MySQL query
Hello everyone,
I hope someone could help me with the following issue.
I'm creating a planning site and have the following problem.
I do have a table with records containing different fields, where one field is a datetime.
Now I have a PHP script where I need to get the datetime of the record where this datetime is "the last datetime just before a certain date.
For instance, if I set the date to 2010-07-21, then I need the datetime out of the table mentioned above, that is the last one before 2010-07-21.
Eg. if the table containing the data has following records
record 1: field 1, field 2, field 3, ..., field x (containing: 2010-07-10)
record 2: field 1, field 2, field 3, ..., field x (containing: 2010-07-16)
record 3: field 1, field 2, field 3, ..., field x (containing: 2010-07-20)
record 4: field 1, field 2, field 3, ..., field x (containing: 2010-07-22)
record 5: field 1, field 2, field 3, ..., field x (containing: 2010-07-26)
And in the PHP script I put the date to 2010-07-21 ($date="2010-07-21"), then I need the return 2010-07-20 eg $record_date="2010-07-20".
How can I query this? I presume it should be something with "select * from table"... and in the while section some kind of loop where I put $record_date to the record field if it is higher then the previous one and lower then the defined $date variable (2010-07-21)... or is there a better solution...
Could someone help me with the loop or the better solution?
My second question is, how can I check if there is a record containing a field with a certain value?
If there is a record containing 2010-07-21, then I need another script to be executed, if not, I need the date mentioned above (the last datetime just before 2010-07-21 of all records...)
Could someone please help me? I would very much appreciate it!
Thx
Frederick