Building A Forum

Anon

Hi,

Imk having a go at building a forum but i need to know how to do a few math functions. I have a file called posts.num and replies.num, which at present contain the number 0, and when someone makes a new post on my board i want the posts.num file to be updated e.g.

Does anyone know how i could do this, Thanks in advance.

[deleted]

Uhm.. files? what exactly are you trying to do?

Wouldn't it be 1000% easier to use a database?

Anon

i myself am coding a huge forum project which uses a db, and for one it is easier, two it's faster and three it's more secure...

Anon

Hi, and thanks for the reply(s).

Unfortunately my client's web host does not support database access so i have to use the file approach.

Say i have a variable ($var = "3"😉 does anyone know how i can just add 1 to 3 in PHP?

[deleted]

If the host does not support databases, you should get another host.

Using flatfiles will kill your application.

Anon

Thanks,

I must say this forum is the best. I have been posting on phpworld.com's support forum and it hastaken 4 days just to get a reply!

At the moment we are using IkonBoard which uses flatfiles, and that runs fine.

Anon

You wrote "Say i have a variable ($var = "3"😉 does anyone know how i can just add 1 to 3 in PHP?"

Do you want $var to = 4??

If thats all you want then $var++; will increment it by 1. Other wise you can do $var = $var + 1;

That's pretty simple. I don't know if I am understanding you completely.

emcb_php

Thanks Sol,

I have been trying all day just how to find out how i do this in PHP (im new as well so i dont know much yet 🙂)

It was the latter of the two that worked.

Thanks a lot,

Elfyn

Anon

Trust me i have experience with coding forums. Get a host with a db.

emcb_php

Hi,

Trust me im all for using a db, but my client just wont budge.

What i have decided to do is store the posts in html files, so it wont slow down the application too much.

Although since earlier on i have run in to another problem. i dont know to format the post into an html page. What i mean is keep the paragraphs intact. I think i need to use replace() to change the \n\n to <br><br>. Do you know how i can do this?

By the way, thanks for the help.

Elfyn

Anon

Go to php.net and look in the manual for the ereg() function. Have to run today so am not able to go into it just yet. PLease check the php online manual.

mrjam

tried www.php.net ?
do that and read the available manuals. It helps alot. In this ccase, check for nl2br()

Anon

yup nl2br($string)....
but it may be easier to immitate a db
like, have it output the files like
posterid|subject|post etc
then you just have to split it into an array.