[Resolved] Looking to save straight html in lieu of databases

[dougmcc1]

I have a webpage - form.php - which asks for input such as page name and company name. The page name is put into a variable - $page_name - and the company name is put into a variable - $company_name.

These two variables are passed to template.php which creates $page_name.php and inserts $company_name into various places in the page (including the title, description, and h1 tag).

So if I create joes-widgets.htm, the title is Joes Widgets, the description is Welcome to Joes Widgets, and the h1 is Contact Information for Joes Widgets.

The problem is that the variables $page_name and $company_name always change with each new page that is created and the variables aren't remembered after the page is closed.

After the page is created, is it possible to save the straight HTML code? It already has the company name insterted where I want it and I don't want it to look for variables the next time it is opened.

Otherwise, I'm guessing I need a database?

[dbchip2000]

What you could do is to create a template file and then after the user submits the page, read the file into a variable. Then str_replace(some-standard-page-title-text,$page_name,$file) and str_replace(some-standard-company-text,$company_name,$file). Then write it back into a new file that you create with a related name.

I suggest that you use a ".htm" file and not ".php" file. What if a user submits into the company_name field some php code. It will be put into a .php file and the server will execute the potentially damaging code that was replaced. You could use a function like strip_tags() (I think that is correct) to get rid of HTML and PHP tags making it safer.

[dougmcc1]

Keep in mind I'm just a beginner so most of what you said I don't understand yet, but I'm a quick learner and I think I see what you're saying.

How do I read a file into a variable? Is this what you mean?
$file = $"page_name.php";

"str_replace(some-standard-page-title-text,$page_name,$file) and str_replace(some-standard-company-text,$company_name,$file). "

Like this?

$standard_title_text = "Welcome to COMPANY";
$standard_h1_text = "Information about COMPANY";
$page_name = joes-widgets.htm; //as inputted by user
$company_name = "Joes Widgets"; //as inputted by user
$file = template.php;

echo str_replace("COMPANY", $company_name,$standard_title_text);
echo str_replace("COMPANY", $company_name,$standard_h1_text);

You put $file in your example but I don't see how that would work because $file isnt a string?

[dbchip2000]

Okay, sure. Try this, you may have to debug, which I can gladly help you with

# Open the template file
$template=fopen("companies/template.php","r");

# Read the template into the variable
$template=fread($template,102400);

# Replace all occurrences of [[COMPANY]] in the template with the user's entry
$template=str_replace("[[COMPANY]]",strip_tags($company_name),$template);

# Open the new file to see if it already exists
if ($new_file=fopen("companies/".$page_name.".htm","r")) {
     die("There is already a company with that page name");
} else {
# Close the testing file
     fclose($new_file);
# Create a new file to write the company to and write the changed template to it
     $new_file=fopen("companies/".$page_name.".htm","w")) {
     fwrite($new_file,$template);
}

[dougmcc1]

Sorry but I have to ask 🙂

What file does this code go in?

[dbchip2000]

That's fine. This is the code for creating the HTML page after the user submits the form with the Company and Page Name. So, whichever page the form's action attribute is (ex. <form action="add_company.php" method="post">)

[dougmcc1]

I'm sending the user input to template.php.

Now would I just change

$template=fopen("companies/template.php","r");

to

$template=fopen("companies/$page_name","r");

?

If so, $page_name needs to be created before it is opened and read to. Would I copy ("template.php", "companies/$page_name"); ?

Otherwise, do I just lose those 2 lines?

This is where my problem is - getting my variables to $page_name and keeping them there.

[dbchip2000]

No, template.php is the actual template that you will put the $company variable into. Sorry, for all my confusion

[dougmcc1]

Hey no problem, I appreciate all your help 🙂

I'll get to work on this and let you know how it goes.

[dougmcc1]

$new_file=fopen("../".$page_name.".htm","w")) {

Error on this line. I removed one of the parenthesis on the end but I still got an error message for that line.

[tsinka]

Hi,

replace that line by:

if ($new_file=fopen("../".$page_name.".htm","w")) { 

I think the if is missing 🙂

Don't forget to close the file after writing to it, e.g.

if ($new_file=fopen("../".$page_name.".htm","w")) { 
     fwrite($new_file,$template); 
     fclose($new_file);
}

[dougmcc1]

Ok I fixed this line
if ($new_file=fopen("../".$page_name.".htm","w")) {

and added the fclose line and now it tells me there is an error on line 22 and line 22 is ?> so what does that mean? I know there really isn't an error on that line and now I have no idea what to look for.

[dbchip2000]

Did you close all of your loops and ifs with and end curly bracket? That error usually means it was not ready to end meaning a bracket was missing

[dougmcc1]

oh ok, yeah I had an else statement bracket open. Thanks.

And now it is telling me that it can't open $page_name because it doesnt exist, which makes sense I guess. In the code we have fopen $page_name before $page_name is created. So how can that be fixed? fwrite $page_name first?

<added>Should I change

if ($new_file=fopen("../".$page_name.".htm","r")) {

to

if ($new_file=fwrite("../".$page_name.".htm","r")) {

</added>

[dbchip2000]

Okay, try changing that first fread to file_exists and then removing the fclose to the read copy. So, it should look something like

$template=fopen("companies/template.php","r"); 
$template=fread($template,102400); 
$template=str_replace("[[COMPANY]]",strip_tags($company_name),$template); 

if (file_exists("companies/".$page_name.".htm")) { 
     die("There is already a company with that page name"); 
} else { 
     if ($new_file=fopen("companies/".$page_name.".htm","w")) { 
          fwrite($new_file,$template);
          fclose($new_file);
     } else {
          die("There was an error in saving the company");
     }
}

Not at all to say don't ask anymore questions :-)...but if you have figured out this thread, help others get help by marking this thread as Resolved

[dougmcc1]

Well it works without errors but it's not remembering the variables.

So I am back at square 1 🙁

Here is my page:
http://ivcentral.dmwebsitedesign.com/titletemp.htm

[dbchip2000]

What do you mean 'remembering the variables'? If you are referring to $page_name and $company_name is register_globals = On in your PHP Configuration file? Did the variables work before? Try referring to them as $GET["page_name"] and $GET["company_name"]. Did you want PHP code in the file to define variables?

[dougmcc1]

What I meant was COMPANY isn't being replaced with the company name which is entered into the form.

[dbchip2000]

The str_replace function is actually replacing (with brackets) [[COMPANY]] with $company_name. I did this in case there was some place in the template that you actually did want the text company and not have it replace.

Does it create the right file name? One thing I have just realized is that if a user tries to enter a special character that the operating system will not allow in a file name, they will get an error. Next thing to work on :-)

[dougmcc1]

hmmm

ok I have form2.php sending the input to temp.php. temp.php has the code we have been working on, and I have this code in temp.php:

$template=fopen("template.php","r");

$template=fread($template,102400);

$template=str_replace("[[ORGANIZATION]]",strip_tags($title),$template);

if (file_exists("../".$page_name.".htm")) {

die("There is already a company with that page name");

} else {

if ($new_file=fopen("../".$page_name.".htm","w")) {

fwrite($new_file,$template);
fclose($new_file);
} else {
die("There was an error in saving the company");
}
}

then in template.php above the title I have:
<? $title = "ORGANIZATION, Illinois Valley SECTION - IVCentral"; ?>

and for the title I have <? echo "$title"; ?>

So if it is working, the title should say:
[ORGANIZATION], Illinois Valley SECTION - IVCentral

but the brackets arent being put around ORGANIZATION