Database driven websites

[Tezread]

Im a newbie and looking for help on how to create a PHP query whose results can be turned into Hyperlinks which when clicked run another query.
Here is my problem:

My table is called trainingtopics and field names are id, coursename, aimedat, briefdesc, elearning, facetoface, blended.

Im running a query which lists all coursenames and ive forced those coursenames to be hyperlinks when the query runs. Now I would like to click a coursename and have the database read it and display the other fields (aimedat, briefdesc etc) on a new page.
Ive read up on the manual and not sure where to look! http_build_query seemed handy but as Im a newbie im not sure if im barking up the wrong tree.
If I get this project cracked then maybe I may get the whole principle of database driven websites.

[drew010]

if you hpyerlink each category like so details.php?course=XXX where xxx is the id of the course, you just make a new page (details.php in this case) and in that use something like

<?php

if (isset($_GET['course'])) {
  // connect to database here
  // select db table

  $course = mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['course']);

  $res = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM id WHERE coursename = '$course'");

  if ($res && mysql_num_rows($res) != 0) {
    // get results from query
    // output to browser with echo
  } else {
    //course name not found
    //note: the query may have failed to so maybe check for that.
  }
} else {
  //no course specified
}

?>

[Tezread]

Does this mean I need to create for example a new PHP page in Dreamweaver called "details.php?course=1" for the first course then another "details.php?course=2" and so on for all 22 courses- or am I missing something

[Tezread]

At the moment- thx to some assistance from a fellow coder on this forum I have the following which lists all coursenames and puts href's on each:

  <?php 

$user = "root";
$host = "localhost";
$password = "";
$connection = mysql_connect($host, $root, $password) or die ("Couldn't connect to server.");
$database = "courses";
$db = mysql_select_db($database) or die ("Couldn't select database.");

$sql = "SELECT coursename FROM trainingtopics";
echo $sql."<br>";

$result = mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());
echo $result."=result<br>";

while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result))
{ // NOTE this one ABOVE the echo
//echo "result found!";
//echo $row[0];
echo "<a href=\"nextpage?id=".$row[0]."\">".$row[0]."</a><br>";

}
?>

[drew010]

no, you just make 1 page called details.php and when its called from the browser with a query string on it (the course=xxx) it will automatically query the database depending on that xxx is.

variables in the url are put in the $GET array. so if i had mypage.php?x=10&y=50, $GET['x'] would be available and contain 10, and $_GET['y'] would be available and contain 50.

this way when you run your query to list the courses, you should make it link to details.php, and it takes them to the new page that displays the details.

its just like this forum, look in the url you see showthread.php?p=10647235 showthread.php is one file, and it fetches the appropriate posts based on the p in the url, or the post id.

[Tezread]

Ok- so what do I do with the code I posted- do I need to change that at all?

[Tezread]

In other words how do I make the code listing the courses link to details.php?

[drew010]

you just need to change the select query to select id instead of coursename and make
nextpage?id=".$row[0]
be
details.php?course=".$row[0]

[kakki]

if your script is named "nextpage", then its oki,

Tezread wrote:

echo "<a href=\"nextpage?id=".$row[0]."\">".$row[0]."</a><br>";
.............................^{..........................................................................}
.............................||............||..............................................................
..............script-name...........things you can access by $_GET[ 'id' ].....
............................................................................................................

but i would take the code-example from drew010, 'cause its more elegant ....

[Tezread]

OK so far I have the following on a page called elearningcourse.php

  <?php 

$user = "root";
$host = "localhost";
$password = "";
$connection = mysql_connect($host, $root, $password) or die ("Couldn't connect to server.");
$database = "courses";
$db = mysql_select_db($database) or die ("Couldn't select database.");

$sql = "SELECT coursename FROM trainingtopics";
echo $sql."<br>";

$result = mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());
echo $result."=result<br>";

while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result))
{ // NOTE this one ABOVE the echo
//echo "result found!";
//echo $row[0];
echo "<a href=\"details.php?id=".$row[0]."\">".$row[0]."</a><br>";

}

This is then linked as you can see to details.php with the following code:
<?php

if (isset($_GET['course'])) {
$user = "root";
$host = "localhost";
$password = "";
$connection = mysql_connect($host, $root, $password) or die ("Couldn't connect to server.");
$database = "courses";
$db = mysql_select_db($database) or die ("Couldn't select database.");

$course = mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['course']);

$res = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM id WHERE coursename = '$course'");

if ($res && mysql_num_rows($res) != 0) {
// get results from query
// output to browser with echo
} else {
//course name not found
//note: the query may have failed to so maybe check for that.
}
} else {
//no course specified
}

?>

But when you click a coursename in elearningcourses.php no results show at all

[drew010]

if you look at the code in details.php it doesnt have any code to show records. I put comments in the appropriate places where you would display details, but left it up to you since there are different ways and layouts for doing it.