Question in regards to dynamic content code

php error

[brettxw]

Hey guys, I am using the following code to include an .html :

<?php
  include('header.html');
?>

You can view the error(s) I'm getting by looking at the actual page :

[updateyourblackberry.com...]


My header.html, navbar.html and footer.html are all in the /new/ folder, not in the /new/devices/ folder. I tried changing the code to

<?php
  include('new/header.html');
?>

and some other variations with no luck. How do I change it so I can get these .html files that are located at www.updateyourblackberry.com/new/header.html and /navbar.html and /footer.html to appear?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[brettxw]

I even tried ./header.html and that doesn't work.

[brettxw]

Update - Mods can delete this thread, I figured out what I was doing wrong.

[g1smd]

... and for the benefit of the next person with the same problem, what was the answer?

[brettxw]

If it is one directory below

<?php
include('../header.html');
?> 

two directories below

<?php
include('../../header.html');
?> 

[brettxw]

What is the difference between this code...

<?php get_footer(); ?>

and

<?php
include('header.html');
?>

[g1smd]

Avoid the ../../ notation, it will surely confuse in the end.

Specify the full path to the file beginning with a leading slash to count from the root.

[fredfletcher]

I'm no programmer as perse, yet I personally like to use root to folder/file syntax myself:

<?php
include('/root_of_server/folder/file_in_question.html');
?>

that way, you can't go wrong, it will go to the root of your server and find the folder/file you wish to include.

[fredfletcher]

Brett,

your question about the difference between:

<?php get_footer(); ?>


and

<?php
include('header.html');
?>

get_footer() is a function, that once set, can be used over and over again in different parts of your document. (Correct me if I'm wrong) ;0)

that's the best answer I can give you with the capabilities I have, and I always or most of the time, find the answers to my questions on Google and this great site :) people are very nice here and help me out a great deal, as well as others :)

have a look at this page, which may be of help to you:

[forums.zend.com...]

...unless you can find it on this site.

Cheers!

[brettxw]

Oh, thanks for the information guys! I've been learning a lot from this site!

[Matthew1980]

>>Avoid the ../../ notation, it will surely confuse in the end.

Ah, this is something that will make your coding standards terrible if you carry on in this way, define the ROOT_PATH as a constant in the 'root' of your site directory, define('ROOT', dirname(__FILE__)); or even use the predefined $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] global.

But seriously, don't go the toothpick way because maintaining the code will turn into a nightmare, at least with the constants, they are global - available to the entire scope of your site.

Another difference to your question: the include() function is one of those functions that you can use WITHOUT the parenthesis, just like echo, die, exit etc. I just thought I would throw that into the ring ;)

Cheers,
MRb

[brettxw]

okay so I am getting confused with the ROOT code....I'm trying to show my footer.html which is located:

/public_html/footer.html

on my dedicated server but I get the

"Warning: main(/public_html/footer.html) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/brettxw/public_html/subs/blog/wp-content/themes/twentyten/footer.php on line 33" error

[brettxw]

Well I answered my own question. Answer was hiding in the error.

[g1smd]

Yup!

[fredfletcher]

glad it worked out for you Brett, and yes this is a good site, that's why I'm here too :)

[rocknbil]

A bit more that might help you - the "why" of what went wrong here.

New PHP coders tend to think of includes as just another URL. When you do an include, you are including a file by a system path, which is what you are seeing your error.

What makes it confusing is sometimes they look the same. If you have this structure,

myfile.php
includes/header.php

The URL and systme path are the same, because they both start "wherever myfile.php is now."

But when you do this

/public_html/www/my_widgets/myfile.php
/public_html/www/includes/header.php

You get into the toothpick syndrome ../ or . . . you learn to use system paths for includes, url's for links.

What makes this important is when you start moving files around. You will always access header.php via an include like this,

$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/includes/header.php"

Or via URL like this (not that you'd want to,)

/includes/header.php

(/ means "start at domain root" in URL's)

but if you use slash-dot syntax, you''l be in endless maintenance to update the number of dots and slashes.

<?php get_footer(); ?>

This is specific to WordPress, one of the most popular blog softwares out there, not a real fan of their coding style. But it's a success, so, not knockin' it. :-)

[fredfletcher]

Thanks for the info Rockn! much appreciated