[RESOLVED] storing and retrieving php code from a mysql table

jjheath

I am trying to retrieve, and render, php code that's been saved in a mysql table. when i retrieve it and echo it, it simply echoes whatever text is there, it doesn't actually render the php even though it's in <?php ?> tags. it even prints the tags as-is.

Just what am I missing exactly to make this work?

I couldn't find much on google or on here about this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

as an example, i have this saved in a table:

<? echo 'test'; ?>

I am querying for this like so:

<?
//retrieve subComponent data
$compQuery = mysql_query("SELECT content FROM subComponents WHERE id = '".$_GET['sub']."'");
$comp = mysql_fetch_assoc($compQuery);
?>

and displaying like so:

<?=$comp['content'];?>

now, i want it, to simply render the php from the db and it should just display 'test'.

instead, it's actually displaying <? echo 'test'; ?>

not sure how to get it to actually render the php that's saved.

jjheath

bueller? bueller? anyone? bueller?

laserlight

First, try using the normal PHP open tags instead of short tags, which may be disabled and come into conflict with XML tags if enabled:

<?php
//retrieve subComponent data
$compQuery = mysql_query("SELECT content FROM subComponents WHERE id = '".$_GET['sub']."'");
$comp = mysql_fetch_assoc($compQuery);
?>

<?php echo $comp['content']; ?>

jjheath

No effect. I have been using short tags for the rest of the project without issue.

jjheath

  <div id="contentContainer">
    <!-- Show Message for AJAX response -->
    <div id="insert_response" class="alert alignCenter"></div>

<div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<?php echo 'test'; ?></div>
  </div>

the php code is showing up in the source but is not displaying anything on the page.

laserlight

Oh, I missed the part where you wrote "php code that's been saved in a mysql table". For this you need to use [man]eval/man, but it comes with an inherent security risk: you may have malicious code evaluated.

jjheath

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I'll play around with this and see what comes of it.

Thanks much for your time!

laserlight

You're welcome 🙂
Remember to mark this thread as resolved (if it is) using the thread tools.

A closing word about eval() though: due to the security risk, you should ensure that the code that is evaluated is only ever provided by a privileged user who knows what he/she is doing. This is often easier said than done, which is why Rasmus Lerdorf has been quoted as saying that "if eval() is the answer, you're almost certainly asking the wrong question".