Draw from DB to .js file.

[jbachris]

I have a javascript I use on my site to scroll through recent news. I'm trying to set something up so I do not have to edit the .js file manually, but instead it draws the five most recent news items from the database.

Here's the code for the ticker:

// Ticker startup

function startTicker()
{
	// Define run time values
	theCurrentStory = -1;
	theCurrentLength = 0;

// Locate base objects
if (document.getElementById)
{
    theAnchorObject = document.getElementById("tickerAnchor");
	runTheTicker();
}
else
{
    document.write("<style>.ticki{display:none;}.ticko{border:0px; padding:0px;}</style>");
    return true;
}
}

// Ticker main run loop
function runTheTicker()
{
	var myTimeout;

// Go for the next story data block
if(theCurrentLength == 0)
{
	theCurrentStory++;
	theCurrentStory = theCurrentStory % theItemCount;
	theStorySummary  = theSummaries[theCurrentStory].replace(/&quot;/g,'"');
	theTargetLink = theSiteLinks[theCurrentStory];
	theAnchorObject.href = theTargetLink;
	thePrefix  = "<span class=\"tickerLatest\"><b>" + theLeadString + "</b></span>";
}

// Stuff the current ticker text into the anchor
theAnchorObject.innerHTML = thePrefix +
theStorySummary.substring(0,theCurrentLength) + whatWidget();

// Modify the length for the substring and define the timer
if(theCurrentLength != theStorySummary.length)
{
	theCurrentLength++;
	myTimeout = theCharacterTimeout;
}
else
{
	theCurrentLength = 0;
	myTimeout = theStoryTimeout;
}

// Call up the next cycle of the ticker
setTimeout("runTheTicker()", myTimeout);
}


function whatWidget()
{
	if(theCurrentLength == theStorySummary.length)
	{
		return theWidgetNone;
	}

if((theCurrentLength % 2) == 1)
{
	return theWidgetOne;
}
else
{
	return theWidgetTwo;
}
}

var theCharacterTimeout = 50;
var theStoryTimeout = 5000;
var theWidgetOne = "_";
var theWidgetTwo = "-";
var theWidgetNone = "";
var theLeadString = "LATEST NEWS:&nbsp;";

var theSummaries = new Array();
var theSiteLinks = new Array();

var theItemCount = 5;
	theSummaries[0] = "Headline 1";
	theSiteLinks[0] = "link1";
	theSummaries[1] = "Headline 2";
	theSiteLinks[1] = "link2"
	theSummaries[2] = "Headline 3";
	theSiteLinks[2] = "link3";
	theSummaries[3] = "Headline 4";
	theSiteLinks[3] = "link4"
	theSummaries[4] = "Headlaine 5";
	theSiteLinks[4] = "link5";
startTicker();

Basically, I need to get the headline and newsID from the 5 most recent entries in the DB in the table 'news'.

[hagen00]

If you have this in a js file then I doubt very much that you'll be able to get records from the database. If however you include the javascript in a php file, then you could just in between your javascript, get the records from the database using php and echo them out as javascript...

Basically, I'd say the easiest solution is to take the javascript out of the js file and plonk it into a php file, if you get what i'm saying.

[jbachris]

cool. how would i increase the stuff in java?

i know how to echo them out, but how do i make sure theSiteLinks[#] increase?

[hagen00]

I see that

var theItemCount = 5;

Why don't you just run a for loop then to loop through theSiteLinks[] array. So something like this:

for (c=0;n<theItemCount;c++){
   // do whatever you want with the array - this will just popup the value in a message box
   alert (theSiteLinks[c]);
}