Creating a message board/forum

[spoons84]

Hi,

Im looking to create my own simple forum, in which people can post threads and have replies.

To simplify it basically, Im intending to have just 2 tables in MySQL. One holding the subjects of the thread; and the second holding the thread contents and replies.

For example:

Thread Header table:

Thread ID (PK)
Subject
Author
Date

Thread Reply table:

Reply ID (PK)
Content
Author
Thread ID

The main page will show all the header records, and by clicking on the subject field will take the user to the thread replies...which will be shown in ascending order of reply ID.

I have the main page showing the thread titles, coding as follows:

//Create a table, with column headers as follows:

echo('<table>');
echo('<tr>');
echo('<td>Message Subject</td>');
echo('<td>Author</td>');
echo('<td>Date of creation</td>');
echo('</tr>');

//Create a new row for each match
while($row=mysql_fetch_array($q)) {
echo('<tr>');
echo('<td ><A HREF=thread.php>'. $row["subject"] .'</A></td>');
echo('<td>'. $row["author"] .'</td>');
echo('<td>'. $row["date"] .'</td>');
echo('</tr>');

I am stuck on the link to the thread.php file though, as I am unsure how to specify which thread to go to.....hope this makes some kind of sense

Any help gratefully received

[Dvector]

I hope I read your question right, so here is something you can try.

You can try sending the thread ID with the link you have using the GET method and the $_GET global, this does not have to be in a form.

<A HREF=thread.php?ThreadID=$row["thread_id"]>

Then on the page that displays the message, $_GET['ThreadID'] holds the thread ID you want to use.

[spoons84]

Hmm somethings not right,

the get method puts this in the address bar:

http://localhost/thread.php?ThreadID=$row[%22thread_id%22]

And the output on the screen is $row[\"thread_id\"]

So it seems to be just quoting the input line rather than connecting with the database :queasy:

[PurpleMonkey]

Is register_globals set to 'Off'?

[Stelf]

try echo("<td><A HREF=\"thread.php?ThreadID=".$row['thread_id']."\"></A></td>");

[hmemnon]

Just my 2 cents, but I find convinient to separate html from php, so you can also try

<td><A HREF="thread.php?ThreadID=<?=$row[thread_id]?>"></A></td>

Cheers