Site design and PHP Includes?

kunald

Hi guys, I'm a newbie with PHP. In the past I've used Iframes but I've finished designing my new layout and I've decided to give php a shot.

Here's a simple picture of what the index.php looks like:

http://img173.exs.cx/img173/1249/template2ob.gif

With Iframes, I would use any includes, 4 would just be an Iframe and all new pages would load in there. But now I'm using includes for 1, 2, 3, and 5.
But I'm not sure what I should do for the actual content which is 4...

Should I copy this template for every new page I want to make and edit what's in 4?
Or is there an easier way? Like keeping 4 blank, but depending on which link is clicked the content loads automatically in 4? That would save me from making 4 copies of index.php.

Any suggestions on what I should do? Thanks a lot!

dalecosp

Originally posted by kunald
Hi guys, I'm a newbie with PHP. In the past I've used Iframes but I've finished designing my new layout and I've decided to give php a shot.

Kewl!

Like keeping 4 blank, but depending on which link is clicked the content loads automatically in 4? That would save me from making 4 copies of index.php.

Any suggestions on what I should do? Thanks a lot!

That's what PHP is for (among a host of other things. There are lots of ways you could do it. Where will your content come from (where is it stored, how is it created, etc., etc.)

Roger_Ramjet

Basic way to do this would be as follows:

if (isset($_GET['link'])) {
   switch $_GET['link'] {
    case 'link1':
       include 'page1.php';
       break;
    case 'link2':
       include 'page2.php';
       break;
    case 'link3':
       include 'page3.php';
       break;
    default:
       include 'default.php';
   }
}
else {
   include 'default.php';
}

If you see what I mean. Using a switch structure will allow you to easily extend the system with new links and content.

Roger_Ramjet

You can also code it this way:


if (isset($_GET['link'])) {
   include $_GET['link'] . '.php';
}
else {
   include 'default.php';
}

This does require that you pass the exact filename in the link, eg " ..../index.php?link=page1"

kunald

Thanks for the replies guys, that looks like just the thing I'm looking for!

Where will your content come from (where is it stored, how is it created, etc., etc.)

The content is in seperate folders, like cartoons, news, stuff, etc.

Roger, thanks for that. Just a few questions;

1: Do I place that code where 4 is?

2: 1 has a navigation bar made in Flash and has all the links to the content. Most of these are links to folders which have an index file in them.

So if I wanted to link to the folder "cartoons" or I wanted to link to "cartoons/index.php" what should I change in the navigation bar? The old html version can be found on my site if it helps: www.kunation.com

3: So by using this code, I only have to have index.php and depending on the link clicked the stuff in 4 changes? That would be awesome and just what I need.

Thanks for all the help guys!

Roger_Ramjet

1: Do I place that code where 4 is?

Yes. Include works just like pasting the contents into the main file so you would place the code where you want the contents to be. Of course if you are using CSS to control layout then this is more flexible as you can float the other stuff around it.

So if I wanted to link to the folder "cartoons" or I wanted to link to "cartoons/index.php" what should I change in the navigation bar?

If you want to use my second example then you need to pass the folder name so that you can build the include string.