Writing to a flat file

raustin

i have the following script installed, but its not writing to the txt file:

<?php
include "style.php";
$filename = 'link.txt'; // edit this

function addlink($link_name,$link_url,$by,$email) {
global $filename;
$html = "<a href='$link_url'>$link_name</a>, posted by <a href='mailto:$email'>$by\n";
$fp = fopen($filename, 'a+');
fputs($fp, $html) or die("Could not open file!");
echo 'The link was added successfully.<br><br>';
}

function showlinks() {
global $filename;
$html = implode('<br/>',array_reverse(file($filename)));
echo $html;
}

If (!$link_url){
	print "You must enter a Link Address";
} elseif (!$link_name){
	print "You must enter a Link Name";
} elseif (!$by){
	print "You must enter your Name";
} elseif (!$email){
	print "You must enter a Email Address";
} else {
	addlink($link_name,$link_url,$by,$email);
	print "<b>Existing Links</b>:<br>"; 	// adds new link
	showlinks(); 							// display's list of links
}
?>

All i get is: "You must enter a Link Address"

Everything is set up properly... any thoughts?

bradgrafelman

Where is $link_url ever defined? Or $link_name?

Change all of those variables that reference HTML elements POST'ed from a form to their proper form: $_POST['element_name'].

For more information on this $POST superglobal array (and others - such as $GET), see this manual page: [man]variables.predefined[/man].

As to what the problem is, this script relies on register_globals being on. This directive, however, has long ago been deprecated and proven to be a security exploit (thus any sensible server admin will have it disabled).

EDIT: Furthermore, these lines:

global $filename;

are relying on the same directive. Once you switch that code over to use $POST['filename'] instead, you will no longer need those [man]global[/man]; lines. Why? As I said before, the $POST array (and its friends) are superglobals, or available in every variable scope.

raustin

so i need to do what to fix it?

bradgrafelman

This:

bradgrafelman wrote:
Change all of those variables that reference HTML elements POST'ed from a form to their proper form: $_POST['element_name'].

NogDog

Or, you can be lazy and add [man]import_request_variables/man; at the start of the script. (Change the 'p' to 'g' if your form is using the "get" method.)

bradgrafelman

Dunno why I didn't think of this earlier, but you could simply add something like this to the top of your script:

$filename = $_POST['filename'];
$link_url = $_POST['link_url'];
$by = $_POST['by'];
$email = $_POST['email'];

I suggested using the $_POST['name'] method simply because it's a good habit to get into.