Profile pages.

[Smeep]

Howdy.

This is, I hope, the final part of coding for a project I am working on. And I need help (duh)

Basically, the first question I have is this.

Are there functions that could generate a basic page, based on certain information entered in to it, to create a simple profile page for someone that registers on to a website?

There will be many more questions to follow, I thank any one who takes the time to read the thread 🙂

[thorpe]

yeah.... you might start with the [man]mysql[/man] functions.

[Smeep]

Are there any particular ones that I should pay attention too?

[bpat1434]

well, how about [man]mysql_query/man, [man]mysql_connect/man, [man]mysql_select_db/man, [man]mysql_fetch_array/man or [man]mysql_result/man.

You might also look at the mySQL Manual as for hints on how to structure queries, or create dynamic queries...

~Brett

[Smeep]

I'm already slightly familiar with these. I've put them in to use a few times. The particular function I'm looking for (unless there is a better way to do it) is something that will actually create a .php page, because I need to allow my users to build up portfolio's.

Unless... (brain ticking now) the better way would be to have it so that the customer could click on the name, and then it would show all the info related to that person that was relevent... It's all peiceing together...

Right. here we go. I'm going to start it right now. In this thread, and if you guys could help with the next step after what I do that would be awesome. So, the first thing I'm going to need, is a drop down list of all the users. Users are known as webfriends. I've already connected to the database.

// Query All entries
 $result = @mysql_query('SELECT * FROM webfriends');
 if (!$result) {
   exit('<p>Error performing query: ' .
       mysql_error() . '</p>');
 }

So the next question is, how can I populate a drop down list, from the field "username" ?

[rikmoncur]

This might be of some use - it's the tutorial I learned from (it's based on dreamweaver and asp but you can do it with a bit of translation for php)

http://www.webthang.co.uk/tuts/tuts_dmx/gk_users/gk_users_4.asp

[bpat1434]

Okay.... so since you're vaguely familiar with [man]mysql_fetch_array/man, let's use that:

<?php
// your other code here....
else
{
  $options = '<option value="null">Please Select From Below</option>';
  while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
  {
    $options .= '<option value="'.$row['id'].'">'.$row['name'].'</option>';
  }
  echo '<select name="user">'.$options.'</select>';
}
?>

That will create a dropdown. Now.... let's disect the code:
This line: while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) fetches to an array, the mysql result. If there is nothing to fetch, it returns FALSE, and thus ends our loop; otherwise it returns an array (which is considered TRUE in PHP) and will proceed with our code.

Then, the only line in our loop is this: $options .= '<option value="'.$row['id'].'">'.$row['name'].'</option>'; What is happening here is that we are appending to the variable $options a string. That string will be filled with dynamic data from the mysql result row. So, if your table has 2 columns, one called "id" and one called "name", this will print those values.

~Brett

[Smeep]

Thanks for the help, on to the next question.

Simple one me hopes.

How can I output the option the person selects, to a variable? Say $selection ?

Would I first start with a

 <input name="Submit" type="Submit">

or can I get it to submit upon clicking the name in the menu? (though that may be a bad idea, incase the click the wrong one)

[Smeep]

Been working on this a little. Here's what I got now, I'm trying to output the username but all it outputs is the ID.

else
{

  echo '<form action="http://www.webfriends.biz/profiles.php" method="post">';
  $options = '<option value="null">Please Select From Below</option>';
  while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) //creates an array of the mysql_result
  {
    $options .= '<option value="'.$row['id'].'">'.$row['username'].'</option>';
  }
  echo '<br /> <select name="user">'.$options.'</select>';
	echo '<input name="Submit" type="Submit">';
	echo '</form>';

$selection= addslashes(htmlentities($_POST['user']));

echo $selection['username'];


}

EDIT: Whoops, sorry about the double post.

[bpat1434]

Username in the select box, or just echo the selection?

The way it's supposed to work is this:

-- User selects from the drop-down
---- Form either auto-submits (onChange="this.form.submit()") or
---- User presses "Submit" button
-- Next PHP script gets the $POST values.

-- What is contained in the $POST array is a variable: "user" and a row ID.
-- The row ID is what you'll use to get all the information from the database about that person.

So, you're getting the expected result if you're trying to echo out the selected name value.

~Brett

[Smeep]

Hehe, thanks for the help. I don't think I'm going the right way about this at all anymore...

Give me a clue as to how to pull the data from the record given the ID that is submitted from the form?

here's my attempt at retrieving the record

else
{

  echo '<form action="http://www.webfriends.biz/profiles.php" method="post">';
  $options = '<option value="null">Please Select From Below</option>';
  while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) //creates an array of the mysql_result
  {
    $options .= '<option value="'.$row['id'].'">'.$row['username'].'</option>';
  }
  echo '<br /> <select name="user">'.$options.'</select>';
	echo '<input name="Submit" type="Submit">';
	echo '</form>';

$selection= addslashes(htmlentities($_POST['user']));
$sql = " SELECT * FROM webfriends WHERE id = '". mysql_real_escape_string($selection) ."' ";
echo $sql;


}

[bpat1434]

well, you have to run that query... can't just echo it... and you shouldn't need htmlentities/addslashes since it's a number. mysql_real_escape_string() should be sufficient. But the query is right...

Then, just display the information in the same manner as you did with the "<option>" loop.

~Brett

[Smeep]

I thought I was running the query...

this a step in the right direction?

else
{

  echo '<form action="http://www.webfriends.biz/profiles.php" method="post">';
  $options = '<option value="null">Please Select From Below</option>';
  while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) //creates an array of the mysql_result
  {
    $options .= '<option value="'.$row['id'].'">'.$row['username'].'</option>';
  }
  echo '<br /> <select name="user">'.$options.'</select>';
	echo '<input name="Submit" type="Submit">';
	echo '</form>';

$selection= addslashes(htmlentities($_POST['user']));
$sql = " SELECT * FROM webfriends WHERE id = '". mysql_real_escape_string($selection) ."' ";
if (@mysql_query($sql)) {

	 while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
	 echo $row['username'];
	 }
   }


}

?>

I still can't get it to pull the username. I don't know if I'm doing it right or wrong. (Obviously wrong, but you know what I mean, I don't know if I'm approaching it the right way)

[Smeep]

2 day bump.

I bought my self a copy of PHP for dummies, should arive soon 🙂

[bpat1434]

Change

 if (@mysql_query($sql)) {

to

 if ($result = @mysql_query($sql)) {

~Brett