Function that loads HTML files?

Geuis

I'm pretty new to php and I need help with something.

I have a site at http://dawnofinfinity.sourceforge.net.

I have a <div> tag setup that is the display area for the site.

I want to have different files setup for each section of the website, then simply load that content into the <div> tag on the main page.

What I've been doing is duplicating the site template for each page, then loading the different pages that way. However, that makes it difficult to update graphics and links for the site, as I would have to make the same changes to each page of the site.

The problem is that the <div> tag does not have a src="" feature, so there's no way I can directly specify the file to be loaded.

I want a simple php script that I can call, either by an <a href> or javascript, that will reference the path of the file. The script will load the file into the <div> tag on the main site.

Does anyone know of an existing script that does something like this, or can point me to a set of example scripts I can learn from to create what I need?

Really need help with this! Thanks!

laserlight

You can use the PHP [man]include[/man] construct to include files on a page.

Geuis

Ok, I am using now <?php include '../pages/client.html' ?> but I get the following errors:

Warning: main(../pages/client.html): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/thetech/public_html/rss/index.php on line 56

Warning: main(): Failed opening '../pages/client.html' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/thetech/public_html/rss/index.php on line 56

If I just use <?php include '/pages/client.html' ?> I get

Warning: main(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/pages/client.html) is not within the allowed path(s): (/home/thetech/:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php:/usr/local/sqmail/:/tmp) in /home/thetech/public_html/rss/index.php on line 56

Warning: main(/pages/client.html): failed to open stream: Operation not permitted in /home/thetech/public_html/rss/index.php on line 56

Warning: main(): Failed opening '/pages/client.html' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/thetech/public_html/rss/index.php on line 56

What is causing this? If I use the full path of the test server, the page loads fine.

tsinka

Hi,

change the code to e.g.

  include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/pages/client.html";

//or better
  require_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/pages/client.html");

By using $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] you don't need to fiddle around with the number of ../ (depending on the current directory).

You need a different approach if you want to do the same with e.g. IIS.

Thomas

Geuis

I'm going to be accessing multiple pages in the "/pages/" directory.

Is there a way I can specify the default site path early in the site, then use "../" or just "/" plus "pages/" or something else?

I'd like to be able to use:

<?php include '/pages' ?>
<?php include '/image' ?>

where /pages and /images both exist in the same overall directory.

ahundiak

Have you tried just using
/pages/whatever.php ? No dot at the beginning?
As long as pages is directly under public_html then I would expect it to load.

If not then adjust your include_path search path.
http://us2.php.net/manual/en/ini.sect.path-directory.php#ini.include-path

Geuis

I'm still working through this problem.

At the beginning of my page, I added in:

<?php include_path=".:/home/thetech/public_html/rss" ?>

However, when I run the page, I get an error:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected '=' in /home/thetech/public_html/rss/index.php on line 3

I've been pulling my hair out about this for 5 days now. How am I supposed to properly use include_path so that I can just do:

<?php include=".:/path/to/files/index.html" ?>

Thanks.

tsinka

Use ini_set

<?PHP
ini_set('include_path','.:/home/thetech/public_html/rss:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php');
...
?>

Alternatively, place a .htaccess (Apache) file in /home/thetech/public_html/rss which sets that value (so you won't have to add ini_set to every script).

Geuis

I tried both the recommendations, and this is the error I get:

Warning: main(/pages/client.html): failed to open stream: Operation not permitted in /home/thetech/public_html/rss/index.php on line 38

Warning: main(): Failed opening '/pages/client.html' for inclusion (include_path='.:/home/thetech/public_html/rss:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/thetech/public_html/rss/index.php on line 38

tsinka

Ok,

try either

include 'pages/client.html';
or
include 'client.html';

or better if you want to make sure that the file gets included only once: require_once('client.html');

Thomas

Geuis

Oy! Its amazing what taking out an extra / can do.

Your code works great. Thanks SO much.

On a side-note, perhaps you could answer this one too.

I have a style shett, style.css, that is included in index.php.

In client.html, I have it accessing one of the classes to change the color and font of some of the text contained in it. How do I get client.html, once it has been included, to reference the stylesheet?

tsinka

Ok,

you have index.php where you include that stylesheet file with e.g.

The HTML code sent to the browser should just be the combination of index.php and the included html file. So try something like

<font class="theclass">something</font>

in client.html

Thomas

Geuis

That makes sense. I looked at my class reference and there was a typo.

I'm trying to get this site rss.thetechgurus.net

to be so that by clicking on a menu item on the left, it will load that content into the blue display <div> in the center. Figuring out the whole <php include.... ?> was part of that.

I think I am close to an answer here, finally. I've included a function inside the <div></div> tags that should load whatever page is passed to it through the variable $path.

How can I get it to load the different pages by clicking on one of the menu items?

The bit of code I came up with was <?php changePage('pages/client.html') ?>
Where can I include this at to finish the page?

This is the current code for index.php:

<?php / Don't remove these lines. /$blog=1;require_once('wp-blog-header.php');?>

<?PHP
ini_set('include_path','.:/home/thetech/public_html/rss:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php')
?>

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">

<title>Dawn of Infinity</title>

</head>

</tr>
<tr>
<td width="614" height="532" class="tableDisplay">

<?php

function changePage ($path)
{

include $path;

}

</div>

</td>

</tr>

<tr>

 <td>
     Copyright 2003-2004 Dawn of Infinity
 </td>	
 <td>
     <a href="/wp-login.php">Login</a>


 </td>

</tr>

</table>

tsinka

Which one is the default include (if e.g. someone requests the page the first time) ?

Thomas

Geuis

Ok, I figured out a way around it. I'm including the path to the file I want to click on as a POST.

This is the code Im using to load the pages:

<?php
if ($QUERY_STRING <> "")
{
include "pages/main.inc";
}

else

{
include $pages;
}

Main.inc is going to be the main page I want loaded by default. Its also accessible when clicking on Home.

The problem I'm having is that I cant get it to load the main.inc page by default and load the others when the path is passed to index.php.

I appreciate the help.

Roger_Ramjet

To make something other than index your default page you also need to use .htaccess

tsinka

Ok,

here's an example:

// link examples
<a href="index.php?page=client">click me</a>
<a href="index.php?page=about">click me</a>

<?PHP
  // the part of index.php that check the page get paramter
  // arrays for valid get parameters and corresponding files
  $arrPages = array("client" => "pages/client.html", "about" => "pages/aboutus.html");
  $arrKeys  = array_keys($arrPages);

  // default page
  $inc = "pages/main.inc";

  // check if valid get parameter exists
  if (isset($_GET['page']) && in_array($_GET['page'],$arrKeys)) {
    // replace default include
    $inc = $arrPages[$_GET['page']];
  }

  // include page
  require_once($inc);
?>

The code is completely untested but at least it might point into the right direction.

Thomas

Geuis

Thomas, your code did put me in the right direction. In fact, your code was even a bit too complicated for how I fixed it.

<?php

// the part of index.php that check the page $_GET variable
// arrays for valid get parameters and corresponding files

//specify all of the GET requests that should be allowed on the site; aka what pages are included on the site.
$arrPages = array(1 => "pages/main.inc", 2 => "pages/client.html", 3 => "pages/background.html");

//if the value returned by $_GET is in the allowed array, show the page
if (in_array($path, $arrPages)){

//set page
$inc = $path;

// include page
require_once($inc);

}

//if the $_GET variable is no in the array, only show the main page.
else{
// default page
$inc = "pages/main.inc";

require_once($inc);
}

Thanks for all the help. I know I was a pest but it works!

Another side question, though its not as important. When clicking on different links on the menu, it reloads the page. If the page is scrolled down, it resets to the top of the page.
Have any idea on how I can keep the scroll bar at the same location, so the website isn't jumping around everytime you view a new page?