call a PHP program from html page

Anon

Hi,
I'm trying to call a php3 program from my web page..the program name is counter.php3 and I want to call it in this way:
counter.php3?name=msc
So..how can I execute, in background, a php3 program from an html page?
Please help.
Thank you
Maria

Anon

I don't think it's possible to execute PHP script in backround mode of you open it via HTML form or via URL etc... What I would do in this case, I will simply write in my HTML code:

<?PHP
$name='msc';
include ("counter.php3");
?>

I don't see any other way to load the script without updating screen, but may somebody will have better advice...

Anon

Thank you,
I don't know why but this is not working,
it can't be insertedin an HTML page.
One way is to call it as an IMG like:
<img src="counter.php3?name=msc" height=0 width=0>
The problmem is that in Netscape it puts on the page the image of an "not found image".
It doesn't look good.
Maybe there is a Javascript function to call an external program from HTML, or maybe some SSI.
Have a nice day

Anon

Make sure that your include path is correct.
This probably the source of the problem.

Secondly , why not simply do a re-direct from a html page to a php page that has
the counter include.

e.g.

So when a user hits your html page, it merely redirects automatically to your php page.

Anon

The include statement would be best to use, if you're just updating a counter...

include it prior to the html, then reference it whithin the html...

like if the variable for the counter was $number...

<?
include ("counter.php");
?>

Hits on page:
<?
echo "$number";
?>

Am I right in thinking the counter.php is responsible for more than 1 page count?

Anon

You right !
in javascript, you can precatch picture
so you can call your PhP script by precatching it in javascript

another way is as you do:
<img src="counter.php3?name=msc" height=0 width=0>

but you must return a picture in counter.php3, and you can't do that by GIf feature,

see doc

Anon

One more way which I use if I want to execute PHP script in background mode is to create invisible frame and direct this PHP script into this frame. In this case your screen remains untouched by this script, and script works without problems. But it's a little bit complicated way.

Anon

This might be a silly question, but when you say "So..how can I execute, in background, a php3 program from an html page?" do you mean that your original page is html with a .html or .htm extension? If so, then include won't work, since the page won't be parsed. If you try using include, the page with the include tag needs to be .php also.
Excuse me if this is redundant info 😉
Eric

Anon

I'm not sure as to what you are trying to do but frames might do it.
I'm running my PHP scripts from a hideos address in a cgi-bin (that doesn't need explaining at this point!) and so am having to use a framed index.htm page to keep a reasonable address for my web page. I just set the frames to give sections such as news.php (if I ever get it working!)

Hope this helps.

Anon

You right,
it's an HTML page and it's not parsed...
I just didn't know how to do it!
Any suggetion?

Anon

I could return a 1bit gif !
So I wouldn't have any problem!
Thank you so much for the tip.
ciao
Mary

Anon

What about to include an ssi?
Somthing like:

Anon

If you're going to use include (or require) just rename the html file from .htm or .html to .php (or .php3 or .php4). 🙂