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PHP CRUD Operations with PHP Reading and Writing Reports Filtering Data

Devin Gray
Devin Gray
39,261 Points
Posted by Devin Gray
Devin Gray
39,261 Points

Filtering Data with PHP: Why is this wrong?

https://teamtreehouse.com/library/crud-operations-with-php/reading-and-writing-reports/filtering-data

I've tried multiple different combinations trying to get this function to work and I want to know why it is wrong? And the error I get keeps saying to make sure last_name is ordered in descending order, which it is.

Any ideas?

<?php
function get_people($filter = null) {
    include 'connection.php';

    //add code here
  $sql = "SELECT * FROM people ORDER BY last_name DESC";
  $where = '';
  if ($filter) {
    $where = " WHERE treehouse = 1";
  }
  try {
    $results = $db->prepare($sql . $where);
    $results->execute();
    return $results->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
  } catch (Exception $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
  }
}
index.php 
<?php
function get_people($filter = null) {
    include 'connection.php';

    //add code here
  $sql = "SELECT * FROM people ORDER BY last_name DESC";
  $where = '';
  if ($filter) {
    $where = " WHERE treehouse = 1";
  }
  try {
    $results = $db->prepare($sql . $where);
    $results->execute();
    return $results->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
  } catch (Exception $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
  }
}

2 Answers

Peter Hatzer
Peter Hatzer
20,837 Points
Peter Hatzer
Peter Hatzer
20,837 Points

Hi Devin,

Your where clause should be before the order by.

Example

<?php

$where = '';

if ($filter) {
   $where = "WHERE treehouse = 1";
 }

$sql = "SELECT * FROM people ".$where."   ORDER BY last_name DESC";

//Or you could do it this way either

$sql = "SELECT * FROM people " ;

if ($filter) {
   $sql .= "WHERE treehouse = 1";
 }
$sql .= " ORDER BY last_name DESC";

Then just call the $sql

Devin Gray
Devin Gray
39,261 Points
Devin Gray
Devin Gray
39,261 Points

Honestly, I just removed the $where altogether and just concatenated the if statement on to the $sql variable and it said my answer was correct. Weird. So I basically did your second option. But thanks for the help :)

Peter Hatzer
Peter Hatzer
20,837 Points
Peter Hatzer
Peter Hatzer
20,837 Points

No problem, keep on coding :)