I just don't know where to start ...

m13

Well, in fact that is not true - I know that I need to start by entering data into a table but ...

I'm new to PHP and mySQL and am on a steep learning curve to build a new site.

I want to manage a variety of data all of which is dated.

My ideal is that page is generated when a visitor views that shows the x latest news articles. But, I only want the headline and date to be displayed and then a couple of lines and then 'more' for them to click through to the full article (in a new window) or if not 'more' then the headline should be the link (but I would prefer a 'more'.

An archive area would be generated on the basis of the age of articles - the date would need to be entered as I am entering old material when I come across it.

I've read the tutorials and understand how to set up the database and then source and then I started reading on this forum about setting up each entry with a unique ID so this could be used to retrieve the article.

Now I'm stuck. Does anybody have a good idea of how I could generate the 'more' and thoughts on whether I should be using a unique ID to retrieve the relevant article.

Thanks, M

revron

If you can still get a hold of the book, PHP and MySql Web Development, by Luke Welling and Laura Thompson, it has a content management project that will give you a good base to work from. Starting from scratch would be a real challange for me.

A second issue has just been released, but I don't know what content is in the new book.

Should still be able to find the original on the net somewhere.

I would think that each entry should have an auto numbered, primary keyed entry_id. That will give you a place to begin a query to the database to relate to that entry from anywhere in the database tables.

Hope that helps

jnuneznyc

I also recommend the book suggested by Revron. I will be getting the new edition just to check out any new stuff. But down to business.

Create a database table called Articles

CREATE TABLE articles (
  ID int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  Title varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  Author varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  Summary varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  Keywords varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  PublishedDate datetime NOT NULL default '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
  Content text NULL default '',
  PRIMARY KEY  (ID),
  KEY Category (Category)
) TYPE=MyISAM;

NOTE: Do not using DATE as a field name since it is a reserved MySQL keyword.

Your listing query should be

SELECT ID, Title, PublishedDate, Summary 
FROM articles
ORDER BY PublishedDate
LIMIT 10

Finally, Just display your results. If you don't like Summary and want to use the actual Content field then replace Summary with...

LEFT( Content ) AS ContentSummary,

If you are on a shared environment you should go with summary only because it is less CPU intensive.

I just copied what I have and removed some other fields that do not pertain to this example.

m13

Thank you for all of your advice.

After battling for a couple more hours I discovered a product called NCaster that does exactly what I want.

I'll still try and hold of the recommended book though - I really do need to learn !

Thanks again
😃