generate variable

Every time the winning team wins I would like to have this image appear after the winning team name. Now to determine the winning team is based on the highest runs.

Take a look at this page to understand what I mean. Now please don't be fooled by is appearing after the winning team because the command isn't correct. It just appears on the bottom team or the home team.

away = top team
bottom = home.

Here is the PHP code

PHP Code:

---

<?php
$generate = '';

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM boxscoreaway ORDER BY 'id' ASC"); 
$away = mysql_fetch_array($result);
    
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM boxscorehome ORDER BY 'id' ASC"); 
$home = mysql_fetch_array($result);

    // the away team just began
    $generate .= '<tr style="background-color:eeeeee">
              <td width="254"><table width="100%" border="0">
        <tr>
          <td id="team" width="40%">' . $away['team'] . '</td>
          <td align="left" width="60%">';
          if( $away['winner'] != '' ) {
              $generate .= '<img src="http://robbyzworld.com/personal/images/sports/nyy/winner.gif" />';
          }
          
          $generate .= '</td>
        </tr>
      </table></td>
              <td width="30" id="RHE">' . $away['R'] . '</td>
              <td width="30" id="RHE">' . $away['H'] . '</td>
              <td width="30" id="RHE">' . $away['E'] . '</td>
            </tr>';
    // the away team just ended

    // the home team just began
    $generate .= '<tr style="background-color:eeeeee">
              <td width="254"><table width="100%" border="0">
        <tr>
          <td id="team" width="40%">' . $home['team'] . '</td>
          <td align="left" width="60%">';
          if( $home['winner'] != '' ) {
              $generate .= '<img src="http://robbyzworld.com/personal/images/sports/nyy/winner.gif" />';
          }
            $generate .= '</td>
        </tr>
      </table></td>
              <td width="30" id="RHE">' . $home['R'] . '</td>
              <td width="30" id="RHE">' . $home['H'] . '</td>
              <td width="30" id="RHE">' . $home['E'] . '</td>
            </tr>';
    // end the home team just ended

echo $generate;

?>

---

just check if the away runs is higher than the home runs. if so, then the away team wins. otherwise, the home team wins.

PHP Code:

---

if($away['R'] > $home['R']){
  $winner = "away";
}elseif($away['R'] == $home['R']){
  $winner = "tie";
}else{
  $winner = "home";
} 


---

where do I put that code though?

just after your SQL queries, and before you're starting to output anything.. then, instead of checking if $away['winner'] is not equal to a null string, you just have to check if $winner is equal to "away"; then you need to change the same for the "home" part as well.

Style point: you should never put HTML in strings. PHP is not Perl, it is an embedded scripting language. Just close the PHP block: ?>

For anything non-trivial, you should really be using some sort of template system.

Thanks Kows!

Penagate, what do you mean by html strings?

visualAd explains

why is echoing a whole chunk not a good thing?

If you add an echo on each line isn't it more code?

it can be confusing and sloppy to use echo to output HTML. PHP is an embedded language; that means you embed into HTML -- not use it to output HTML. if it can be avoided, it should be. it makes your code twenty-million times easier to read (yes, really, that many times). it's probably faster (though, admittedly, probably not that much faster) this way, too.

ahh ok....

I am still earning so once I conquer that then I will take the next step and try to make it so my coding is more proficient and easier to read.

Thanks for the tips!