dynamic title tag problem

seanisean

Hi all,

struggled finding anything in the searches for an answer to this one, a bit specific maybe, here goes....

I got an Xhtml page, with a dynamic list in the body coded in php, what i'm looking to do is update the title tag dynamically everytime the dynamic ul list items are clicked into deeper levels...

problem i think? is that the list is generated through reams of nested while loops, so only on the initial page load will the title tag generate, thereafter everytime you click through the ul links it remains static, thats my theory anyway...

basically if its even possible i'm looking for
<title>blah - blah1</title>
to become
<title>blah - blah2</title> when blah2 is clicked on and so on...

any help with this will be greatly appreciated

regards sean

bpat1434

Just call a quick JS function when it's clicked...

function changeTitle(txt)
{
	if (txt != null)
	{
		document.title = txt;
	}
}

would update the title with whatever you want....

seanisean

thanks for your quick reply,

of course though i've not really had a chance to learn an awful lot about js....

so i'll just ask a question or two if thats ok..

most of my dynamic pages change the title by using php calls to the mysql database and pulling the necesary text,

so can i pass these arguments into the js function somehow on the fly?

and would there be any need for <script></script> tags for example?

if you need to see any code snippets let me know all though they are quite large snippets

regards sean

bpat1434

if you're pulling info from a database, then just move the PHP outside of the html, and call variables as needed in the body of it. Then you can change the title easily.

<?php

// Some database junk here
$conn = mysql_connect('localhost', 'user', 'pass');
mysql_select_db('database', $conn);

$query = "SELECT * FROM myTable";
$result = mysql_query($query);
$info = array();
$i=0;
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
  foreach($row as $key=>$val)
    $info[$i][$key] = $val;
  $i++;
}
?>
<html>
<head>
<title><?php  echo $info[rand(0, count($info)-1)]['title']; ?></title>
</head>
<body>
Blabh blah blah
</body>
</html>

That's a basic example, but it should help you out.

seanisean

hi thanks again for your reply,

I understand what your saying but to give an example(excuse me for all the formatting and rubbish)🙂

<html> 
<head>
<?php
include('secretfolder/secretdatabasestuff.inc');

// Select the materials database
if (! @mysql_select_db('adatabase'))
{
	die( '<p>Unable to locate the materials ' . 'database at this time.</p>' );
}
?>	

<title>mysite - Products and materials - $dynamic stuff here</title>
</head> 
<body> 
<?php 

<?php
				if (!$_GET['cat'] || $_GET['cat'] == "")
				{
					echo("<div id=\"something\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2>Categories</h2><p>Use the category links below to expand your choices and to refine your search.</p>\n\t\t\t\t<br />\n\t\t\t</div>\n");


				$categories = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM blah_categories");
				echo("\n\t\t\t<div class=\"something\">\n\t\t\t\t<ul>");
				WHILE($category_item = mysql_fetch_array($categories))
				{
					$category_name = $category_item['category'];
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"somethingindex.php?cat=$category_name\">$category_name</a></li>");
				}
				echo("\n\t\t\t\t</ul>\n\t\t\t");
				echo("</div>\n\t\t\t");
			}
			elseif ($_GET['cat'] && !$_GET['subcat'])
			{
				echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"something\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2>sub-categories</h2><p>Follow a sub-category link to further expand and refine your search.</p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<br />\n\t\t\t\t\t</div>");

				$main_category = $_GET['cat'];

				$categories = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM something_categories");
				echo("\n\t\t\t<div class=\"something\">\n\t\t\t\t<ul>");
				WHILE($category_item = mysql_fetch_array($categories))
				{
					$category_name = $category_item['category'];
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"somethingindex.php?cat=$category_name\">$category_name</a>");

					$selection = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM $main_category");
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul>");
					if ($main_category == $category_name)
					{
					WHILE($selected = mysql_fetch_array($selection))
					{
						$select = $selected['category'];
						echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"somethingindex.php?cat=$main_category&subcat=$select\">$select</a></li>");
					}
					}
					else{}	
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t</ul>\t\t\t\t");
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t</li>\t\t\t\t");
				}
				echo("\n\t\t\t\t</ul>\n\t\t\t");
				echo("</div>\n\t\t\t");
			}
			elseif ($_GET['cat'] && $_GET['subcat'] && !$_GET['man'])
			{
				echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"something\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2>manafacturers</h2><p>choose a manafacturer and follow the link to see some of their current range.</p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<br />\n\t\t\t\t\t</div>");

				$main_category = $_GET['cat'];
				$sub_category = $_GET['subcat'];

				$categories = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM something_categories");
				echo("\n\t\t\t<div class=\"something\">\n\t\t\t\t<ul>");
				WHILE($category_item = mysql_fetch_array($categories))
				{
					$category_name = $category_item['category'];
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"somethingindex.php?cat=$category_name\">$category_name</a>");

					$selection = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM $main_category");
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul>");
					if ($main_category == $category_name)
					{
					WHILE($selected = mysql_fetch_array($selection))
					{
						$select = $selected['category'];
						echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"somethingindex.php?cat=$main_category&subcat=$select\">$select</a></li>");

						$categories3 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM $sub_category");
						echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul>");
						if ($sub_category == $select)
						{
						WHILE($selected2 = mysql_fetch_array($categories3))
						{
							$select2 = $selected2['category'];
							echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"somethingindex.php?cat=$main_category&subcat=$select&man=$select2\">$select2</a>");
						}
						}
						else{}
						echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t</ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t");
						echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t</li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t");

					}
					}
					else{}	
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t</ul>\t\t\t\t");
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t</li>\t\t\t\t");
				}
				echo("\n\t\t\t\t</ul>\n\t\t\t");
				echo("</div>\n\t\t\t");
			}
			elseif ($_GET['cat'] && $_GET['subcat'] && $_GET['man'])
			{
				echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"somthing\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2>Choose a product</h2><p>Click on a product to view images and details.</p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<br />\n\t\t\t\t\t</div>");

				$main_category = $_GET['cat'];
				$sub_category = $_GET['subcat'];
				$manafacturer = $_GET['man'];

				$categories = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM something_categories");
				echo("\n\t\t\t<div class=\"something\">\n\t\t\t\t<ul>");
				WHILE($category_item = mysql_fetch_array($categories))
				{
					$category_name = $category_item['category'];
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"somethingindex.php?cat=$category_name\">$category_name</a>");

					$selection = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM $main_category");
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul>");
					if ($main_category == $category_name)
					{
					WHILE($selected = mysql_fetch_array($selection))
					{
						$select = $selected['category'];
						echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"somethingindex.php?cat=$main_category&subcat=$select\">$select</a></li>");

						$categories3 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM $sub_category");
						echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul>");
						if ($sub_category == $select)
						{
						WHILE($selected2 = mysql_fetch_array($categories3))
						{
							$select2 = $selected2['category'];
							echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"somethingindex.php?cat=$main_category&subcat=$select&man=$select2\">$select2</a>");

							$selection2 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM $manafacturer");
							echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul>");
							if ($manafacturer == $select2)
							{
							WHILE($selected3 = mysql_fetch_array($selection2))
							{
								if($selected3['product_type'] == $select)
								{
									$select3 = $selected3['product'];
									echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"details.php?cat=$main_category&subcat=$select&man=$select2&prod=$select3\">$select3</a>");
								}
							}
							}
							else{}
							echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t</ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t");
							echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t</li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t");
						}
						}
						else{}
						echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t</ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t");
						echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t</li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t");

					}
					}
					else{}	
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t</ul>\t\t\t\t");
					echo("\n\t\t\t\t\t</li>\t\t\t\t");
				}
				echo("\n\t\t\t\t</ul>\n\t\t\t");
				echo("</div>\n\t\t\t");
			}
		?>?> 

</body> 
</html>

the code which generates access to the needed text for the dynamic title for each option that is selected in the dynamic list.... is executed in the body of the html document, so is it possible with this particularly ugly looking pile of nested loops to extract the necessary database info and update the title in the head section on the fly with each click of the dynamic list?

thanks once again for your time with this

regards sean