Inserting and deleteing into other file

[itsme___]

Hey phpbuilders!

I have a bit of PHP code that defines a few strings then I want that strings to replace an old part of code from a different HTML file called sidebar.htm. I need to delete the old code that is there, then add in the new code(a string called $sbar) in the correct spot.

I could find the start of what I wanted deleted by the position (734 characters) because the code before it is always the same. The ending character of what needs to be deleted will vary. Therefore I need a way of reconizing the next </p> in the code AFTER the start position. I think that would be the easiest way. Correct me if i'm wrong.

Then I need to insert the string (which is called $sbar and is html code) in to that space in that file at 734 characters.

Hope someone can help me ASAP! If you need any other information to help me out, please ask.

Thanks in advance,
Josh

[veronicabend]

I would do something like this:

//$text has the whole text
//$startPos has the starting position
//$newCode has the new code you want to use

//get position of first </p> after startPos
$endPos = strpos($text,'</p>',$startPos);

$codeToRemove = substr($text,$startPos,$endPos - $startPos);
$updatedText = str_replace($codeToRemove,$newCode,$text);

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Veronica

[itsme___]

veronicabend wrote:

I would do something like this:

//$text has the whole text
//$startPos has the starting position
//$newCode has the new code you want to use

//get position of first </p> after startPos
$endPos = strpos($text,'</p>',$startPos);

$codeToRemove = substr($text,$startPos,$endPos - $startPos);
$updatedText = str_replace($codeToRemove,$newCode,$text);

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Veronica

looks good, but dont you have to connect to the OTHER file. So str_replace wouldn't work????

[veronicabend]

You read the whole sidebar.html in the $text variable at the beginning of the script using something like:

$text = file_get_contents("sidebar.html");

So then the $text variable has all code of sidebar.html file.

The $newCode variable has the new string you want to use.

You work in memory with the $text, $codeToReplace and $newCode variables, making the replacement.

To save the updated text into the sidebar.html file, you open the file for writing, thus truncating it, and save the updated content into it, like this for example:

$fh = fopen("sidebar.html","w");
if ($fh){
   fwrite($fh,$text);
   fclose($fh);
}

Your script needs to have writing permission to overwrite the sidebar.html file.

Regards,
Veronica

[itsme___]

veronicabend wrote:

You read the whole sidebar.html in the $text variable at the beginning of the script using something like:

$text = file_get_contents("sidebar.html");

So then the $text variable has all code of sidebar.html file.

The $newCode variable has the new string you want to use.

You work in memory with the $text, $codeToReplace and $newCode variables, making the replacement.

To save the updated text into the sidebar.html file, you open the file for writing, thus truncating it, and save the updated content into it, like this for example:

$fh = fopen("sidebar.html","w");
if ($fh){
   fwrite($fh,$text);
   fclose($fh);
}

Your script needs to have writing permission to overwrite the sidebar.html file.

Regards,
Veronica

Ahhh, ok, srry, shoulda got that! Anyways, right after that post, late at night, i figured it out too! But I might use your way as well.. we'll see... Have a few more things to make as theres a few more things it needs to update. But I'm past the wall and moving forward! Anyways, so heres what I did:
p.s. all the echos are just to see what was happening, what took the longest, and the finished product for the user.

<?php

//set vars
$date = $_POST['date'];
$message = $_POST['message'];
echo"".$date.$message."<br>";

//set html in string var
$htmlcode = 'CODE IS HERE. DELETED TO SAVE SPACE';


//add slashes
if(!get_magic_quotes_gpc())
{
$message = addslashes($message);
}
echo"".$message."<br><br>";

//add <br>s
$message = nl2br($message);
echo"".$message."<br><br>";

//Shorten string for sidebar 55 before pic, 230 after
$prt1 = substr($message,0,55);
$prt2 = substr($message,56,230);
echo"".$prt1."<br>".$prt2."<br><br>";


//combine strings with picture to get one sidebar string to place in
$sbar = $htmlcode."
 <h3>".$date."</h3>
 <p>".$prt1." <img src='images/pic_3.jpg' width='65' height='43' alt='pic 3' />".$prt2."</p>
 <p class='readmore'><a href='news.php'>Read More</a></p>
 </div>
 </div>
 <div id='content'>
 <img src='images/RFLogo2.png' width='346' height='234' alt='' />
 <div class='content'>";
echo"".$sbar."<br><br>";

//prepare strign for news.php
$news = "<h2>".$date."</h2><p>".$message."</p>";


//write to sidebar.htm
$file1 = fopen("sidebar.htm", "w");
fwrite($file1,$sbar);
fclose($file1);

?>