sql - Text values in a pivot table? -

i have table (in mysql) 3 columns:

location    category     supplier            computers    company x           printers     company y    b        computers    company x    b        printers     company y    b        software     company y    c        computers    company y    c        software     company z 

now need make matrix containing above information, :

       computers      printers       software       company x      company y b      company x      company y      company y c      company y                     company z 

eventually need have in excel.

in reality have variable number of categories, doing in mysql join each column not option. write function in php, wondering if there's more elegant solution.

i looked pivot tables in excel, seem more suited numbers values. maybe i'm overlooking something, since never work excel myself.

any idea's?

i ran same problem pivot tables... perfect summaries, not text matrices.

i have "lifted" code examples used. here have data in columns a-d , build matrix (in same sheet) around column f.

check see if helps.

i still have trouble getting code right , please aware lot of code starts before code window.

code example 1:

'fill in values  sheets("tempfile").select  listrow = 1  mismatchcounter = 0  until cells(listrow, 1).value = ""      ' table entry third column of list.      tableentry = cells(listrow, 3).value      on error resume next      if err.number > 0 msgbox err.number      ' position of product name within range of row titles.      if tableentry <> ""          tablerow = application.match(cells(listrow, 1), range("f3:" & mylastrowaddress), 0) ' 2 rows less reality          ' position of product size within range of column titles.          tablecolumn = application.match(cells(listrow, 2), range("g2:" & mylastcoladdress), 0)          set celltofill = range("f2").offset(tablerow, tablecolumn)          ' if there's entry in cell, separate new entry comma , space.          if err.number = 0              if celltofill.value <> ""                  celltofill.value = celltofill.value & ","                  celltofill.value = celltofill.value & tableentry              else                  celltofill.value = tableentry              end if          else              mismatchcounter = mismatchcounter + 1              sheets("errors").cells(mismatchcounter, 1).value = listrow              sheets("errors").cells(mismatchcounter, 2).value = cells(listrow, 1)              sheets("errors").cells(mismatchcounter, 3).value = cells(listrow, 2)              sheets("errors").cells(mismatchcounter, 4).value = cells(listrow, 3)              sheets("errors").cells(mismatchcounter, 5).value = cells(listrow, 4)          end if      end if      on error goto 0      listrow = listrow + 1  loop 

code example 2:

sub createmanualmatrix()      dim tablerow, tablecolumn integer      dim tableentry string      dim celltofill range      'sheet called lijst      'column names top row      'column b names left column      'column c value matrix        'matrix top row starts @ h1      'matrix left column starts @ g2        matrixlastcoladdress = range("h1").end(xltoright).address      matrixlastrow = range("g65536").end(xlup).row      lijstreadcolumn = 3      lijstcurrentrow = 2 'make 1 if no header used      until sheets("lijst").cells(lijstcurrentrow, 1).value = ""          ' table entry third column of list.          tableentry = sheets("lijst").cells(lijstcurrentrow, lijstreadcolumn).value          ' position of employee name within matrix.          tablecolumn = application.match(sheets("lijst").cells(lijstcurrentrow, 1), range("h1:" & matrixlastcoladdress), 0)          ' position of qualification name within matrix titles.          tablerow = application.match(sheets("lijst").cells(lijstcurrentrow, 2), range("g2:g" & matrixlastrow), 0)          set celltofill = range("g1").offset(tablerow, tablecolumn)          ' if there's entry in cell, separate new entry comma , space.          if celltofill.value <> "" celltofill.value = celltofill.value & ","          ' add new entry cell.          celltofill.value = celltofill.value & tableentry          lijstcurrentrow = lijstcurrentrow + 1      loop  end sub