modifying a downloaded script

dreado

Hi all.

I've been meaning to start to get to grips with PHP (I'm not a programer, I'm a designer), now I have the chance to jump in the slightly deep end.

I have downloaded a script for a site I’m working on, it’s a pretty basic script for a conga line (for those free ipod and such sites). The script just lets the visitor add their link to the line, and login to update their status (need referrals, no longer need referrals, remain the same).

So I guess the script generates a bunch of variables, name, link, status... I would like to add to this a couple more; the facility to post a short message (from the edit status page) that can be echoed elsewhere along with the date it was posted. This message and date would be replaced whenever the user logged in and repeated the process, so they would be updating their little message.

From my small understanding of php, I feel this should be doable, can anyone help me out with it? i.e How to get this info from a form, to a database, and how to get it into a php file.

AIS4U

dreado:

I am certainly not an expert in PHP, but I have found that it usually takes more effort to try and modify a downloaded script than it does to write your own from the start.

"So I guess the script generates a bunch of variables, name, link, status..."

I am sure that is exactly what the script does. That is what most PHP scripts do. The problem is that no one can tell you how to modify the script without seeing the script. And, I don't think you are going to find too many people here who are going to want to spend a lot of their time trying to modify a script for you.

You are certainly free to post it and see what happens, but I think you would be a lot better off if you got a good book on PHP/MYSQL and started to learn on your own. Then when you create a script that doesn't work right you can come back here and post it and someone will most likely try and help you.

You are going to need to create a MYSQL database, and how would anyone here know what fields you need in such a database and what the relationship of those fields needs to be. After you have created your database you will need to populate it with some data so you will have some data to test your PHP script with.

Then you are going to have to use HTML to design your forms and PHP to manipulate the data in your database and either take it out of the database and display in on the form or take it from a form and put it into the database.

There are many more issues you will have to contend with before you will be able to get such a program up and running.

I don't mean to sound discouraging, but there really isn't an quick and eay way to create the kind of application you have described.

Like you said, it is most likely "doable", but I think you are the one who has to do it.

Good Luck.

dreado

Thanks for the reply AOS4U

I would have posted a link to the script if anyone were interested, it’s freely available.

I do already have such a book, I was just hoping I could skip forward a bit for this project.

As for the front end, that wouldn’t be a problem. (I am a web designer), but as it seems moding the script may be a bigger job than I thought I guess I will outsource it.

Thanks for the advice.

AIS4U

dreado:

Well, I wish I had a quick and easy answer for you, but I am afraid I don't.

"I was just hoping I could skip forward a bit for this project."

That is the problem with learning a programming language, each segment is built upon the previous one and if you skip some chapters you usually miss some very important points that you need to continue on.

PHP is one of the easier languages to learn, but if you have not used it before it will take a while for you to get up to speed.

If this is really important to you then perhaps you would be better off to outsource it. As stated in my first posting, it is often times more difficult and time consuming to modify a script than to create it from scratch. So, I would suggest that you check with whoever you are going to have do it and see how much they would charge to modify your existing script compared to how much they would charge to just write you a script that will do what you need. The later might be less expensive.

Good Luck.

dreado

The mod has already been done. But I will bare that advise in mind for the future.