Problems with echo, and possible nesting?

DJMaytag

I have a website that I'm trying to convert over to PHP to help solve some complexity issues over how large my site is becoming.

The biggest problem I've been having is with pages I use to display my record (ie vinyl) collection. A lot of information is duplicated in several spot, and it makes it hard to make changes.

For example, I used to use this as a template to fill out for EVERY record in my collection (a few thousand now, I believe).

<TR BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">
<TD WIDTH="125">Artist</TD>
<TD WIDTH="250">Title</TD>
<TD WIDTH="125">Label</TD>
<TD WIDTH="100">LabelCode</TD>
<TD WIDTH="50">BPM</TD>
</TR>

I recently needed to change the TD WIDTH on all these, which was a MAJOR hassle to do, because this template was used on at least 6 different pages.

I found some info about how I could use includes to add some variables (well, defined constants really) to each of the 6 pages so I could change all 6 from one file by doing this:

<?php echo TR1 ?>
_ <?php echo TD1 ?>Artist</FONT></TD>
_ <?php echo TD2 ?>Title</FONT></TD>
_ <?php echo TD3 ?>Label</FONT></TD>
_ <?php echo TD4 ?>LabelCode</FONT></TD>
_ <?php echo TD5 ?>BPM</FONT></TD>
</TR>

Up until this point, everything is all good. I had an idea to have one very large text file with ALL my records and use PHP to define each record as a variable, so that when a record is duplicated on several pages, ie a listing that I own it on one page, another on a page that lists out all the DJ mixes I've created, and a third that lists my weekly DJ charts of my favorite tunes (the latter is where it's needed the most, as one record can be listed on that page several times).

So I tried to do this:

<?php
define("VARIABLE1", "\n

<?php echo TR1 ?>
_ <?php echo TD1 ?>Artist</FONT></TD>
_ <?php echo TD2 ?>Title</FONT></TD>
_ <?php echo TD3 ?>Label></FONT></TD>
_ <?php echo TD4 ?>LabelCode</FONT></TD>
_ <?php echo TD5 ?>BPM</FONT></TD>
</TR>\n");
?>

and then on the pages where this info is needed, do this:

<?php echo VARIABLE1 ?>
<?php echo VARIABLE2 ?>
..
etc
..
<?php echo VARIABLE99 ?>

but it doesn't seem to work. Is there anything obvious that I'm doing wrong? My first guess is that there can't be any nesting of echo commands, like the ones that are used to create the TD WIDTH information I need, which looks like this:

<?php
define("TD1", "<TD WIDTH=105><FONT>");
?>
<?php
define("TD2", "<TD WIDTH=335><FONT>");
?>
<?php
define("TD3", "<TD WIDTH=95><FONT>");
?>
<?php
define("TD4", "<TD WIDTH=75><FONT>");
?>
<?php
define("TD5", "<TD WIDTH=40><FONT>");
?>

Any help would be appreciated, or if there is another direction I could do with this design, I'd love to hear about it!

Thanx,
Mitch

drew010

hey,
theres kinda a few ways you could go about it. i have an idea but its a lot to type. you can contact me in a messenger if you want.

aim: eihtdublem
msn: drew[at]drew-phillips[dot]com
icq: 104732825
yahoo: statfailed

focusbeam

<?
//defining the variables, change it to whatever u like
$td1="125";
$td2="250";
$td3="125";
$td4="100";
$td5="50";

function template(){
global $td1;
global $td2;
global $td3;
global $td4;
global $td5;
echo "<TR BGCOLOR=\"#FFFFFF\">\n";
echo "<TD WIDTH=\"$td1\"><FONT>Artist</FONT></TD>\n";
echo "<TD WIDTH=\"$td2\"><FONT>Title</FONT></TD>\n";
echo "<TD WIDTH=\"$td3\"><FONT>Label</FONT></TD>\n";
echo "<TD WIDTH=\"$td4\"><FONT>LabelCode</FONT></TD>\n";
echo "<TD WIDTH=\"$td5\"><FONT>BPM</FONT></TD>\n";
echo "</TR>\n";
}
function infos($artist,$title,$label,$labelcode,$bpm){
global $td1;
global $td2;
global $td3;
global $td4;
global $td5;
echo "<TR BGCOLOR=\"#FFFFFF\">\n";
echo "<TD WIDTH=\"$td1\"><FONT>$artist</FONT></TD>\n";
echo "<TD WIDTH=\"$td2\"><FONT>$title</FONT></TD>\n";
echo "<TD WIDTH=\"$td3\"><FONT>$label</FONT></TD>\n";
echo "<TD WIDTH=\"$td4\"><FONT>$labelcode</FONT></TD>\n";
echo "<TD WIDTH=\"$td5\"><FONT>$bpm</FONT></TD>\n";
echo "</TR>\n";
}
?>
<html>
<body>
<table border="1" width="100%"><!--something like this maybe? -->
<? template(); //this calls the function template() ?>
<? infos("someguy","my song title","the label","1020101","what is bpm"); ?>
<? infos("someotherguy","my other song title","the label 2","1020341","ya what is bpm"); ?>
<!--etc,etc-->
</table>
</body>
</html>

i don't know how does the rest of ur page goes, so i stopped.

DJMaytag

Originally posted by focusbeam

i don't know how does the rest of ur page goes, so i stopped. [/B]

Thanx guys, this should give me some stuff to go on.

I do use includes for the templates of all the files, so every page has the same includes files to build the bulk of the file, it's just the main text areas that differ (see the source code at http://www.djmaytag.com).

It looks like this:

<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/COMMON/header.txt';
?>
<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/COMMON/redirect_refresh.txt';
?>
<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/COMMON/header_end.txt';
?>
<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/COMMON/background.txt';
?>
<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/COMMON/outside_table_top.txt';
?>
<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/COMMON/deskbar.txt';
?>
<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/COMMON/outside_table_middle.txt';
?>
<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/COMMON/inside_table_top.txt';
?>
<!-- ************************************************************************************************************************************* -->
<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/DJ_records.txt';
?>
<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/variables_vinyl.txt';
?>

<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/variables_labels.txt';
?>
<!-- **************************************************** THE MAIN TEXT STARTS HERE ********************************************************************************* -->
                                <?php echo TR5 ?>
                                        <?php echo TD0 ?><?php echo TDCS ?><H1>Purchases in May 2004</H1></TD>
                                </TR>
                                <?php echo TR5 ?>
                                        <?php echo TD1 ?><B>Artist</B></TD>
                                        <?php echo TD2 ?><B>Title [Mixes]</B></TD>
                                        <?php echo TD3 ?><B>Label</B></TD>
                                        <?php echo TD4 ?><B>Label Code</B></TD>
                                        <?php echo TD5 ?><B>BPM</B></TD>
                                </TR>
<!-- ************************************************************************************************************************************* -->

<!-- **************************************************************************************** -->
<!-- **************************************************************************************** -->
                                <?php echo TR1 ?>
                                        <?php echo TD1 ?>Age Of Love</FONT></TD>
                                        <?php echo TD2 ?>Age Of Love [Marco V Remix]<BR>[Mr Sam vs Fred Baker Remix/Watch Out For Stella Mix]<?php echo NU ?></FONT></TD>
                                        <?php echo TD3 ?><?php echo SPIN ?>Reset</A></FONT></TD>
                                        <?php echo TD4 ?>RS 004</FONT></TD>
                                        <?php echo TD5 ?>133<BR>???/133</FONT></TD>
                                </TR>

etc

<!-- **************************************************** THE MAIN TEXT ENDS HERE ********************************************************************************* -->

<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/DJ_vinyl_old_links.txt';
?>
<!-- ************************************************************************************************************************************* -->                            

<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/COMMON/inside_table_bottom.txt';
?>
<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/COMMON/outside_table_end.txt';
?>
<?php
include 'http://www.djmaytag.com/PARTS/COMMON/footer.txt';
?>

eves

Fyi:
If you set the widths of the first row in a table, the rest of the rows in that table will follow it.
I see no point in setting the same widths for each table, they follow the first row anyway or any row whose width was set first on a table, its just wasted time and effort ;].

DJMaytag

Originally posted by focusbeam

<?
<? infos("someguy","my song title","the label","1020101","what is bpm"); ?>
<? infos("someotherguy","my other song title","the label 2","1020341","ya what is bpm"); ?>

[/B]

LOL! BPM is Beats Per Minute. I'm a DJ, so I gotta know the tempo of the music I'm playing! 😃