# download the data from the db, using a trapped alarm in case of db
# failure (prevents an infinite wait).
alarm 600;
local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { return $FALSE; };

$dbh -> dbcmd("SELECT * FROM $table");
$dbh -> dbsqlexec;
$dbh -> dbresults;

# get the column names for the data
my @columnames;
for (my $i = 0; $i <= $dbh -> dbnumcols; $i++)
  {
	  push (@columnames, $dbh -> dbcolname($i));
	}
				
# write the table data to a hash
my %tableData;
while (my @data = $dbh -> dbnextrow)
	{
		my %tblData;
		for (my $i = 0; $i < $#columnames; $i++)
			{
				$data[$i] =~ s/^\s|\s$//g;
				$tblData{$columnames[$i+1]} = $data[$i];
			}
									
									
		# get the data keys and hash accordingly
		my $hashkey = $tblData{$key};
		delete $tblData{$key};
										
		if (defined $key3)
		  { # if there are 3 keys
			  my $hashkey2 = $tblData{$key2};
				my $hashkey3 = $tblData{$key3};
				delete $tblData{$key2};
				delete $tblData{$key3};

				%{$tableData{$hashkey}{$hashkey2}{$hashkey3}} = %tblData;
			}
		elsif (defined $key2)
		  { # if there are 2 keys
			  my $hashkey2 = $tblData{$key2};
				delete $tblData{$key2};
						
				%{$tableData{$hashkey}{$hashkey2}} = %tblData;
      }
		else
		  { # there's only 1 key
			  %{$tableData{$hashkey}} = %tblData;
			}
	 }
				
return \%tableData;