almost there…I have all the pieces, I just need to put them together. Here’s what my pseudo-code looks like:

First, get the category id and page:

$cat_id_array = explode("C", "{segment_3}");
$cat_id = cat_id_array[1];

$page_array = explode("P", "{segment_3}");
$page = page_array[1];

Then get the entry ids:

$query = $DB->query("SELECT entry_id FROM exp_gallery_entries WHERE cat_id = $cat_id");

    if ($query->num_rows > 0)
    {
        foreach($query->result as $row)
        {
            array_push($entry_ids, {entry_id});
        }
    }

Then do the calculation to get the correct index and get the correct image URL:

$index = ($page - 1) * images_per_page;
   $query = $DB->query("SELECT filename, extenstion FROM exp_gallery_entries WHERE entry_id = $entry_ids[$index]");
   $img_url = "{site_url}/{gallery_name}/{category_name}/{filename}.{extension}

And that should do it, I think. Off to try.