How can I create an ISE compliant dynamic site in PHP?

ATSadmin

Hello...

I apologize if this is covered somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it through a board search.

I've built a news website that integrates with an XMB PHP board: http://www.atsnn.com

Everything works nicely off one page (index.php) with some "require" statements based on the URL variables (story= or topic=). The problem is, I'd like to create the appearance of a unique page for each news article, so that my URL's no longer look like this:
atsnn.com/index.php?story=29128
But like this:
atsnn.com/story/29128
For better optimization with Google.

Long ago, I built something similar in Cold Fusion and was able to create code that parsed the URL as shown above, rather than rely on typical ?story= URL variables.

Is this possible with PHP?

(I should not that I control the server and can make any needed modifications to Apache or php.ini that is required.)

Thanks

weekender

i think you use mod_rewrite, which is an apache module and will be configured in http.conf

or you could set a custom 404 page (written in php) so that when someone goes to that link, it brings up the 404 page, which interprets the url and redirects to the article.

i know it's possible, i've seen it done before. just not entirely sure how!

ATSadmin

Ah... I get where you're going.

Using the Apache mod, I could add a "RewriteCond" statement to the VirtualSite section for this website, that has a regular expression that converts the
/topic/storunum
to
?topic=storynum

Is that what you're suggesting?

weekender

yeah i think so - never utilised it myself.

or do the same with a php 404 page

swr

There is also $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] but it requires a .php file in the path.

A URL like this:
http://www.example.com/myscript.php/foo/bar
would call myscript.php with "/foo/bar" in $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'].

I think that is the simplest way to implement questionmark-free URLs, as it doesn't require mod_rewrite magic.

ATSadmin

I've accomplished the taks with a custom 404 error page that parses the content between the slashes, and serves up the appropriate content.

It's all working now at http://www.atsnn.com

BTW: Thanks for your help... I didn't consider a custom 404 page since my experience with Cold Fusion was that .CFM was not able to run scripts under Windows when used as a 404 solution... things are different with Linux/Apache.

ATSadmin

oh... but now I have a different problem. All traffic is reported as a 404 error in the Apache logs.

Is there a way to correct this?

ATSadmin

Yeah... looking at the logs, everything that was handled as a valid piece of content from the new script parsing the URL and delivering content, is being reported as a 404, and not an impression in the regular traffic logs.

Is there a way to tell Apache how to log this type of custom error?

So far, since applying this solution, I have 2 megabytes of error_log! At this rate, it will exceed the site of my regular log file in just 4 days.

Weedpacket

Well, that's a misuse of http error reporting, isn't it? Don't forget that the client will be receiving those 404 errors as well telling it the page was "not found".

RFC2616
The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI. No indication is given of whether the condition is temporary or permanent. The 410 (Gone) status code SHOULD be used if the server knows, through some internally configurable mechanism, that an old resource is permanently unavailable and has no forwarding address. This status code is commonly used when the server does not wish to reveal exactly why the request has been refused, or when no other response is applicable.

URL rewriting would have been the more appropriate solution.

(PS: ISE compliant?)

drawmack

there is an article on this site that covers this in great detail, look for search engine friendly urls