using plain-text link to execute php

[Anon]

Hi,

I'm trying to build hierarchical menus using a mysql database and i can't seem to get plain-text links to execute any php. I tried mixing in javascript, but that didn't work either. For instance:

<a href="whatever" onClick="<?php printf('work damn you'); ?>">click</a>

what i tried with javascript was more like...

<script language="javascript">
function ugh() {
<?php
echo 'hi';
?>
}
</script>

then ...

<a href="whatever" onClick="ugh();">hi</a>

Neither of these, or variations thereof work though... Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[gid__]

Plain text links are just that, plain text. If you want your code to be interpreted as php code, then you need to use the appropriate .php .phtml or whatever you use.

Optionally you can have php interpret .html and .htm or even .txt through apache directives or using IIS pointing in clicking somehow (heh, never used IIS before 🙂 But I'd strongly recommend against doing this, as it can be stressful on a server.

[Anon]

What you're missing is that PHP is a server-side technology, it's execution is regardless of the surrounding html or javascript. You can use PHP to dynamically execute javascript, but certainly not the other way around, as javascript is executed on the client side.
You may only use client side technology like javascript to capture events like onclick.
What you an do however, is dynamically create the javascript as I mentioned above, although I don't know if this will suit your problem. Here's an example:

<script language="javascript">
function ugh() {
alert ("<?php echo 'hi'; ?>");
}
</script>

<a href="whatever" onClick="ugh();">hi</a>