Help with a code please

ungovernable

Hi,

i'm a newbie and i would really appreciate if someone could hook me up with a code that could do the following:

i have an entry in a table that contains a lot of Names, separated by line breaks

I would like to display only the lines which are begginning by the value of $_POST
And, format each lines as a link

for example let's say i have a table in my DB that contains the following:
"Bob Gratton
Petr Kropotkine
Roger Williams"

Then if $_POST is (exemple) Roger

then display only "<a href="Roger.php">Roger</a>"

THANKS FOR HELPING A NEWBIE!!!

big_nerd

ungovernable,

Is this MySQL? well this should work with that... and Microsoft SQL.

If you want it to only have 1 result, for MySQL add "LIMIT 1" at the end, and for MSSQL, add TOP 1 after select i.e. SELECT TOP 1 * ...

$name = $_POST['name'];

//If you want every entry with roger in it:
$query = "SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE name LIKE '%$name%' ";

// If you want it only if it starts with roger
$query = "SELECT * from your_table WHERE name LIKE '$name%' ";

//Then you would do this:

$result = mysql_query($query);
while ($row = mysql_fetch_object($result)) {
      echo "<a href=\"".$name.".php\">$name</a>\n";
}

Hope this helps

ungovernable

hmm this would filter only by tables?

most of the names are in the SAME field, and they are only separated by line breaks.

i want to show only the lines that contains $_POST and hide the others, but i have absoulutly no idea on how to do that

big_nerd

Oh, so make sure I have this right:

You have ONE string, that has multipul "names" seperated by like breaks, you want to split them up (say, into an array) and filter out all the ones that have not been posted from a form? (i.e. $_POST)

ungovernable

big.nerd wrote:
Oh, so make sure I have this right:

You have ONE string, that has multipul "names" seperated by like breaks, you want to split them up (say, into an array) and filter out all the ones that have not been posted from a form? (i.e. $_POST)

Yes, exactly!

sounds more comprehensible now 🙂

anarchoi

i'd like to know how to do that as well

big_nerd

Sorry for the late reply.

I would look into the explode() function.

you can get the data from the db, use explode to put it into an array and parse further.

You can use foreach() to scan through all of the usernames provided.

I would recommend getting started, and I can help if you run into a snag.

laserlight

most of the names are in the SAME field, and they are only separated by line breaks.

Chokes

I strongly suggest that you read PHP Builder article on Database Normalization and Design Techniques before proceeding further. I would not look into the explode() function unless you have really good reason not to normalise your database.

big_nerd

laserlight,

I am with you on that, however to simply get the job done I can't think of another way.

In fact I also can not like of why one would put all names in a single db record with line breaks.

ungovernable

could anyone give me an example code to do that... i'm really a newbie

i didn't chose how the table is looking, i'm modifying a script

big_nerd

This will take care of "everything in one line"

<?php

$str = "Mike Mikey|Tom Thompson|James Jameson|Arnold Arnold|Terry Terson|Willy Wilson|Jerry Jetson|Fred Flintstone|big nerd";
$fixed = explode("|",$str);

foreach ($fixed as $key => $value) {
	echo "$value<br>";
}
?>

ungovernable

thanks a lot! but, wouldn't this code display all of the entries?

how could i filter out all the names that have not been posted from a form? ($_POST)

sorry again for the newbie questions... thanks for your time 🙂

laserlight

how could i filter out all the names that have not been posted from a form? ($_POST)

You could use [man]array_intersect/man with the array of names from the form and the array returned by explode(). Incidentally, where did you find this script?

ungovernable

could i bother you again to get a part of code? i have troubles understanding.

say i'd like to display only values that contains "James Jameson" in big.nerd's code?

i'm modifying a mod of a forum. basically the script write a list of stuff you can select in each forum. the names are stored in an entry for each forum's row.... anyway this would be too hard for me to re-write everything 😉

big_nerd

You should make an attempt.

If you follow the link that laserlight had provided you should understand.

$posted = explode("|",$_POST['name']);

// then get your name from your table using an sql query)
// if you were to initialize it as "$data"

$db_data = explode("|",$data);

$fixed = array_instersect($db_data, $posted);

foreach ($fixed as $key => $value) { 
    echo "$value<br>"; 
}

That should do it.

ungovernable

Sorry for late reply, i had trouble with my computer and i had to format

i get this error :/

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: array_instersect() in /home/anarchoi1/domains/resistance.tk/public_html/forums/includes/adminfunctions_template.php(3596) : eval()'d code(306) : eval()'d code on line 106

laserlight

Typographical error: you are probably looking to use [man]array_intersect/man.

halojoy

ungovernable wrote:
Hi,

i have an entry in a table that contains a lot of Names,
separated by line breaks

I would like to display only the lines
which are beginning by the value of $_POST
And, format each lines as a link

for example let's say i have a table in my DB that contains the following:
"Bob Gratton
Petr Kropotkine
Roger Williams"

Then if $_POST is (exemple) Roger
then display only "<a href="Roger.php">Roger</a>"

SCRIPT_find_member_page_070510a

I got interested into howto do this.
So I wrote a complete php application.

This version has been tested at my own Server and works.

It even has got a simple DEBUG, you can turn it ON/OFF
It uses CSV, Comma Separated Values file for storing data (like a little database)
data/members.csv
This is how I organized data:
UserName ---- pagename
Bob Gratton,bob_g.php
Petr Kropotkine,petr_k.php
Roger Williams,roger_w.php
As you can see, Search for a member name MUST have at least 5 characters
to search for. Can of course be changed.
This is a PHP Script with ONLY one echo!!!
echo $display;
at the very end of script ... with whatever messages and such
This a way I would recommend!
The output of my code, is a Small Search-BOX, in upper right corner.
So you can include this in some other of your webpages:
include ( "findmemberpage.php" );
All members pages are put into folder: /pages/
Can be HTML or PHP pages.

I am not sure this is what you were after.
I hope, anyway, somebody may have use for it.
It is a good script to start with
.. and so add and make your own changes and modifications.

The download of THE FULL SCRIPT in a very small ZIP file
is at end of this post.
Enjoy!
halojoy
🙂

Here is my main script

<?php //    findmemberpage.php
// Script by halojoy May 2007

// SETTINGS Variables & Paths
$pagetitle= 'Find Member\'s Personal Page';
$datafile = 'data/members.csv';
$pagesdir = 'pages/';
// END SETTINGS

// Optional debug setting
$debug = FALSE; // Set TRUE for script Testing

// HTML Body and Form Background Color & Style
$display   = '';
$htmlbeg   = '<html><body style="background:lightgrey">' . "\n";
$htmlbeg  .= '<div style="float:right;padding:5px;background:lightblue;border:2px solid black">' . "\n";
$htmlbeg  .= '<h3 style="text-align:center">' . $pagetitle . '</h3>' . "\n";
$htmlend   = '<div>' . "\n";
$htmlend  .= '</body></html>';
// Welcome message
$result    = '<div style="text-align:center;color:green;font-weight:bold">Welcome!</div>' ."\n";
// Form to enter name
$form      =
'<form action="" method="post" style="margin:0">
<span style="color:black;font-weight:bold">Enter Name</span>
<input type="text" name="entry">
<input type="submit" name="make_link" value="Submit">
</form>' . "\n";

// START //////////////////////////////////////////////////
$reqname   = '';
$reqlength = 0;
$members   = array();
$found     = FALSE;

// See if POST Submitted and do Testings of Entry
if ( isset( $_POST[ 'make_link' ]) ) {
    $reqname = trim( $_POST[ 'entry' ] );
    $reqlength = strlen( $reqname );
    $result = ''; // Reset welcome message
    if ( $debug === TRUE ) {
        $result .= '<b>Entered Name: \'' .$reqname. '\'</b>' . "<br>\n";
        $result .= "<br>\n";
    }
    // Valid entry?
    if ( $reqlength < 5 ) { // not valid entry
        $result .= '<span style="color:red;font-weight:bold">5 characters or more, please.</span>' ."\n";
        $result .= '<span style="font-weight:bold"> Try again!</span>' ."\n";
    }
}

if ( $reqlength >= 5 ) {   // yes valid entry
    // Load members data
    if ( ($fp = fopen( $datafile, 'r' )) === FALSE )
        exit; // stop if datafile open error
    // Read data from file
    while ( ( $data = fgetcsv($fp, 96) ) !== FALSE )
        $members[] = $data;
    fclose( $fp );
    // Debug: dump data
    if ( $debug === TRUE ) {
        $result .= '<b>$members =</b>' . "\n";
        $result .= "<pre>\n" . print_r( $members, TRUE ) . "</pre>\n";
    }

// Search for requested name in members list
foreach( $members AS $row ) {
    if ( strncasecmp( $reqname, $row[0], $reqlength ) == 0 ) {
        $fullname = $row[0];
        $memberpage = $row[1];
        $found = TRUE;
    }
    if ( $found === TRUE )
        break;
}

// Handle Search result
if ( $found === TRUE ) {
    $path = $pagesdir.$memberpage;
    $link = '<a href="' . $path . '">' . $fullname . ' member page</a>';
    if ( $debug === TRUE ) {
        $result .= '<h4 style="color:blue;margin-bottom:0px">$fullname = "' .$fullname. '"' . "<br>\n";
        $result .= '$memberpage = "' . $path . '"</h4>' . "\n";
    }
    $result .= '<span style="color:green;font-weight:bold">Page: </span>' ."\n". $link ."\n";
}
else { // Not Found
    $result .= '<span style="color:red;font-weight:bold">\'' .$reqname. '\' not found</span>' ."\n";
}
}

// Put HTML Page Source together
$display = $htmlbeg . $form . $result . $htmlend;
// ... and display it
echo $display;

// END OF SCRIPT
exit;

?>

Download the above full script from
my server public downloads:
http://okay.mine.nu/downloads/

look for: SCRIPT_find_member_page_070510a.zip ( 2.8 kB )

ungovernable

looks good 🙂

but it doesn't search in database ? 🙁

halojoy

ungovernable wrote:
looks good 🙂

but it doesn't search in database ? 🙁

Yes, it search and finds memberpages in database file = data/memberpages.csv
- a database of CSV type
a very easy database to edit ( OpenOffice.org - CalcSheet , Excel, etc )
About CSV database format:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values

In this case, it will perform only better, and faster,
using CSV data storage.

( ... than to use SQLite database.
And I prefer keep it good and simple
when it is obvious we can do Without SQLite
SQLite = The PHP5 Built in database Option - Chosen by http://PHP.net )