Need help coding simple display page!

Meechity

I have done this is ASP and coldfusion by borrowing code online. I don't know why I am having so much trouble with PHP, but it's been almost a month and I cannot grasp how to get this done!

I would like a LARGE image to dynamically appear within a "display" page, based on a SMALL image (thumbnail) the user clicks the page beforehand. Here is an example I put together using ASP:

Here is the page with thumbnails:
http://www.flyonfire.com/g_ice.asp
Click on a thumbnail, and a page will display the full-sized image based on the URL passed.

I would like to apply that same functionality to THIS page full of thumbnails:
http://www.gearbird.com/__NEWSITE/art.php?id=a-photography
Click on the first thumbnail (stone buddha statue) to see KIND of what I mean.

I thank anyone able to guide me, even if it is to another page with this functionality using PHP. I am at my wit's end!!!

wilku

Could you post some code? (don't forget to use php tag

Meechity

Here's where I'm embarrassed; I have no successful or even partially successful PHP code. Here was the code I used for the ASP display page:

<%@ Language= VBScript %>

<%
DIM image, gallery
title = Request.QueryString("t")
image = Request.QueryString("img")
gallery = Request.QueryString("g")
%>

<html>
<head>
<title>:: Firefly Creat!ve Group ::</title>

a.light:link {color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; }
a.light:active {color: #999999; text-decoration: none; }
a.light:visited {color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; }
a.light:hover {color: #ffcc00; text-decoration: none; }
</style>

</head>
<body bgcolor="#000033" style="background-image: url(/images/template/flyback.gif); background-repeat: repeat-y; background-position: top right;">

<img src="/images/<% Response.write gallery%>/<% Response.write image%>" alt="Click to go Back" onClick="javascript:history.back()" border="0">
<br>

<p>©2003 Matthew Sullivan, Jessica Bieber, Leslie Klopp, and Meech Yost<br>
<b>:: <a class=light href="http://www.flyonfire.com">www.FLYONFIRE.com</a> ::</b>
</p>
</td></tr></table>

</body>

</html>

As of yet I have NO successful code for PHP to do this same thing.
~M

Meechity

PS - I am a graphic designer/artist, NOT a coder. I feel in the presence of genius to have you guys helping me out. Just wanted to warn you that I'm no programmer, though I am certainly not using that as an excuse for ignorance. (Just an excuse for gentle sympathy perhaps?)

wilku

Some things to get it started:

<?php
//geting varibles from query
$title = $_GET["t"];

//or version with checking
if (isset($_GET["t"]))
{
//get varibles from query and display picture
}
else
{
 //display thumbnails
}


//echoing anything to the browser
?>
<img src="/images/<?php echo $gallery."/".$image;?> alt="Click to go Back" onClick="java script:history.back()" border="0">

There are many simple php tutorials for beginners - google for php tutorial and start there. Come back with some written code 😉

Meechity

I absolutely love you. I swear to you I've been struggling with this simple problem for weeks. This is the FIRST TIME I got it to work. Thanks for the nudge!!

Code on thumbnail:
<a href="art.php?id=a-display&f=photography&i=buddha.jpg&c=Buddha statue in the Reading Museum"><img src="images/photography/buddha-th.jpg" width="100" height="50" border="0" title="" alt=""></a>

Code on display page, calling the info from the URL:
<?php
$folder = $GET["f"];
$image = $GET["i"];
$caption = $_GET["c"];
?>

<img src="images/<?php echo $folder."/".$image?>" alt="Click to go Back" onClick="java script:history.back()" border="0">

Now I'm going to be greedy: is there a less messy way to do this that is not overly complicated, or is this ok to leave as is, pulling info from a fat URL like that?
~M

wilku

The "fat", as you call it, URL is ok, I suppose. The thing that is less "professional" is, that you hardcode thumbnails and links.
The next step, would be to store data about galleries in a database (or in file) where you can store information about pictures. The URL would be simpler, as it would contain id of a picture only, but you would have to retrieve other information (like gallery, name, title) from database (or file). File is easier to set up, but database is easier to manipulate (update, delete and so on).
When you store data about galleries, you can output the whole gallery in thumbnails automatically.

Read about mysql in php manual. This would take some time, but it's worth it.