fix column names

echo '<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" class="display" id="example">';

// The column names need to be renamed to their proper names
$table="col2desc";

// Read the mapping table
$query = "select fieldname,realfieldname from $table";

// query
$result=mysql_query($query);

// push all the data into an array
while ( $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result) )
{
    $name                   = $row['fieldname'];
    $desc                   = $row['realfieldname'];
    $mapping["$name"]       = $desc;
}

echo '
<thead>
<tr>
';

$table  = "books";
$query  = "show columns from $table";
$result = mysql_query($query);

while ( $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result) )
{
    $fieldname = $row['Field'];
    if ( $fieldname == 'id' ) continue;

    # and map the field name to the description
    if (array_key_exists("$fieldname", $mapping))
    {
        $desc = $mapping["$fieldname"];
    }
    else
    {
        $desc = $fieldname;
    }

    echo "<th>$desc</th>";
}

echo '
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
';