menu item appears only when item in MySQL field

bufhal

Hope someone can help me with a piece of PHP. I have a menu which has the following piece of PHP.
<?php
if ($db_field == 'url15') {
?>
<a class="item2" href="<?php echo $url15; ?>"> Special <?php echo $url15; ?> </a>
<?php
}
?>

I need the "url15" field to be invisible in the menu unless something is in the database field.
Can someone show me why I am so off base?
Thank you in advance. I appreciate your time and help.

jheitz

Hi there,

Your code would seem to show only the link if a variable called $db_field equals 'url15'. Is that not happening? I am not sure I understand your problem... can you expand please?

bufhal wrote:
Hope someone can help me with a piece of PHP. I have a menu which has the following piece of PHP.
<?php
if ($db_field == 'url15') {
?>
<a class="item2" href="<?php echo $url15; ?>"> Special <?php echo $url15; ?> </a>
<?php
}
?>

I need the "url15" field to be invisible in the menu unless something is in the database field.
Can someone show me why I am so off base?
Thank you in advance. I appreciate your time and help.

bufhal

Thanks
I will list what I need the code to do
This may help so you can see the side menu:

http://www.attotech.com/expraid.html

What I need is another menu item "Special" (at the very bottom of the menu)
to show only if there is something in the database for the field url15 (the field for the database) .
If there is nothing in the field, "Special" would not appear.

I appreciate your help and if this

jheitz

Ok. I am assuming you've already run a query on your db and got the result from the field called URL15 on a variable called $db_field. Is this correct?

If it is, you need your code to do something like:

<PHP>if ($db_field != "") { <show menu option> }</PHP>

bufhal

Thanks for the response.

This DB query and PHP needs to fit into our menu structure.

This is part of the menu that I need to incorporate the db query and the PHP (<PHP>if ($db_field != "") { <show menu option> }</PHP>):

<div style="border: 2px; #FFFFFF" class="section">
<a class="item2" href="/oemsolutions.html">OEM</a>
<a class="item2" href="/digitalcc.html">Digital Content Creation</a>
<a class="item2" href="/business.html">Backup</a>
</div>

I am a bit at a lose as to how to incorporate the db query and the PHP within the div tags. Thank you for your help and patience.

jheitz

Search on the web for any tutorial on PHP and database... You'll find how to do it, it's very easy

bufhal

thanks, I will try to find the answer

bufhal

Here is the whole picture--please offer assistance if you have the time.
I really appreciate your help.

The PHP is in the menu only in the spots that have entries in the database:
e.g. <a class="item2" href="<?php echo $tech_url; ?>"> Tech Sheet - <?php echo $techsheet; ?> </a>

I have two fields in MYSQL:
url15_url(URL) url15(description) both set to NULL-no and default-blank
(I am using PHP MYSQL and I left nothing in the default)

Here is the test link:
http://www.attotech.com/gary_side_test.html

Below is the bottom section of the menu with bolded area where I am having issues. I need the "Special" to only appear when there is something in the Database fields url15 and url15_url

<a class="item3 arrow" href="javascript:void(0)">Request Information<img src="/images/arrow3.gif" width="10" height="12" alt="" /></a>
<div style="border: 2px; #FFFFFF" class="section">
<a class="item2" href="/oem.html">Request Sales Support</a>
<a class="item2" href="/techsupt.html">Request Technical Support</a>
</div>
<a class="item3 arrow" href="javascript:void(0)">Solutions<img src="/images/arrow3.gif" width="10" height="12" alt="" /></a>
<div style="border: 2px; #FFFFFF" class="section">
<a class="item2" href="/oemsolutions.html">OEM</a>
<a class="item2" href="/digitalcc.html">Digital Content Creation</a>
<a class="item2" href="/business.html">Backup</a>
</div>

<a class="item3 arrow" href="javascript:void(0)">Special<img src="/images/arrow3.gif" width="10" height="12" alt="" /></a>
<div style="border: 2px; #FFFFFF" class="section">
<?php
if (isset($url15) and $url15 != "") {
// Check that there is an entry in the database
// if the url15 field is set to NOT NULL and DEFAULTs to ""
// you can use if ($url15 !="") {
echo "<a class="/item2/" href="/$url15_url/">Special: $url15</a>";
}
?> </div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

Thank you for your time--If there is something you don't understand, please let me know...

dougal85

<?php 
if (isset($url15) and $url15 != "") { 
// Check that there is an entry in the database 
// if the url15 field is set to NOT NULL and DEFAULTs to "" 
// you can use if ($url15 !="") { 
echo "<a class="/item2/" href="/$url15_url/">Special: $url15</a>"; 
}

"and" in PHP is done by &&

your echo statements needs escape characters because the dounble quotes ( " )you want to echo out are being treated as the end of the string you want to echo. put \ before them. or you could wrap the whole thing in single quotes ( ' ) i guess
I also split the echo up to seperate the string from the variable - i find this easier to read - not everybody will agree with me on that however.

<?php 
if (isset($url15) && $url15 != "") { 
// Check that there is an entry in the database 
// if the url15 field is set to NOT NULL and DEFAULTs to "" 
// you can use if ($url15 !="") { 
echo "<a class=\"/item2/\" href=\"/ " .$url15_url. "/\">Special: " . $url15 . "</a>"; 
}

try my amendments and see if that helps. you havent given us much to go on... error messages etc are needed.

bufhal

Hi Dougal;
thanks for your help.
I added your code, no error messages:
http://www.attotech.com/gary_side_test.html

Please let me know if there are any glaring mistakes..

bufhal

This is what is in the row of the DB:
url15_url
software/files/manuals/Celerity.pdf

url15
test

dougal85

lost the <?php at the start of the PHP code

bufhal

Thanks for your replies. I have the field "Special" in the side menu:

http://www.attotech.com/gary_side_test.html

and it is displaying what is in the DB properly, however, the field "Special" still appears when there is nothing in the DB. I need it to not appear. I tried changing my settings in PHP MYADMIN, but no luck.

This is what is happening:

source code live on server
<a class="item3 arrow" href="javascript:void(0)">Special<img src="/images/arrow3.gif" width="10" height="12" alt="" /></a>
<div style="border: 2px; #FFFFFF" class="section">
<a class='item2' href='software/files/manuals/Celerity.pdf?PHPSESSID=c6f8f3c88984a195415aa726a59d17c7'>Hello World</a>
</div>

soruce code
<a class="item3 arrow" href="javascript:void(0)">Special<img src="/images/arrow3.gif" width="10" height="12" alt="" /></a>
<div style="border: 2px; #FFFFFF" class="section">
<?php
if ($url15 != "blank") { echo "<a class='item2' href='$url15_url'>$url15</a>"; }
?>
</div>

Can you please show me how to get the code show the "special" link when the field is populated?
Thank you very much for any help.

bufhal

the link is open now, you can see the PHP debug. How can I get the "Special" to not display when the DB fields are empty..
I appreciate any help...