supplying php variables

sgray

Heyas,

Im wondering how I could go about supplying variables to an external php script. This is my situation:

This script: usercount.php

<?
$db = mysql_connect('localhost','user','pass
mysql_select_db("db", $db);
$sql= "select count(*) as c from divx where user='$user'";
$res = mysql_query($sql , $db);
$result = mysql_fetch_array($res);
echo $result["c"] ;
?>

I want to be able to supply usercount.php using a small php tag below. This is how ive tried to do it but it doesnt work (parse error, unexpected ='. Can someone explain how I should do this? I imagine its pretty simple. I know I could type the url withe ?name=blah on the end but I intend on inserting the code below several times to perform different counts at different points on the page.

<?php
user="Stewart";
include "usercount.php";
?>

Thanks!

bernouli

<?php
$user="Stewart";
include ("usercount.php");
?>

GBahle

in the second part, above the include directive, change user to $user 😉

sgray

hehe, cheers. Thanks for the real quick reply, and your tolerance to my very weak PHP =]

One last thing...now im dealing with sorting via url input with the following code:

divx.php
$sql="SELECT * FROM divx ORDER BY name";
$result = mysql_query($sql,$db);

how can this be changed so that when I type url.com/divx.php?name=user

so it then sorts by user?

Something along the lines of:
$sql="SELECT * FROM divx ORDER BY $name";
$result = mysql_query($sql,$db);

Thanks again,

-Stew

sgray

dont worry, it seems the code I suggested worked. These days I just assume my own code will fail!

GBahle

You could use import_request_variables("gP", "preFix");

$sql = "SELECT * FROM divx".(isset($preFixname) ? " ORDER BY $preFixname;" : ";");

Depending on your PHP version, there are other means to access the get variables handed over in an URL.

GBahle

I assumed the auto import of URL variables was turned off 😉
Anyway, you should include the isset check to make sure you dont create any "bad" SQL statements.

sgray

using my way is there a way you can make a default 'user' variable?. Its working in the way that if I type url.com/index.php?name=hah it will sort the fields by 'hah' first. however if I visit index.php on its own with no variables in the url it gives me an error obviously. Is there a way I can say 'if no ?name=? passed default to ?name=name ?

GBahle

Sure, just change the isset check a bit

$sql = "SELECT * FROM divx".(isset($name) ? " ORDER BY $name;" : "ORDER BY $yourDefault;");

sgray

GBahle: not having any luck with that, im using:

$sql = "SELECT * FROM divx".(isset($name) ? " ORDER BY $name;" : "ORDER BY name;");

$result = mysql_query($sql,$db) or die("No valid sort description entered"); ;

and I always get No valid sort description entered when I type index.php with no ?name= specified. any ideas why?

GBahle

I dont know the layout of your database, but "name" probably isnt sth you can sort by. You have to enter the default value you want to sort by instead of "name" it.

What the line of code does is make a string

"SELECT * FROM divx ORDER BY $whatever";

$whatever in your case is either the variable content passed from the url or else "name".

sgray

name is a valid field, fields are:

user
name
comments
date
cds

Im using:

$sql = "SELECT * FROM divx".(isset($sort) ? " ORDER BY $sort;" : "ORDER BY name;");

$result = mysql_query($sql,$db) or die("No valid sort description entered"); ;

url.com/index.php?sort=user sorts by user
url.com/index.php brings up 'No valid sort description entered' not the desired default 'name' page.

GBahle

d... my mistake. In the second "ORDER BY" add an " " in front of "ORDER".