Dynamic URLs

[wigwambam]

Quite hard to explain, here goes...

I have a site called (for example) www.whatever.com

I want people to create their own pages on www.whatever.com with their own names.

e.g.
www.whatever.com/fred
www.whatever.com/john
www.whatever.com/betty

The above is very easy to do if I create a directory for each user. I DO NOT want to do this. I anticipate 1,000's of users and do not want 1,000's of folders.

I know I can do:
www.whatever.com/index.php?user=fred
www.whatever.com/index.php?user=john
www.whatever.com/index.php?user=betty

But, being a fussy so and so, I don't like this.

Is there a way to use the first example without creating the directories?

Any ideas / suggestions appreciated.

[alexorig]

Yes there totally is using either .htaccess file or the zeus mod_redirect functionality depending on how your server is set up. Under the apache server forum there are several strings which explain how to do this

[wigwambam]

Thanks alexorig for your reply. You mentioned "Under the apache server forum there are several strings which explain how to do this" - is there a link?

Cheers.

[jatar_k]

try the Apache Forum Library [webmasterworld.com]

there are a ton of threads on mod_rewrite

[wigwambam]

Thanks a lot - I knew I would get the answer here. As a recent convert from asp to php its good to know that there are people willing to help.

Thanks again.

[frozenpeas]

The files will probably have to be inside sub directories anyway as many hosting companies will not give permission to write to the root.
Number the directories by user_id so that many people with the same name can exist then rewrite the urls once the pages have been created.

[eeek]

Take a look at path_info

[henry0]

I use this and it works fine:

You could have a page template

Copy it within a given dir ex: member
Rename the copied page by using user’s name
Open and write to copied page for ex: $page_name=”fred.php”;
Add a field in DB with page URL www.whatever.com/member/fred.php
Show all or selected URLs, clicking on “fred.php” trigger a query: select from users_table where $page_name=’fred.php’

[frozenpeas]

What if there are 2 people named Fred?
I think using a unique ID would be better.

[henry0]

Indeed you can use two identifiers
such as ID and page name
But if writing to the file (page) I like better using a rand() than ID.

[frozenpeas]

Interesting, I thought that Rand can never be truely random.
I prefer the autoincremental field as this never seems to duplicate.

[henry0]

Try this one
<<<
<?php
// Our string will have 8 characters, but you can easy change
for($i = 0; $i < 8; $i++) {
// All the letters and numbers
$type[1] = "A¦B¦C¦D¦E¦F¦G¦H¦I¦J¦K¦L¦M¦N¦O¦P¦Q¦R¦S¦T¦U¦V¦X¦W¦Y¦Z";
$type[2] = "0¦1¦2¦3¦4¦5¦6¦7¦8¦9";

// Change for letter or number
$randType = rand(1, 2);

// Get an character alone
$type = explode("¦", $type[$randType]);
// Get the total size of characters
$max = count($type);

// Randonic character
$randChar = rand(0, $max);
$code .= $type[$randChar];
}

// Print the rand
echo "the rand generated was: ".$code;
?>

>>>
Plus you need to query for dup to take care of the dup eventuality.

I do not use ID because anyone could figure other ID above and below
although you may use a rewrite to clean the ID #.