PHP script expension...

[deesse]

Hi All,

Hope I can get some help from you here. I am using command line, and the following script works fine.

Problem 1:
I would like to have a link or call function to these sites below(in the same script if possible), like if the user picks 'b' (Site2), then this script can point to the specific item.
I have additional PHP scripts such as config.php, download.php. How can I include download.php in this script to be called automatically when the user makes a choice.
The choice comes first and then download follows.

Problem 2:
How to insert error handler in this script? Like if the user mistakenly input a wrong choice...eg: m instead of c.

Hope to get some comments soon...
thanks in advance for reading!

<?php 
fwrite(STDOUT, "Pick a site link  (enter the letter and press return)\n"); 
// An array of choice to sites 
$sites = array ( 
   'a'=>'Site1', 
   'b'=>'Site2', 
   'c'=>'Site3',
   'd'=>'Site3',

); 

fwrite(STDOUT, "Enter 'q' to quit\n"); 

// Display the choices 
foreach ( $sites as $choice => $site ) { 
   fwrite(STDOUT, "\t$choice: $site\n"); 
} 

// Loop until they enter 'q' for Quit 
do { 
   // A character from STDIN, ignoring whitespace characters 
   do { 
       $selection = fgetc(STDIN); 
   } while ( trim($selection) == '' ); 

   if ( array_key_exists($selection,$sites) ) { 
       fwrite(STDOUT, "You picked {$sites[$selection]}\n"); 
   } 

} while ( $selection != 'q' ); 

exit(0); 
?>

[rowanparker]

You want to read from STDIN.

//Like this:
$r = fread(STDIN, 1024);

[deesse]

Thanks for the reply....!

Is it possible to combine both array and echo or print together??

I would like to use echo or print in the array function....how to go about that?

Like once all the sites are displayed, there could be one line description of each one of them.
The result shoud look like this:

Enter 'q' to quit
a: sites {one line description goes here....} but how?
b: site2 {one line description goes here....} "
c: site3 {another line description goes here....} but how?
d: site4 {another line description goes here....} "
e: site5 {another line description goes here....} "

thanks...!

[rowanparker]

Erm...
I think I know what you mean.
You just want to display some extra information when you output?

Or reading from your original post, you want to go to a different script depending on what the user selects?

And a tip, you don't have to do fwrite(STDOUT) to print something on screen you can just use echo (or print) and that will by default print to STDOUT.

[deesse]

yeah you get what exactly I meant....You have identified two of my major problems:

By doing so,,,how to modify the script then? how would my overall script look like????

thanks again.....

thanks again.....

[rowanparker]

This should do it?

<?php 
echo "Pick a site link  (enter the letter and press return)\n"; 
// An array of choice to sites 
$sites = array ( 
   'a'=> array("name" => "Site1", "desc" => "This is a site 1" ),
   'b'=> array("name" => "Site2", "desc" => "This is a site 2" ),
   'c'=> array("name" => "Site3", "desc" => "This is a site 3" ),
   'd'=> array("name" => "Site4", "desc" => "This is a site 4" ),

); 

echo "Enter 'q' to quit\n"; 

// Display the choices 
foreach ( $sites as $choice ) { 
   echo "\t$choice: {$choice['name']} - {$choice['desc']}\n"; 
} 

// Loop until they enter 'q' for Quit 
do { 
   // A character from STDIN, ignoring whitespace characters 
   do { 
       $selection = fgetc(STDIN); 
   } while ( trim($selection) == '' ); 

   if ( array_key_exists($selection,$sites) ) { 
       echo "You picked {$sites[$selection]}\n"; 
   } 

} while ( $selection != 'q' ); 

exit(0); 
?>

Untested, but should work.

[deesse]

the result looks like this:

Enter 'q' to quit
Array: Site1 - This is a site 1
Array: Site2 - This is a site 2
Array: Site3 - This is a site 3
Array: Site4 - This is a site 4

But it doesn't show anymore the choices the user can make......
like: a, b, c, d.....

[deesse]

Still fixing the above problems.....

I have just added the error handler in my script....after the if statement.

:

   else{ $stderr = fopen('php://stderr', 'w');
    fwrite($stderr,"There was an Error\n");
    fwrite($stderr,"Please try again and pick the right letter...\n");
    fclose($stderr);   }

The problem is when I intentionally enter a wrong letter it works by prompting the error message and wait for the user to enter the right letter, but when I enter the letter 'q' to quit, it does quit by showing the same error message as if it was a wrong letter.

How to avoid that? Quit is just quiting the script, not an error...
Am I missing something here?
thanks...!

[rowanparker]

Try this:

<?php
echo "Pick a site link  (enter the letter and press return)\n";
// An array of choice to sites
$sites = array (
   'a'=> array("a", "Site1",  "This is a site 1"),
   'b'=> array("b", "Site2",  "This is a site 2"),
   'c'=> array("c", "Site3",  "This is a site 3"),
   'd'=> array("d", "Site4",  "This is a site 4"),

);


echo "Enter 'q' to quit\n";

// Display the choices
foreach ( $sites as $choice ) {
   echo "\t{$choice[0]}: {$choice[1]} - {$choice[2]}\n";
}

// Loop until they enter 'q' for Quit
do {
   // A character from STDIN, ignoring whitespace characters
   do {
       $selection = fgetc(STDIN);
   } while ( trim($selection) == '' );

   if ( array_key_exists($selection,$sites) ) {
       echo "You picked {$sites[$selection]}\n";
   }

} while ( $selection != 'q' );

exit(0);
?>

[rowanparker]

Why not just exit(0); straight away when you find the value 'q';

[deesse]

Ok thanks a lot....
Here is the modified script version.....

The description is working fine (thanks again)...
But my other concern is, I wan the user to go to a different script depending on what the user selects?
I already have a couple of scripts ready to be called by this script here...

For instance, when I select "b", with the include() function in the script...this will automatically call: arraydownload.php.
Same goes for the selection "a","c","d" etc.....I don't all the choices to be pointing to only one item (site).
How to differentiate them.....???? if select "a" then call "a" site....if "b" then "b" site and so on.....

Hope I am being understood...😉
thanks again----

<?php 

fwrite(STDOUT, "\nPlease Pick a site\n");
// An array of choice to sites 
$sites = array ( 
   'a'=> array("a", "Site1",  "This is a site 1"),
   'b'=> array("b", "Site2",  "This is a site 2"),
   'c'=> array("c", "Site3",  "This is a site 3"),
   'd'=> array("d", "Site4",  "This is a site 4"),


); 

echo "Enter 'q' to quit\n";

// Display the choices 
foreach ( $sites as $choice ) {
   echo "\t{$choice[0]}: {$choice[1]} - {$choice[2]}\n";

} 

// Loop until they enter 'q' for Quit 
do { 
   // A character from STDIN, ignoring whitespace characters 
   do { 
       $selection = fgetc(STDIN); 
   } while ( trim($selection) == '' ); 

   if ( array_key_exists($selection,$sites) ) { 
       echo "You picked {$sites[$selection]}\n";
	echo "Please wait...downloading in progress for {$sites[$selection]}\n";
         include($sites[$selection] . "download.php");
    }
   else{ $stderr = fopen('php://stderr', 'w');
    fwrite($stderr,"There was an Error\n");
    fwrite($stderr,"Please try again and pick the right letter...\n");
    fclose($stderr);   }

  } while ( $selection != 'q' );

exit(0);
?>

[rowanparker]

In the array, [0] is the letter, [1] is the name and [2] is the description.

Try this instead:

include($sites[$selection][1] . "download.php");

That will load, for example: Site1download.php is this what you want?

[deesse]

yes yes yes.-...!!!!!!

That's exactly what I wanted...pointing to the right path (site)......thank you very much......this is really great.

How to make the letter 'q' to quit/exit the script without prompting out the error message meant for other letters ?????

thanks once again...this has been a great help---!

[rowanparker]

Try using this instead: (slightly rewritten)

// Loop until they enter 'q' for Quit 
do { 
   // A character from STDIN, ignoring whitespace characters 
   do { 
       $selection = fgetc(STDIN); 
   } while (trim($selection) == '' );

   if ($selection == "q") {
      echo "Exiting................\n";
      exit(0);
   }

   if (array_key_exists($selection,$sites)) { 
      echo "You picked {$sites[$selection]}\n";
      echo "Please wait...downloading in progress for {$sites[$selection]}\n";
      include($sites[$selection] . "download.php");
   } else {
       $stderr = fopen('php://stderr', 'w');
       fwrite($stderr,"There was an Error\n");
       fwrite($stderr,"Please try again and pick the right letter...\n");
       fclose($stderr);
   }

} while ($selection != 'q');

Remember if you have loads of websites where 'q' is a website, then you'll never be able to quit peacefully.

[deesse]

A Million Thanks to you......I truly appreciate your help!!!!
Thank you......and thank you!
This also works fine...! I like it this way 🙂

I will now try to link up all the sites....they are all about 10 sites. if anything i will come back with some questions....... So i will be cautious about 'q'....

NB: I am very keen in learning in depth PHP and stuffs....
Any recommendation out there, books or anything?
You are really good....how did come up to this point?

[rowanparker]

Hahaha.
It's no problem.
I enjoy helping people and working out their problems.
Gives me somet to do 🙂

Remember, you could always use numbers instead of letters.

If that is all you need, remember to mark this thread as resolved.

[deesse]

ok thanks for the help...!

Another question:
I am not sure if this is possible or not.

I am trying to generalize the sites to download from with different extensions.
For example:

• site1.csv.gz
• site2.cvs.gz
• site3.cvs.gz

and
- site4.kl.txt
- site5.kl.txt

and
- site6.jsf.zip
- site7.jsf.zip

Is it possible to generalize these extensions in php script? instead of creating a script for each individual site.
Well I hope the explanation is clearer.......

thanks!

[rowanparker]

I am a bit confused.

Is this the code that goes in Site*download.php?

How do you know which file extension it is?
Is it stored anywhere?

I'm willing to help but I'll need a bit more explanation.

[deesse]

Yeah it is the same code.....

Ok lets put it aside first, so i will come up with more explanation or clearer picture later.

I am wondering, is it possible for the include() to be kept in the folder?
Like: instead of include($sites[$selection][1] . "download.php");
which can call result: site2.download.php

but rather something like:

include($sites[$selection][1] . "folderName/download.php");

I would like to organise and keep all the files in the (folderName).

I tried coding it but it calls the result like:site2folder/download.php

One more thing, how to cancel/stop a process that is running.....? I am testing now all the files, every time i am doing so, i have to call close down the command line and open a new one.

[rowanparker]

Control-C will stop any command running.

You mean like this:

include($sites[$selection][1] . "/download.php");
//Produces: Site1/download.php

Please give me the output that you want if that is incorrect