need some help

forcer

i know i'm only gunna get shouted at for asking this but i really need 2 know. YES i am a newbie to this site, but to php?...no! i know how to code and handle it very well but there is one thing i just cannot get to grips with yes you've guessed it. the URLS.

www.website.com/index.php?page=home

ive tried various tutorials and bits and bobs over the internet but i have never ever successfully achieved this. first off i dont want any HUGE links all i want is this.

www.website.com/index.php?page=home
www.website.com/index.php?page=chat
www.website.com/index.php?page=downloads
www.website.com/index.php?page=contact
www.website.com/index.php?page=links

and so on.......

am i right in understanding that all those pages are in the index.php file? coz i ask myself, HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE especially huge sites i visit like deviant art how do they possibly have a site that big in only a few files???? whats the secrets behind it because i find it virtually impossible to even create a 2 page site in 1 file it really messes with the code and looks untidy when making the page.

so all i ask is. how can i get a simple link like this:
www.website.com/index.php?page=home

????????????????????

i have posted on a few forums and most of them just take me to the same shit. so before you post read below of what i have tried.

tutorial from robouk. i used this tutorial, didnt work

if($page)
{
if(is_file("$directory$page.txt"))
include("$directory$page.txt");
else
print "Sorry, this page does not exist";
}

else
{
$mypage = 'main.txt';
include("$directory$mypage");
}

used that code, DIDNT WORK
and i have also tried the switch code

so if any1 knows any other methods or can offer any info or advice at all i will be really gratful

thanx in advance 2 any1 that replies.

-forcer

theeper

I don't see why either of those don't work. Either way you do it, you are using a GET variable to tell the script what content to display. It doesn't matter if the script pulls the page data from a DB, includes a seperate file, or the data is actually inside the script, you still will have to use the same method.

Depending on your PHP setup, you may have to access the GET variable like this in your if() statement.

if($_GET['page'])

When you say "It didn't work" what happened ? was there an error ?

forcer

no there was no real error, what i meant was "it didnt work out for me"

that script i pasted was really bad and messed up some of my site. the script i found easiest was...

<?php
switch ($page) {
case home:
print "home page code here";
break;
case chat:
print "chat page code here";
break;
case links:
print "links page code here";
break;
default:
print "page not found";
}
?>

but i kinda figured the:
print "home page code here";
part is where the page code went such as....

print "THE FULL HOME PAGE COD HERE";

which is a lot, and then doing that for every other page is hard. so what i done was created every page and the pasted it betwen the " " and done it for every page and all i got was errors and problems and the pages wherent showing correctly.

i found it impossible to have every page on 1 file.

theeper

You can still use the switch, just use an include instead of print "home page code here";

switch ($page) {
case home:
include 'home.html';
break;

etc ...

forcer

cool i'l try that

forcer

ok i have one more question.

<?php 
switch ($page) { 
case home: 
include 'home.php';
break; 
case chat: 
include 'chat.php';
break; 
case contact: 
include 'contact.php';
break;
case links:
include 'links.php';
break; 
case samples: 
include 'samples.php';
break; 
case tutorials: 
include 'tutorials.php';
break;
case artists: 
include 'artists.php';
break; 
case files: 
include 'files.php';
break; 
case news: 
include 'news.php';
break;
case interviews:
include 'interviews.php';
break; 
default: 
include 'splash.php';
} 
?>

thats the code i came up with, the file is called index.php

so in my navigation bar what link do i put to the pages?
index.php?page=home
index.php?page=chat

index.php?page=contact
index.php?page=links

and do i only need to put the full code(above) in the index file?

-thanx

theeper

Yes, that looks correct, however, depending on your version and setup of PHP, you may need to access the $page variable with $_GET['page'];

forcer

cool many thanx for your help

forcer

is there a way i can get it so if the page doesnt exist they will be presented with a page that says "page not found"

i know ...

default:
echo 'page not found';

...would work but i want to use the default as the 1st page they will see eg..

default:
include 'splash.php'

because when i say put the link as:

index.php?page=phpbuilder

it just refreshes the current page i was on! why? i dont have a page with that so i need it to say "page not found"

theeper

Nest your switch statement in an if() statement and check that the file is there before you even go into the switch.

if (file_exists($page)) {
switch ($page) { 
case home: 
include 'home.php';
break; 
case chat: 
include 'chat.php';
break; 
}
} else {
include 'splash.php';
}

theeper

oops, forgot about the file extension, you will need to add it to the $page variable.

forcer

ok i finished the code but it doesnt work.

even when i put like:
www.swsm.net/index.php?page=home

it says:
page does not exist. even though it does and it says this for everypage. why is that.

<?php 
if (file_exists($page)) {
switch ($page) { 
case home: 
include 'home.php';
break; 
case chat: 
include 'chat.php';
break; 
case contact: 
include 'contact.php';
break;
case links:
include 'links.php';
break; 
case samples: 
include 'samples.php';
break; 
case tutorials: 
include 'tutorials.php';
break;
case artists: 
include 'artists.php';
break; 
case files: 
include 'files.php';
break; 
case news: 
include 'news.php';
break;
case interviews:
include 'interviews.php';
break; 
default: 
include 'splash.php';
}
} else {
echo 'Page Does Not Exist';
}
?>

theeper

It's because of the file extension.

if the value of $page is home, the if (file_exists($page)) part is looking for a file called home. Your file is called home.php

So, you either need to concatenate the file extension onto your script like this.

$page .= ".php";

or pass the exact file name in your script.

www.swsm.net/index.php?page=home.php

If they are always going to have the .php file extension, do it the first way, if not, you will probably have to do it the second way.

forcer

<?php 
if (file_exists($page)) {
switch ($page) {

lol i didnt really understand that.

so does the code need 2 be:

<?php 
if (file_exists($page .= ".php";)) {
switch ($page .= ".php";) {

????

thanx for all ur help btw

theeper

Just do this ...

$page .= ".php";

if (file_exists($page)) {
switch ($page) { 
case home: 
include 'home.php';
break; 
case chat: 
include 'chat.php';
break; 

etc ...

This way, the value of $page is home.php, not just home

forcer

ok thanx it kinda works now although i must of missed out some code or have done something wrong because..

wen i go to my site:
www.swsm.net

it says page does not exist. but it should display splash.php

and when i go to:
www.swsm.net/index.php?page=home

that also shows the splash page but should display the home page.

here is the code again so you know where i'm up 2.

<?php 
$page .= ".php";

if (file_exists($page)) {
switch ($page) { 
case home: 
include 'home.php';
break; 
case chat: 
include 'chat.php';
break; 
case contact: 
include 'contact.php';
break;
case links:
include 'links.php';
break; 
case samples: 
include 'samples.php';
break; 
case tutorials: 
include 'tutorials.php';
break;
case artists: 
include 'artists.php';
break; 
case files: 
include 'files.php';
break; 
case news: 
include 'news.php';
break;
case interviews:
include 'interviews.php';
break; 
default: 
include 'splash.php';
}
} else {
echo 'Page Does Not Exist';
}
?>

rw22

I've just checked your site out and it seems to work.

I've made your code nicer though.

<?php
$page .= ".php";

if (file_exists($page)) {
	switch ($page) {
		case home:
			include 'home.php';
			break;
		case chat:
			include 'chat.php';
			break;
		case contact:
			include 'contact.php';
			break;
		case links:
			include 'links.php';
			break;
		case samples:
			include 'samples.php';
			break;
		case tutorials:
			include 'tutorials.php';
			break;
		case artists:
			include 'artists.php';
			break;
		case files:
			include 'files.php';
			break;
		case news:
			include 'news.php';
			break;
		case interviews:
			include 'interviews.php';
			break;
		default:
			include 'splash.php';
	} 
} else {
	echo 'Page Does Not Exist';
} 

?>

forcer

cool thanx and yeh i finally got it working. here is the code i am using for any1 that cares...

<?php 
if (!$page) {
include 'splash.php';
} elseif (file_exists($page.".php")) {
switch ($page) { 
case 'home': 
include 'home.php';
break; 
case 'chat': 
include 'chat.php';
break; 
case 'contact': 
include 'contact.php';
break;
case 'links':
include 'links.php';
break; 
case 'samples': 
include 'samples.php';
break; 
case 'tutorials': 
include 'tutorials.php';
break;
case 'artists': 
include 'artists.php';
break; 
case 'files': 
include 'files.php';
break; 
case 'news': 
include 'news.php';
break;
case 'interviews':
include 'interviews.php';
break; 
case 'radio':
include 'radio.php';
break;
case 'copyright':
include 'copyright.php';
break;
default: 
include 'cgi-bin/404.php';
}
} else {
include 'cgi-bin/404.php';
}
?>

and thanx for everyones help