Large text posting/storing

dougal85

What is the best way to store text in a database with formatting?

For example, just like in this form. Is there some classes available for us to use to do this? Or anybody got any pointers/suggestions?

Other things i'm thinking about is like bb codes, how hard are they to use?

Thanks.

bpat1434

What is the best way to store text in a database with formatting?

With the TEXT column type of course!!

For example, just like in this form. Is there some classes available for us to use to do this? Or anybody got any pointers/suggestions?

Use MEDIUMTEXT or LONGTEXT as they'll allow for the most code available (but can possibly slow down the DB if they're really filled to maximum capacity).

Other things i'm thinking about is like bb codes, how hard are they to use?

Pretty easy actually. Download either SMF or phpBB and look at how they parse it. It's a basic set of preg_match's and str_replaces in some cases. You format the bbCode before you insert into the database though 😉

Weedpacket

...or define your own XML dialect (or use an existing one), and then XSLT it into whatever output format (like HTML) it needs to be .... 😉

dougal85

sorry i didn't mean datatype in the database, i know how to do that part well enough.

is it as simple as if i were to enter every time it would replace it to <b> and so on?

One thing, how do i detect carrage returns(new lines)?

For some reason in my head this seems really complication but now that i look at it how you said i guess it might not be... i'll see what i can do.

Weedpacket - I've no idea what your talking about! lol, time to google half the stuff you said i think...

Thanks 🙂

MarkR

I think that BBcode etc, is extremely silly. Using HTML makes a lot more sense, but you need to strip it very carefully to prevent XSS attacks (and other nasties).

I wrote a very thorough function which parses a string as HTML, then decides whether it should nltobr() on it, to produce sanitised, tidied HTML. This allows posters to use HTML if they want, ignore if if they don't, and does NOT allow them to inject Javascript (by any one of the many methods of doing that).

Mark

bpat1434

I think that BBcode etc, is extremely silly. Using HTML makes a lot more sense, but you need to strip it very carefully to prevent XSS attacks (and other nasties).

Not if your users are used to forum posting... then it's catering to your clients needs 😉

sorry i didn't mean datatype in the database, i know how to do that part well enough.

is it as simple as if i were to enter every time it would replace it to <b> and so on?

Well, your question asked how to store it, I thought you meant the type. Clearer questions result in clearer answers 😉 And the database won't do any conversion. That's what your own functions will do. So you'd have to write your own BBCode parser (or borrow phpBB or SMF's). Or just make your users write HTML....

dougal85

i really dont want anything advanced at all, but its just things like normally it doesnt even remember carrage returns, so that means < br / > needs to be typed allot and thats a bit silly. i dont really care about bold, italics and stuff like that.

chrislive

you may want to consider using htmlentities to convert your formatted text before adding it to your database. If you have any quotes etc it can cause problems in your SQL and your output later.

soo...

// Convert your text first
$text = htmlentities($text, ENT_QUOTES);

// Revert back
$text = html_entity_decode($text);

Enjoy 😃

leatherback

Hi Dougal,

try using a text-editor like the one you see on this forum. Moxiecode makes one quite usefull. It will convert typed-in text to HTML formatted text, which you can then store in the database.

http://tinymce.moxiecode.com/

bpat1434

Use [man]nl2br/man on your input before storing it in the database. It will change carriage returns into <br> tags.

MarkR

No, do htmlentities() and nl2br() after you get it back out of the database, before display instead. That way people will be able to edit their original posting, rather than the nl2br'd version.

Don't mess with what's in the database, as you won't then be able to easily find the original text (especially if you've changed the algorithm since the post).

Mark