Read or include variables from a txt file

wilburburns

OK, I have a script which reads from a database, displays some Data. The Display section loops through three times (Or as many as necessary)

For each loop, an external text file needs to be included which is basically a list of variables. This file is Dynamically selected based on the record being displayed in the loop.

Now for the problem. When I try to "Include" the text file, it is being interpreted as a string, and not a variable. How can I make this file be read as a string.

Below is the current format of the file I need to include. This is not a Script, just a list of variables and their assignments.

$cpanelpro_support="1";
$cpanelpro_images="1";
$videotut="1";
$ror="0";
$updatecontact="1";
$modules-php-pear="0";
$modules-perl="0";

Here is a condensed version of the script I am trying to add these variables to.

<?php
//opens the initial table and <TR> 
echo '<table border="1" align="center" class="plandet">'."\n".'<tr>';
// My Real escape string, database select and build array all goes here and is working.  

do { //start the loop section
//Followed by some calculations to determine how to display some of the data in the database. 


//beginning of the include file section...
$feature_dir = "/home/peweb/peweb_features/";
$cpaddon_suffix = ".cpaddons";
$inc = ".inc";
$featurefile = $feature_dir.$row_plan_monthly['plan_name'].$inc; 
$cpaddonfile = $feature_dir.$row_plan_monthly['plan_name'].$cpaddon_suffix.$inc; 
include($featurefile); 
include($cpaddonfile);

// begin the true looped display of data
echo '<td>';
echo '<table border="1" align="center" class="plandet">'."\n".
  '<tr>'."\n".
    '<td>'.$featurefile.'<br />'
.$cpaddonfile.'<br />'.$ror.'<br />Plan Name</td>'."\n".
    '<td>'.$row_plan_monthly['plan_friendly_name'].'</td>'."\n".
  '</tr>'."\n".
	'<tr>'."\n". 
    '<td>Disk Space</td>'."\n".
    '<td>'."\n".$quota.'gb</td>'."\n".
  '</tr>'."\n".
  '<tr>'."\n". 
    '<td>BandWidth</td>'."\n".
'<td>'.$bw.'gb</td>'."\n".
'</tr>'."\n".
'</table>'."\n" ;
echo '</td>';
//End the Loop
} while ($row_plan_monthly = mysql_fetch_assoc($plan_all));
//close the Table started in the beginning
echo '</tr>';
echo '</table>';
?>

Go here for an example of how this is currently working. http://www.pewebhost.com/builder_example.php
As you can see, the Loop structure seems to be working correctly, $featurefile seems to be redefined correctly, I just can't get this file to load as a set of variables which I can display. Instead, they are strings, which are always displaying...

Thanks,
Cliff

bradgrafelman

$data = file_get_contents('thefile.txt');
eval($data);

A much better solution, however, would be to rename the file to a .php extension and add <?php ?> tags. Then you'd simply [man]include[/man] the file plus other users couldn't view the contents of the file.

wilburburns

bradgrafelman wrote:
$data = file_get_contents('thefile.txt');
eval($data);
A much better solution, however, would be to rename the file to a .php extension and add <?php ?> tags. Then you'd simply [man]include[/man] the file plus other users couldn't view the contents of the file.

Thank you....
I did end up using your preferred/better method of converting to a php script. I had tried this before but came up with errors. After your suggestion, I dug deeper in to the errors, which were illegal characters as variable names. Once I corrected this problem, all is working as expected now.

The "Include" File is formatted by a bash script, mainly using sed. I did run into a problem trying to add the "?>" to the end of the file. I couldn't ever get a working sed command to add this info. My work around for this was to create a dummy file containing a single line "?>" and then combining the original file and the dummy file using cat.

I would love to know the correct format of the sed to add "?>" to the end of the file though. I thought is should be...
sed $a\?> <...inputfile... >...outputfile....
But this does not work..

Cliff

NogDog

bradgrafelman wrote:
$data = file_get_contents('thefile.txt');
eval($data);
A much better solution, however, would be to rename the file to a .php extension and add <?php ?> tags. Then you'd simply [man]include[/man] the file plus other users couldn't view the contents of the file.

Renaming the file is not necessary, but the <?php . . . ?> tags are (though if the file is to be kept in a directory accessible via HTTP, then a .php tag would be useful to keep anyone from viewing its contents via HTTP). I would much prefer this solution over the eval() option both for simplicity and performance.

bradgrafelman

As for the problem with sed, try escaping the > character for the ?> tag.

wilburburns

NogDog wrote:
Renaming the file is not necessary, but the <?php . . . ?> tags are (though if the file is to be kept in a directory accessible via HTTP, then a .php tag would be useful to keep anyone from viewing its contents via HTTP). I would much prefer this solution over the eval() option both for simplicity and performance.

The Files are outside of the Document_Root, therefore, I did rename them, but this was so due mainly to the Bash script and how it flowed using the "cat" method mentioned. I'm not concerned about them being read via the web.

Thanks,
Cliff

wilburburns

bradgrafelman wrote:
As for the problem with sed, try escaping the > character for the ?> tag.

I tried several different escape sequences and none of them seemed to work. I finally gave up and came up with the "cat" method, which appears to be working OK.. Just frustrating when I know something should work, but I can't find the correct command structure to get it done...

This site has been a great help in the last few weeks though... Thank you all..

Cliff

wilburburns

OK, I just thought of a potential problem in my script and the include files.

Each of the included files will have the same named variables. However, in some files, some variables may be left out. For Example...

Base1.php has the following....

$cpanelpro_support="1";
$cpanelpro_images="1";
$videotut="1";
$ror="0";
$updatecontact="1";
$modules-php-pear="0";
$modules-perl="0";
$modules-ruby="0";
$php-config="1";

Base2.php has the following....

$cpanelpro_support="1";
$cpanelpro_images="1";
$videotut="1";
$ror="0";

$modules-php-pear="0";
$modules-perl="0";

$php-config="1";

Base3.php has the following....

$videotut="1";
$ror="0";

$modules-php-pear="0";
$modules-perl="0";

$php-config="1";

With each new include file load in the loop, the duplicate variable names will be overwritten and become correct. However, what will happen if the variable is not in the new include file.

Using the example above, when Base3.php is loaded, what will be the value of $modules-ruby ????

I need that value to be either null or "1"

Cliff

NogDog

If the variable is not in the later include file, then it will not be changed from whatever it was set to in the earlier file. It is exactly the same as if the code in each include file was instead typed directly into your main file that is doing the including in place of the include() call.

wilburburns

Thanks NogDog... That is exactly what I thought would happen and what I verified would happen yesterday after posting.

I have a couple of ideas on how to easily set these variables to a "Null" Value, by duplicating each file with null values, and then including them at the end of the loop.

I'm up for suggestions to a potentially better or different method of dumping these variables.

My initial thought for this whole script was to dump everything to a database and pull out the records that I needed. I switched to just reading the files, because I thought it would be a bit easier. I think I may have been wrong and may need to re-evaluate the thought of dumping the data to a database.

Cliff