Please Help Me!

[Hylian]

Okay, this looks like a really popular forum, and that's why I joined. I need your help! I'm a total newbie at php, and I don't understand cookies (not even in javascript...letalone php).

I need to ask someone to write me a cookie script which will allow me to set a variable, which can later be read and print the value in the source code. Here is what I'm using the cookie for:

I have created several layouts(page designs) for my site, and now I'm making them all available to the public. i want them to be able to choose their favorite layout, and for that layout to remain the constant layout throughout the site. Every page they visit will be in the same layout. I want it so they can also change their favorite layout when/if a new one becomes available.

If you need an actual demonstation view this site:
Zelda Forever

my direcotry structer will simply be this:
http://www.mydomain.com/layout/01/
and...
http://www.mydomain.com/layout/02/
and...
http://www.mydomain.com/layout/03/

notice how the only thing changing in the urls are the numbers. This is what I want the variable to be...just changing the numbers in the source code, so say i have a banner and a person has selected layout 3, it will look in the /03/ folder and look for the image.

If that is too complicated...I can understand, yet i really need help. If you could just get it started for me...that would be great!

Thank you for even reading this!

[tshafer]

okay...let me get this straight.

You want to put a preference in a cookie to redirect users to a certain template?

Pretty easy, although I'd suggest stroing it in a MySQL database rather than a cookie. Some people are paranioid and don't use cookies. Others (like myself) delete all their temporary internet files (including cookies) every few days. anyway, cookie structure is very straight forward.

<?php

//Check to see if they have made a choice
if (isset($submit)) { 

//If they have, set a cookie telling the browser where to go
    setcookie("template_cookie","01",mktime(0,0,1,8,08,2020));

//Redirect the user to his/her choice
    $choice = $_COOKIE["template_cookie"];
    header("Location: http://www.mydomain.com/layout/$choice/");
    exit();
}

//You can later access the page by a script on page "index.php" like 
if (isset($_COOKIE["template_cookie"])) { 
    $choice = $_COOKIE["template_cookie"];
    header("Location: http://www.mydomain.com/layout/$choice/");
    exit();
}

?>

---†om

www.guitar-dude.com

[Hylian]

ummm no...see i gonna have my index.php file have images that form the layout and since i have multiple layouts...the images are located in their own folders (the 01, 02, 03, etc). in the index.php file, there will be the image tag:

<img src="" border="0">

yet in the src i want it to be like this:

<img src="http://www.mydomain.com/layout/<?php echo("$layval"); ?>/layoutpic01.gif" border="0">

where $layval is the layout value the user chose (01, 02, 03, etc). what i really want is what the Zelda Forever has (link is in first post). Take a look there and change the theme...you'll see what i mean. I want it exacttely like that, where there's a page where someone can view a screenshot of what a theme looks like, and select it, having the theme applied to ALL pages cause they all read the same file

[tshafer]

something like this?

<?php

//Check to see if they have made a choice
if (isset($submit)) { 

//If they have, set a cookie telling the browser where to go
    setcookie("template_cookie",$_POST["selection"],mktime(0,0,1,8,08,2020));

//Set the directory the images come from
    $choice = $_COOKIE["template_cookie"];
}

//You can later access the page by a script on page "index.php" & set the directory 
if (isset($_COOKIE["template_cookie"])) { 
    $choice = $_COOKIE["template_cookie"];
}

/* And then do <img src="http://www.mydomain.com/layout/<?=$choice?>/whatever.gif"> */ 

?>

[Hylian]

okay...i'll try that ASAP, yet I'm still working on my newest layout, so i won't be done for a few hours. Thanks you for your help tshafer...it's people like you that I'm glad i registered here 🙂 I'll post back here and tell you if it works. Thanks again! 🙂 🙂

[tshafer]

heh. no sweat dude. 😃

[Smifffy]

one problem i can is that you already sent data to the server which will give an error when you set a cookie the cookies must be at the very top of the page after the <? or <?php with nothing else above it

[tshafer]

not necessarily. No HEADER or OTHER information must have been sent. You can have 20 lines of "if, else" data, and if you havenj't printed anything, you can still put a header tag in there.

[Hylian]

I just wanted to know how to make the html link for the theme changing page. I want it to be something like

<a href="javascript:history.go()" onClick="$changer"><img src="theme01.jpg" border="0"></a>

where $changer is the javascript or php fuction which changes the value for the template variable $choice. This is so the new layout is applied, because the person has altered the cookie by clicking the link.

could someone tell me how to change the value for the $choice value?

Also, what happens if someone doesn't have the cookie on their comp (they visted my site for the first time)? will the page load with just a null value? Will my layout show up then?

[tshafer]

You could set this up with a querystring like this:

<a href="<?=$PHP_SELF?>?template=01&action=set">Template 1</a><br />
<a href="<?=$PHP_SELF?>?template=02&action=set">Template 2</a><br />
<a href="<?=$PHP_SELF?>?template=03&action=set">Template 3</a><br />

<?php

if (isset($_COOKIE["template_cookie"])) { 

switch ($_COOKIE["template_cookie"]) { 

case "01":
    $img_root = "layouts/01/";
    break;
case "02":
    $img_root = "layouts/02/";
    break;
case "03":
    $img_root = "layouts/03/";
    break;
}

} else {

if (isset($template)) { 
    setcookie("template_cookie",$_GET["template"],mktime(0,0,1,9,1,2010);
    $img_root = "layouts/" . $_GET["template"] . "/";
} else { 
    $img_root = "layouts/default/";
}

}

?>

[Hylian]

Holy Monkey! that's awesome! thanks GOD...I mean tshafer! Wow...how did you get soo good?

[tshafer]

lol... 😃 I've practiced and coded, practiced and coded...

[Hylian]

HOLY CRAP!!! Take your bows tshafer!!! it works!!!! HAHA! thanks sooo much!!! hahah! it's freaking awesome!!!! check it out at http://www.hylian.anime-honor.com/temp.php

One thing though: there was an error in the time thing, you forgot a ")" at the end. also, am I only supposed to have the code you gave me in the LATEST post you gave me right? I tried using both codes and it worked, except it wouldn't change back to the default when i wanted to, but i just used the 2nd chunk of php code and it works soo good. Thank you sooo much!

Also, i haven't incorporated the css yet, so that top part and the text won't change colors...i think i've done enough work for tonight

[tshafer]

Here, this oughtta be just about all you need.

<?php

/* Final, probably buggy script */

if (isset($_COOKIE["template_cookie"])) : 

switch ($_COOKIE["template_cookie"]) { 

case "01": 
    $img_root = "/layouts/01/";
    break;
case "02": 
    $img_root = "/layouts/02/";
    break;
case "03": 
    $img_root = "/layouts/03/";
    break;
}

else :

$img_root = "/layouts/default/";

if (isset($settemplate)) { 
    setcookie("template_cookie","$tempID",mktime(0,0,1,08,15,2020));
    $img_root = "/layouts/" . $tempID . "/";
}

endif;

/*
    Access img files like:

<img src="http://www.mydomain.com<?=$img_root?>image.gif" alt="">

Have the user choose template like:

<form name="template_form">

<select name="select_Temp" size="1" onchange="window.location=window.location + this.value">
<option value="" selected> -- Choose a Template -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=01"> -- Template 1 -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=02"> -- Template 2 -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=03"> -- Template 3 -- </option>
</select>

</form>

*/

?>

[Hylian]

it doesn't work. No php errors yet it just down't set the template now. when the user tries to submit the form wice, it doesn't work cause the address now has the valiarbles set b4 so it's just telling the browser to set the same thing

[tshafer]

why would you want to set it twice?

[tshafer]

if you need to, do this:

<?php

/* Final, probably buggy script */

if (isset($_COOKIE["template_cookie"])) : 

switch ($_COOKIE["template_cookie"]) { 

case "01": 
    $img_root = "/layouts/01/";
    break;
case "02": 
    $img_root = "/layouts/02/";
    break;
case "03": 
    $img_root = "/layouts/03/";
    break;
}

else :

$img_root = "/layouts/default/";

endif;

if (isset($settemplate)) { 
    setcookie("template_cookie","$tempID",mktime(0,0,1,08,15,2020));
    $img_root = "/layouts/" . $tempID . "/";
    header("Location: YOUR PAGE HERE.php");
}

/*
    Access img files like:

<img src="www.mydomain.com<?=$img_root?>image.gif" alt="">

Have the user choose template like:

<form name="template_form">

<select name="select_Temp" size="1" onchange="window.location=window.location + this.value">
<option value="" selected> -- Choose a Template -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=01"> -- Template 1 -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=02"> -- Template 2 -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=03"> -- Template 3 -- </option>
</select>

</form>

*/

?>

<form name="template_form">

<select name="select_Temp" size="1" onchange="window.location=window.location + this.value">
<option value="" selected> -- Choose a Template -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=01"> -- Template 1 -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=02"> -- Template 2 -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=03"> -- Template 3 -- </option>
</select>

</form>

[Hylian]

no...i don't want it to submit it twice, yet it's just that when the user submits the form, the url changes to temp.php?settemplate=yes&tempID=01 and then say they were just checking what the layout looks like, and want to change it back, so they try to submit the form again, yet the new url is temp.php?settemplate=yes&tempID=01 and the form will make the url like this: temp.php?settemplate=yes&tempID=01?settemplate=yes&tempID=01 when they re-send the form...it repeats the variable changing script. Also...I don't want to use a form to submit it, unless you have it linking to a file named misc.php or something which will have no layout values but just a the php code to delete the current value for the cookie, and set it to the one they selected. I noticed also it doesn't do that with the scripts you've gave me so far

[Hylian]

also, I'm thinking of just having it link to separate menu files instead so the directory structure would be something like this:

www.domain.com/templates/01/nav1.txt, nav2.txt
www.domain.com/templates/02/nav1.txt, nav2.txt
www.domain.com/templates/03/nav1.txt, nav2.txt

where nav1 is the left menu, and nav2 is the right menu. This way, i could just have severeal different layouts rather than just different colored images. I don't thing you'd need to change anything for that though....because I'm just changing this source of the temp.php file to include("templats/<?=$image?>/nav1.txt") while the images in the nav1 and 2 text files are set normally.

[tshafer]

if you use the code I put up this morning, it does that. It sends the querystring, sets the cookie, and then deletes the querystring.

header("Location: YOUR PAGE.php");

also, I fixed it so that anytime you submit the form, it resets the cookie to your new directory. If you want the script to be executed to another page (I'll assume misc.php), do this:

Index.php:

<?php

if (isset($_COOKIE["template_cookie"])) :

switch ($settemplate) { 

case "01": 
    $doc_root = "templates/01";
    break;
case "02": 
    $doc_root = "templates/02";
    break;
case "03": 
    $doc_root = "templates/03";
    break;
case "main":
    $doc_root = "templates/default";

}

else:

$doc_root = "templates/default";

endif;

?>

<form name="tempform">

<select name="tempID" size="1" onchange="window.location='http://wwwm.mydomain.com/misc.php' + this.value">
<option value="" selected> -- Choose a Template -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=main"> -- Default Template -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=01"> -- Template 1 -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=02"> -- Template 2 -- </option>
<option value="?settemplate=yes&tempID=03"> -- Template 3 -- </option>
</select>

</form>

Misc.php:

<?php

if (isset($settemplate)) { 
    setcookie("template_cookie","$tempID",mktime(0,0,1,08,15,2020));
    header("Location: index.php");
}

?>

That SHOULD do it.

access your text files like

<?php include("http://www.mydomain.com/" . $doc_root . "/nav1.txt"); ?>