link variables

music_man

I am looking to have a page where I can link to certain text files from a click on another page page.

Maybe the code I show would make things a little clearer.

selectedstories.php:


<h3>

<?php echo '<a href="stories.php?$story_glint=true" title="Glint"><img src="glint.png" alt="Glint" /></a>';
?>
</h3>

So when I click on the Glint link it will take me to stories.php with the variable $story_glint set at true.

This is stories.php so far

<h3>
<?php

if($story_glint==true)

{

ini_set ('display_errors' ,1);
error_reporting (E_ALL & ~E_NOICE);

$data = file ('glint.txt');

print '<p>' . trim ($data) . '</p>';

}

?>


</h3>

This would contain other stories so if it is story2 that is clicked then it would display story2.txt in stories.php.

What modifications do I need to do on the code please?

leatherback

Hi,

Try like this:

link:
<a href="stories.php?story=$id">Go to story</a>

In the page:

$id = $_GET['story'];

switch($id)
  {
   case 1:
   $data = file ('glint.txt');
   break;

   case 2:
     $data = file ('Shine.txt');
   break
  }

(I am not sure whether I have the switch statement correct like this. CHeck when it doesn't work.)

leatherback

If it is only the story which changes:

$id = $_GET['story']; 

$stories = array(
1 => "glint.txt",
2 => "shine.txt");

if($stories[$id] <> "")
  {
  $data = file($stories[$id] );
  }
else
  {
  $data = file('default.txt');
  }

music_man

Hey

I tried that but I get "http://williamparry.com/stories.php?$story=$id" in the url and the link doesn't work.

Any ideas?

Thanks

leatherback

Hi,

Well..

In the link you do not need to use the $ for variables:
http://williamparry.com/stories.php?story=$id

And you need to fill $id with something. This was an example how to fill it through PhP. For testing do like:
http://williamparry.com/stories.php?story=1

Later, you might want to use a database, or a previous and next link, and then you may want to use a variable to get the next / previous ID in there. then you use the $id, and you create it in PhP, not just as html:

e.g.:

$id = $_GET['story'];  

$next_id = $id + 1;

link = "<a href=\"stories.php?story=$id\">Go to story</a>";

echo $link;

music_man

Thanks for your replies. Here is the updated code:

<?php

 $id = $_GET['story']; 

$stories = array(
glint => "glint.txt",
cap => "cap.txt");

if($stories[$id] <> "")
  {
  $data = file($stories[$id] );
  }
else
  {
  print 'There is no story under that name';
  }  

echo $data

?>

I don't quite get the

if($stories[$id] <> "")
{
$data = file($stories[$id] );"

what does the <> and "" mean please?

It isn't printing the data. It just says Array.

leatherback

the if($stories[$id] <> "") means:

If the value of $stories[$id] is not equel to an empty string. This is to avoid problems when no ID is set.

Of course it shows array when you echo $data. $data is an array. See the manual for file. And echo out each line.

There is a lot of info in the manual. Read it.

music_man

I have had a look at the manual and I also have a php book infront of me. Just trying to figure out the strings part.

Here is the code

<h3>
<?php

 $id = $_GET['story']; 

$stories = array(
glint => "glint.txt",
cap => "cap.txt");

if($stories[$id] <> "")
  {
  $data = file($stories[$id] );
  }
else
  {
  print 'There is no story under that name';
  }

for ( $story = $id)

{

$openfile = fopen($stories, "r");

}

echo $openfile;

//( string filename [, int use_include_path [, resource context]] )

?>


</h3>

leatherback

If you had had a look at the manual you'd have seen the example:

<?php
// Get a file into an array.  In this example we'll go through HTTP to get
// the HTML source of a URL.
$lines = file('http://www.example.com/');

// Loop through our array, show HTML source as HTML source; and line numbers too.
foreach ($lines as $line_num => $line) {
   echo "Line #<b>{$line_num}</b> : " . htmlspecialchars($line) . "<br />\n";
}

which in your case would be:


$id = $_GET['story']; 

$stories = array(
glint => "glint.txt",
cap => "cap.txt");

if($stories[$id] <> "")
  {
  $data = file($stories[$id] );
foreach ($data as $line_num => $line) 
  {
   echo htmlspecialchars($line) . "<br />\n";
  }
  }
else
  {
  print 'There is no story under that name';
  }

And really. You should have been able to get that straight from the manual. There is no problem with getting stuck. But why should we help you, if you are not willing to read what we suggest?

music_man

I did go to the php.net manual and I also have a tutorial book infront of me. I read several pages of the manual and if you look at the code I posted, I have a comment which came straight from the php.net website to show that I did indeed try and incorporate material from the site into my code.

I am grateful for your help.