Is It Possible To str_replace This..?

[Channel5]

Is it possible to use str_replace to insert a function instead of just a string?

[bradgrafelman]

What do you mean 'insert a function' ? A function is a set of instructions for PHP to execute. Do you perhaps mean the output of a function?

[Weedpacket]

No, but preg_replace_callback can.

[Channel5]

I'm working on an autoresponder script and I'm wondering if it's possible for a webmaster to display the subscription form by using a string.

For example:

If the webmaster types %%name%% into their page, it is replaced by pulling the user's name from the database.

So is it also possible to do it so that if a webmaster types %%subscription%% into their template (which is saved into a database and displayed whenever a surfer views index.php), %%subscription%% is replaced with a function I created called displaySubscription() ?

[bradgrafelman]

Does displaySubscription() just return() a string of data? If so...

$search = array('%%user%%', '%%subscription%%');
$replace = array($user, displaySubscription());

$data = str_replace($search, $replace, $data);

[Channel5]

It displays a form and carries over data.

Here's a simplified version:

function displaySubscription($ip,$aid){
  echo '<form method="post" action="?action=add">';
  echo 'First Name: <input name="name" type="text" size="30" /';
  echo 'Personal Email: <input name="email" type="text" size="30" /';
  echo '<input name="ip" type="hidden" value="' .$ip. '" />';
  echo '<input name="aid" type="hidden" value="' .$aid. '" />';
  echo '<input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Subscribe" />';
  echo '</form>';

  if($_GET['action'] == 'add'){
    $ip = $_POST['ip'];
    $aid = $_POST['aid'];
    $name = $_POST['name'];
    $email = $_POST['email'];

// Inserts user info into database

// Updates a tracking count with $aid

  }
}		

Since it needs to be executed, will this work with what you suggested above?

[bradgrafelman]

Why are you passing the IP in a hidden field, one that a user could simply change to be any IP they like?

And no, echo() outputs data while return() simply returns it to the calling function. If you modified that function so that it returned()'ed data instead, then yes, it could definitely work.

Otherwise, you might look into using [man]preg_replace_callback/man to call the function as Weedpacket suggested.

[Weedpacket]

I'm also concerned about this bit:

    // Inserts user info into database

// Updates a tracking count with $aid

It sounds like this function is doing a lot that has nothing to do with generating a string to use in replacement. Who would guess that calling str_replace() would alter the contents of a database?

[Channel5]

Hey bradgrafelman,

I've been experimenting with preg_replace_callback() and it works perfectly, except for one thing:

The subscription form is displayed at very top of the page, not where the "tag" is (in this case, %%subscription%%).

Do you know why it would display it at the very top instead of where the %%subscription%% is on the page?

[bradgrafelman]

Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking in my previous post; despite which method you use, it's going to display the data at the top of the page because the function was written to echo() data, not return it to the calling function.

So as soon as that function is called, the data is simply outputted to the user - not replaced as in str_replace() or similar functions.

[bradgrafelman]

Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking in my previous post; despite which method you use, it's going to display the data at the top of the page because the function was written to echo() data, not return it to the calling function.

So as soon as that function is called, the data is simply outputted to the user - not replaced as in str_replace() or similar functions.

[Channel5]

I think you know much more about php than I do, so I appreciate the feedback.

Do you have any suggestions on how to display the data where the user codes it on the page?

Is there any other function in php that will replace a string with a function or another way of accomplishing the same result?

[bradgrafelman]

Change the function so that instead of echo()'ing all of the data it stores the data in a variable. At the end of the function, [man]return/man that variable.

[Channel5]

When I do that, all I'm getting back is the subscription form and none of the content is displayed.

Maybe I'm missing something. Would you look at my code?

$content = '<h1>Subscribe</h1><p>Enter your name and email and click submit</p>%%subscribe%%';
$content = preg_replace_callback('/%%subscribe%%/', 'displaySubscription', $content);
return $content;

Any ideas?

[Weedpacket]

Need to see the displaySubscription() function, since that's what you'd have changed.