Links File Is This Possible

Anyone Know How to Do This

[webdev]

I have say 100 pages all with the same link code.

Now when this link changes I have to change 100 pages individually as this is all in a CMS system.

Does anyone know any what that I can have the link on all these pages point to another file with the link in so that if I change this one file all the links change.

[maccas]

I am not to sure I understand your question webdev, but I think you mean SSI

<!--#include virtual="/nav.txt" -->

If you are using a CMS surely this is template driven?

[kaled]

If the navigation links are for the user (rather than search engine robots) consider using an IFRAME.

Kaled.

[webdev]

I'll try to explain myself a little better.

On each of these 100 pages I have a piece of text say "Buy This Here"

That links to www.site1.com

Now if this link/affiliate code changes I dont want to have to change 100 pages with the new link..

So I was wondering if I could make the link on "Buy This Here" point to say link.txt

This way when the link/affiliate code changes I only have to change link.txt instead of all 100 pages individually.

[kaled]

It sounds like you want to make an indirect link. I guess you could use a page with a meta redirect to the required site. The links would all remain constant but you could edit the redirect page to send the user elsewhere.

However, I still think the IFRAME or SSI methods are tidier.

NOTE: If you use the redirect method, be aware that it can be disabled in most browsers. Other redirect methods might be more suitable (depending on whether you want to write a little cgi stuff or possibly even edit the .htaccess file - not sure about that).

Kaled.

[webdev]

The SSI would be good, any ideas of the syntax for pointing to a link file?

[kaled]

Assuming SSI can be easily enabled, simply replace every link with <!--#include virtual="/linkout.txt" -->.

Then place the required html link code in /linkout.txt
e.g. <A href="http://www.anotherdomain.com">click here</A>

However, unless you are using SSI already, this will increase server CPU load since the whole file has to be scanned to allow substitutions to take place.

If you experiment with IFRAMEs, I suspect you will choose that solution.

Kaled.

[webdev]

Do IFrames not cause scroll bars etc...

[kaled]

Depending on what attributes you set, there need be no scrollbars or borders. If the backgrounds are the same color, the IFRAME contents will be indistinguishable from the parent. However, I'm unsure what you can do if the parent has a background image.

Kaled.

[Longhaired Genius]

If these 100 pages are all static html, I think the easiest way to deal with this problem is with one of the many multiple find-and-replace tools like Multi-Replace.

[webdev]

Yep that would be my ideal..but I am using Mambo and you can not use tools like this on the CMS...I used to use DreamWeaver for this.

However would anyone know if it is possible to use a find and replace in SQL as this is where all the info is stored including the link URLs

[webdev]

Any idea anybody :)