Trouble with getting PHP to display a table and colspan (found a work around)

[migroo]

I found a workaround so it is working now. All I did was put the about class on the first div tag that is inside the <tr> tag. Now it looks a little different but it works.Okay I have a table that is being built using some php. What I am trying to do is display a data from a database (ID | NAME | AGE | DATE OF BIRTH | DATE OF DEATH) and when you click on a row it is supposed to pop up with some some input fields so I am using a <th> tag so I can do a colspan for all five columns. The problem it is acts like I am not spanning any of the columns.Here is my code:

<?php$dbhost = "localhost";$dbuser = "my username";$dbpass = "my password";$dbname = "User_".$_GET['db'];$dtname = $_GET['dt'];$refine = $_GET['refine'];$search = "%";$search .= $_GET['search'];$search .= "%";$by = $_GET['by'];$x=0;$qf='"';$qh="'";//-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^- All variables ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ are up there! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^-----------------------------------------------------	//Connect to MySQL Servermysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);	//Select Databasemysql_select_db($dbname) or die(mysql_error());	// Retrieve data from Query Stringif($refine == ""){$query = "SELECT * FROM $dt ORDER BY ID ASC";}if($refine == "obits"){$query = "SELECT * FROM $dt WHERE $by LIKE '$search' ORDER BY $by ASC";}	//Execute query$qry_result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());if($dt=="people"){	//Build Result String		$display_string = "";		$display_string .= "	 		 Search: <input type='text' tabindex='1' id='search' value='".$_GET['search']."'/> By: <select id='by' tabindex='3'>															   <option value='lname'>Last Name</option>															   <option value='fname'>First Name</option>															   <option value='age'>Age</option>			 </select>			 			 <input type='button' tabindex='2' onclick='search1()' 										  value='Search!'/>";		$display_string .= "<table class='people'>";		$display_string .= "<tr>";		$display_string .= '			 <td class="id">ID</td>			 <td class="name">NAME</td>			 <td class="age">AGE</td>			 <td class="dob">DATE OF BIRTH</td>			 <td class="dod">DATE OF DEATH</td>';		$display_string .= '</tr>';		// Insert a new row in the table for each person returned		while($row = mysql_fetch_array($qry_result)){		$display_string .= '		 <tr onclick='.$qh.'setVisibility("sub'.$x.'", "inline");'.$qh.'>			 <td>'.$row['ID'].'</td>			 <td>'.$row['fname'].' '.$row['lname'].'</td>			 <td>'.$row['age'].'</td>			 <td>'.$row['dob'].'</td>			 <td>'.$row['dod'].'</td>		 </tr>		 <tr class="about" id="sub'.$x.'">			 <th colspan="5">			  <div style="background-color:grey;">				   <input type="text" />				   <br />				   <input type="text" />				   <br />				   <input type="text" />				   <br />				   <input type="text" />				   <br />				   <input type="text" />				   <br />				   <textarea>				   </textarea>			   			  </div>			 </th>		 </tr>';		 $x++;		}		$display_string .= "</table>";		$display_string .= '<input type="hidden" value="'.$x.'" name="sum"';		$display_string .= '<hr />';}echo $display_string;echo "The table is: ".$dt;echo " The database is: ".$db;echo " There are: ".$x." entries.";?>

Now every thing works just fine exept for:

<tr class="about" id="sub'.$x.'">			 <th colspan="5">			  <div style="background-color:grey;">				   <input type="text" />				   <br />				   <input type="text" />				   <br />				   <input type="text" />				   <br />				   <input type="text" />				   <br />				   <input type="text" />				   <br />				   <textarea>				   </textarea>			   			  </div>			 </th>		 </tr>';

It just won't span the columns like it should.Does any one know what is wrong with this?Also does anyone have some tips on formatting so my code is more readable?

[skaterdav85]

You could try using Dreamweaver and setting the colspan and rowspan attributes through that IDE.

[migroo]

I have never used Dreamweaver I just have notepad++. I tried validating the code and I didn't get any errors it just won't display right. Is Dreamweaver worth the money?

[skaterdav85]

DW does have some nice features, but go check out the trial. For dealing with tables it could be a time saver because you can merge cells through the GUI rather than trying to read your long code and seeing where the colspans and rowspans are being applied.