Create an automated Continued link for a LongStory..

kikki

Hi guys,
I need help in limiting the amount of text on a page and create automated "continued" link, but everytime when I click on "continue" link, page must show rest of the text untill the whole text end.

so far, I've managed to cutoff the text but couldn't create automated continued link...

I'd really appreciate if anyone could lend me a hand on this one..

TIA


<?php

//here mysql grabs the story.. and assign them properly!

//the function
function Limit_Words($string, $length, $ellipsis = "...")
   {
       $words = explode(' ', $string);
       $curindex = 0;
       $wcount = 0;
       foreach($words as $value){
               $wcount += strlen($value)+1;
if($wcount>$length-strlen($ellipsis)){
               break;
          }
           $curindex++;
       }
       return implode(' ', array_slice($words, 0, $curindex)) . $ellipsis;
   }

//cutoff...
$LongStoryX = $LongStory;
$LongStory = Limit_Words($LongStory, 1500); 
echo $LongStory;
echo '<br><br>';


//I couldn't do the "Continued" link
//Don't really know how to go from here..
if(strlen($LongStoryX) > strlen($LongStory))
		{
?>
  <tr>
    <td height="19"></td>
    <td align="left" valign="middle"><font size="2" color="#517aff"><b><a href="??">Continue</a></b></font>&nbsp;</td>
    <td colspan="3" align="left" valign="middle"><img src="images/right.gif"></td>
  </tr>

<?php
}
?>

gardnc

One way to go about this is to use a querystring in the page URL designating the byte limits:

display_page.php?s=0&e=1500

then,

display_page.php>s=1501&e=3000, etc.

Then break the string into the appropriate blocks. If the data comes from a database then you could use limit to pul the necessary block.

This is just a guide to get you thinking about methods that can work for you.

bradgrafelman

Use the [man]substr[/man] function to start at the xth place on a string and read from there.

kikki

thanks guys, I'll try as you guys have suggested and let u know.. 😃

kikki

yes, substr() is doing the job (since it's possible to set the string start and ending pos), but it's doing kinda ugly job.. cutting the words in middle.. unlike the function Limit_Words(see this on my first post!), I wonder how to make this substr to cut strings but NOT to cut the words in the middle? using explode() might be the solution, but how to combine and write a function out of it?

TIA

bradgrafelman

Combine substr() and the limit_words() function. Use substr to start at the xth position and read from there, then pass that new string onto limit_words(). Here's a quick example:

$long_string = substr($long_string, $_GET['s']);
$long_string = Limit_Words($long_string, ($_GET['e'] - $_GET['s']));

That doesn't have any error-checking (like if either of the $_GET[] indeces are empty/non-numeric), so you'll need to work on that, but I believe that will give you a rough idea of what I am talking about.