This might be kind of a dumb question:

I am writing this web base information system application for my CIS class, and basically what is does is that it creates a series of tables (to the user of the system these will be called lists), and each one holds information about videos or movies that have been edited, and also about video material used during the process of digital video editing.

I am using MySQL as previously stated, and PHP.

So basically if I want to show the user with a list of the current lists that they are using or have created, I would just do a

$result = mysql_query("SHOW tables;",$db);

// and then

echo $myrow["Tables_in_veis"]; //( this goes inside a while loop to show all tables)

// veis is the name of the database just in case.

a possible output would be:

35mm
8mm
misc
movie


Now, here comes the question: SHOW TABLES; shows the tables in alphabetical order. Is there a way to show the tables in a different order, like for example, by date created?
I could definitely create a separate table that i could use as a log to keep track of the creation of these tables and then sort using this table, but I was just wondering if there is a better and faster way.


Thanks Figa

You probably don't want to do it this way. It's usually not a good idea to return your schema information to the users. I'd suggest creating a table called 'movie format' and the rows in the table would be, 8mm, 35mm, misc. Also have a unique ID for each item. In a seperate movie table have a column for the titles and a column to link the title to the format, using just the format ID.

Thanks for the advise, I am definitely consider your advice and redesign my database a little bit better. It is in my own best interest to do it right.



Figa

Sure, let us know if you need more help.