How to group and show multiple resultset row values within a single table cell?

Answer 1

Most sensibly, you should use GROUP BY and GROUP_CONCAT() in your query to completely prepare your resultset.

Something like this: (untested)

SELECT pp_name, GROUP_CONCAT(pp_position SEPARATOR '<br>') AS pp_position
FROM tbl_preset_position
WHERE pp_status = 'Active'
GROUP BY pp_name
ORDER BY pp_name

Then you can just echo out the data normally into your table.

---

Otherwise, you'll need to use a convoluted bit of php to determine which rows should have appended data and which can stand alone...

Now, I haven't tested this code, but I believe the conditional logic should hold up. You just need to ORDER BY pp_name then check for a new pp_name value as you iterate the resultset to determine if you are displaying the first in the group or not.

I am using OO syntax for the query functions because it is less verbose.

<?php
include("functions/functions.php");

echo '<button class="btn btn-primary">Back</button>';
echo '<button class="btn btn-primary" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#addModal">Add Position Preset</button>';

if (!$con = new mysqli("localhost", "root", "", "db_stvs")) {
    echo 'Connect failed: ', $con->connect_error);  // never display errors to the public
} elseif (!$result = $con->query("SELECT pp_name, pp_position FROM tbl_preset_position WHERE pp_status = 'Active' ORDER BY pp_name")) {
    echo 'Syntax Error', $con->error;  // never show the exact error message to the public
} elseif (!$result->num_rows) {
    echo 'No Active Records Found';
} else {
    echo '<table class="table-bordered">';
        echo '<tr><th>Preset Name</th><th>Positions Available</th></tr>';
        $name = null;                                                            // establish a default value that won't be matched
        while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
            if ($row['pp_name'] !== $name) {
                if ($name !== null) {
                    echo '</td></tr>';
                }
                echo "<tr><td>{$row['pp_name']}</td><td>{$row['pp_position']}";  // write row for pp_name group
            } else {
                echo "<br>{$row['pp_position']}";                                // append all subsequent values in group
            }
            $name = $row['pp_name']; // update temporary variable
        }
        echo '</td></tr>';
    echo '</table>';
}