[RESOLVED] Need to load folder's filenames in array

[conjurer]

I have a folder that contains some various images in jpg, gif, etc format. I want to load the file names into an array so that I can then use them in a random generator to change images when the page refreshes.

How would I get the filenames into an array?

I have used a script to generate the images randomly as follows:

<?php 
	$picturesArray = array("trip_1.jpg", "trip_2.jpg", 
						   "trip_5.jpg", "trip_6.jpg",
						   "trip_8.jpg", "trip_9.jpg",
						   "trip_12.jpg","trip_13.jpg",
						   "trip_14.jpg","trip_15.jpg");
	srand((float) microtime() * 10000000); 
	shuffle($picturesArray);

echo "<img src=\"../../assets/images/Deschutes/$picturesArray[0]\"";
echo " alt=\"Deschutes River, Oregon\" >";
?>

But with this I have to save all the files as trip_1.jpg, trip_2.jpg, etc.

I would like to modify this so I could create the $picturesArray based on the filenames in the directory I want to access, then do the shuffle to mix them up, then echo out the one to show.

Any thoughts?

[TheFinnisher]

How about trying PHP's readdir function:

http://www.php.net/readdir

There's an example you could use! 🙂

[conjurer]

Okay, that is in the right direction, this works great to pull the names, but how do I convert the while loop to have it load the names in an array?

<?php
if ($handle = opendir('assets/images/Deschutes')) 
{
   echo "Directory handle: $handle<br>";
   echo "Files:<br>";

   /* This is the correct way to loop over the directory. */
   while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) {
       echo "$file<br>";
   }


   closedir($handle);
}
?> 

[conjurer]

Wait - think I see it here:

 $file_count = 0;
   $path = "files/";
   $file_types = array('jpeg', 'jpg', 'ico', 'png', 'gif', 'bmp');
   $p = opendir($path);
       while (false !== ($filename = readdir($p))) {
           $files[] = $filename;
       }

Right?

[conjurer]

WOW! Thanks for the help - the following code is working to load the images.

Right now it does the follwing:

1. Reads the chosen directory

2. matches filetype to a given array

3. loads the matches into a picture array variable

4. shuffles the picture array

5. then outputs the image to the web page

So that works, but the pictures will only change when the page refreshes. Which is the way I did it before so that works ok.
But - just to take it one step further, how could I add some sort of timer to cause it to refresh the screen with a new image in xx seconds?

<?php
    function file_type($file)
	{
       $path_chunks = explode("/", $file);
       $thefile = $path_chunks[count($path_chunks) - 1];
       $dotpos = strrpos($thefile, ".");
       return strtolower(substr($thefile, $dotpos + 1));
   	}

   $path = "assets/images/Deschutes/";
   $file_types = array('jpeg', 'jpg', 'ico', 'png', 'gif', 'bmp', 'html');
   $p = opendir($path);
       while (false !== ($filename = readdir($p))) 
	   {
           $files[] = $filename;
       }
   sort($files);
       foreach ($files as $file) 
	   {
           $extension = file_type($file);
           if($file != '.' && $file != '..' && array_search($extension, $file_types) !== false)
		   {
               $file_count++;
			   $picturesArray[] = $file;
               /*echo '<a href="'.$path.$file.'">'.$file.'</a> <br/>';*/

       }
   }
srand((float) microtime() * 10000000); 
shuffle($picturesArray);

echo "<img src=\"$path"."$picturesArray[0]\"";
echo " alt=\"Deschutes River, Oregon\" >";			   			   
?>

[TheFinnisher]

Hi conjurer,

Nicely done! I believe loading another image could only be achieved using client-side scripting like javascript unless you want to refresh the entire page?. Then you could use the meta refresh in the header of the outputted HTML page. You can also use php's header to re-direct but then again we are talking about page reload (and with that function you can't output HTML content before re-direct.

If javascript (or flash) is an option you could find a slide-show type script. Then output the javascript array with the very similar php you came up with and fully control how images show up.

In my opinion it might be a good idea to try. 🙂

[conjurer]

Yes Thanks for your help.

I looked at a slide show script. I think I am going to leave it as is. The shuffle will bring up images randomly when someone comes to the page so it will look like content is changing.

I can also have more than one on same page by using a later number in the array like this:
echo "<img src=\"$path"."$picturesArray[0]\"";
echo " alt=\"Deschutes River, Oregon\" >";
echo "<img src=\"$path"."$picturesArray[1]\"";
echo " alt=\"Deschutes River, Oregon\" >";
echo "<img src=\"$path"."$picturesArray[2]\"";
echo " alt=\"Deschutes River, Oregon\" >";

So when it shuffles it will mix up the order of the pictures, and by using a different index from the same shuffled array I will make sure I get different images.

Think this is enough for what I want to show.

Thanks again for your excellent help.