includeing non php files? What gives?

Anon

Im fairly new to php and would appreciate soem insight. I was under the impression that include() or require() would allow you to basically insert static html into php pages. This would make it much easier i imagine to maintain generic type aspects of the web page, like header, footer, menu. The only way I seem to be able to get includes to work is to convert my html menu page to php, which is a challenge, shouldnt i be able to use static type html pages in includes?? What am I doing wrong? any ideas? Here is some relevant code.

    <td width="120" height="55"><center>
<?php
include"/home2/lanburn/public_html/hello.html");
?></center></td>

linusx007

You need to do this:

<?
include("/home2/lanburn/public_html/hello.html");
?>

You were missing a ( from the one side. that shoudl work.

Bill

polson

This was replied to but in the future, realize that telling us the error is much more useful.

Anon

Bills idea didnt help - here is the error - please give me a clue - thanks.

Warning: Failed opening \'/home2/lanburn/public_html/hello.html\' for inclusion (include_path=\'.:/usr/local/lib/php\') in /home2/lanburn/public_html/reg/main_dsp031701a.php on line 23

alvinkoh

Hi Tom,
using:
include("$DOCUMENT_ROOT/hello.html");

could minimise typos of directory paths as well making shifting of scripts easier to other servers.

Usually, I encounter the same problem when the directory/file permissions are not set correctly or the directory/filenames are typed in incorrectly.

Good luck!
Alvin.

Anon

I take it that $document_root is a server variable? If so thats neato. I have since resolved this error, it was due to typo/directory problem on my part.

I must say I love you guys. Im gradually building a very functional website and love the help. The community element has been a major factor in reducing my learning curve.

alvinkoh

Hi Tom,

$DOCUMENT_ROOT is indeed an environment variable, but as with all built-in variables, it needs to be in caps to work. 🙂

Cheers,
Alvin.