Forum Moderators: coopster
I building an information portal where I will be implementing a template system. The goal will be
to customize the page for the user's city.
Upon arrival the user will be welcomed by a page
asking them to choose a city. Once they've chosen
a city, the script will go to MySQL db and look
for all the content pertaining to that city.
Does anyone know how I can accomplish this. If any
knows of a tutorial, I would appreciate it very
much as I am really working with a deadline. :)
MySQL tables include:
city
events
top 5 events
ad banner rotation
city weather
Below is the template that I will be working with. I found this on the web on a tutorial.
===========================================================
First, let us understand the varibles in both the main .html page, and in the php scripts.
In this example <% main %> is the varible used in the main HTML template.
Next, the varibles in the index.php file are as follows:
$main
$content
$fd
$filename
$template
$action
The functions and commands within the index.php are as follows:
function template();
function home();
fopen
fclose
global
stripslashes
eregi_replace
echo
switch
default:
break:
This type of scripting will make outputed varible $main match up with HTML <% main %>. The result is that you can output just about anything within a template.
Now, create three files (named below).
Filename: theme.htm
<html><body>
<table cellpadding="0" spacepadding="0" border="0">
<tr><td valign=top align=left>
<% main %>
</td></tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Filename: index.php
<?
function template($content) {
global $main;
$filename = "theme.htm";
if(!$fd = fopen($filename, "r")) {
$error = 1;
}
else {
$template = fread ($fd, filesize ($filename));
fclose ($fd);
$template = stripslashes($template);
$template = eregi_replace("<% main %>", "$main", $template);
$template = eregi_replace("<% content %>", "$content", $template);
echo "$template";
} }
function home() {
global $main;
include ("test.php");
template("$data");
}
switch($action) {
default: // default switch
home();
break;
}
?>
Filename: test.php
<?
$main .= 'This is a test of the emergency boradcast system.<br>This is only a test';
?>
Notice the test.php file having the $main .=. This would be normally an echo command, but echo is not longer needed, since it would not stream through the index.php in the <% main %> area of the template HTML file.
How far have you gotten with this? Is there a specific part of the code which is giving you a problem?
As far as the landing page goes you could use a small form with a drop down containing all of the cities then post that info to the next page (or itself for that matter).
You could take at the $_POST [php.net] superglobal array.
There are also a host of MySQL Functions [php.net] available as well.
I have actually not gotten very far. You see I am very new to php and mysql and though I do know how to tweak code, I do not know how to create my own. :)
So basically what I am trying to do is have the user arrive at a splash page that will contain a pull down menu of cities.
Once a city is picked, a script will then pull the template, which will also pull the tables from MySQL tables which contain everything about the corresponding city.
Does that make sense?
Thanks!
The links that i posted above should give you an idea of how it all works.
MySQL steps
connect to mysql
select db
build query
execute query
retrieve rows from query
output/sort/whatever
those are the basic steps
here is a code example
$connection = mysql_connect ($dbhost, $dbauser, $dbapass);
mysql_select_db ($dbname);
$sdq = "select * from tablename";
$singledataquery = mysql_query($sdq);
while ($sdrow = mysql_fetch_array($singledataquery)) {
echo "<p>",$sdrow[0];
echo "<p>",$sdrow[1];
}
all of the functions above are available through the MySQL Functions link above
How do I include and ensure that the table data that corresponds with the city requested goes into the exact part of the template.
For example on the every page I want to pull the city name and print it on the top table of every page in a designated area of the design of the html table on the template.
Thanks again!
