What is the nature of the userid? is it something assigned by one of the systems? or is it chosen by the user himself? or is it a constant such as am employee ID? Here's how I would approach it: query the tables for the occurrence of the userid and obtain the system name at the same time. with the results, build a multidimensional associative array with userid and system name such as $prior[$row[system_name]][$row[userid]] = "grey"; Then in the code for the page loop though the systems with the userid such as: foreach ($prior as $system) { // This will hit your systems one after the other if ($prior[$system[$userid]]) { // if this variable exists, it will test as true $color = "grey"; } else { $color = "black"; }; }; That would be my starting stab at it. I hope I understand enough of what you're trying to do and that perhaps you understand what I am trying to do. Let me know if this needs clarification. Mark Cain ----- Original Message ----- From: "NIPP, SCOTT V (SBCSI)" <sn4265@xxxxxxx> To: <php-db@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, March 21, 2005 2:44 PM Subject: Working with multiple tables... > I am working on revising a web request app that I have already > developed. The app basically provides a list of system names with > checkboxes for a user to select to request accounts on the systems. One > feature I am intending to add is that the app should check a separate > database of user accounts to see if the user already has an account on > the system. I think I could get it to work by making a query of the > userid for each system, but this seems quite inefficient. I would > rather somehow have a single query that gets a list of system names and > also checks the user account database at the same time to determine if > the user already has an account. Then I would like to display ALL of > the systems, but "grey out" the ones that the user already has accounts > on. Can someone help me figure out the best way to go about this? > Thanks in advance. > > Scott Nipp > Phone: (214) 858-1289 > E-mail: sn4265@xxxxxxx > Web: http:\\ldsa.sbcld.sbc.com > > -- > PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > > -- PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php