forms and dat file formatting

big-dog

Could someone tell me how or where to find a form excample that stores the data to a dat file then formats the data in the dat file to display on a web page.

My House
123 some street
2009-05-21 at 12:00pm
2009-05-22 at 1:00PM

I dont what to use a real sql database, and I would like it to be php or html and php. done a google and found a tut, but come to find out I would have to host with them in order for their tut to work because it uses their cgi-bin .mail2 file.

djjjozsi

if you would use fputcsv you don't need to invent a new data storage ways. However this still working, you can use file database, such as SQLlite , its ready to use on servers where there is no mysql

big-dog

I dont understand can you explain more
I tried this

<?php

$file_string = file_get_contents("admin/data.dat");

$rows = explode("\r", $file_string); //if this doesn't work, try \r\n or just \r

foreach($rows as $value){
     $vars = explode("|", $value);

 echo "<b>".$vars[0]."</b><br>";
 echo $vars[1]."<br>";
 echo $vars[2]." at ".$vars[3]."<br>";
 echo $vars[4]." at ".$vars[4]."<br>";
}
?>

I get this displayed
Venue
Address
Date at Time
Date2 at Date2
My House
123 some street
2009-05-15 at 12:00pm
2009-05-22 at 2009-05-22

at
at

I dont want
Venue
Address
Date at Time
Date2 at Date2
and I dont know where
at
at
is coming from only got the one record

djjjozsi

<?php
$file_string = file_get_contents( "admin/data.dat" );
$rows = explode( "\r", $file_string ); //if this doesn't work, try \r\n or just \r
print "<table border=\"1\">";
foreach( $rows as $value ) {
    $vars = explode( "|", trim( $value ) );
    echo "<tr>\n";
    foreach( $vars AS $r )
    echo "\t<td>$r</td>\n";
    echo "</tr>\n";
} 
print "</table>";

?>

you should replace the | and \n \r \t from the user inputs.

big-dog

I still need some help here. this code seems to do what I need, but it is displaying stuff that I dont know where its coming from

<?php
$file_string = file_get_contents("admin/data.dat");
$rows = explode("\r\n", $file_string); //if this doesn't work, try \r\n or just \r
unset($rows[0]);
foreach($rows as $value){
     $vars = explode("|", $value);
     echo "<b><i>Venue</i></b><br>";
     echo "<b>".$vars[0]."</b><br>";
     echo $vars[1]."<br>";
     echo $vars[2]." ".$vars[3]."<br>";
     echo $vars[4]." ".$vars[4]."<br>";
     echo "<hr>";
}
?>

Here is the out put on my webpage from the dat file results. in the dat file there are 2 entries but as you can see it has the extra at top and bottom as if there where entries made without data.
Venue

Venue
My House
123 some address
2009-05-15 12:00pm
2009-05-22 2009-05-22

Venue
My House
123 some address
2009-05-21 12:00pm
2009-05-22 2009-05-22

Venue

I also tried the other excample but it makes a table which I dont want. this is displayed in a div on the side of a webpage that has a width of 200px so the above looks ok as is but it just has the extra empty looking areas

djjjozsi

foreach($rows as $value){

 $vars = explode("|", trim($value));
if($vars[0]=="Venue")
continue();
     echo "<b><i>Venue</i></b><br>";

big-dog

djjjozsi;10914992 wrote:

foreach($rows as $value){

 $vars = explode("|", trim($value));
if($vars[0]=="Venue")
continue();
     echo "<b><i>Venue</i></b><br>";

error on line 12 contiues(); line is 12 unexpected t string

I figured out that in my dat file I had 1 blank lines after the field line and 1 at the end of the records. I removed them and it doesnt have the blank areas, but when I add a record it automaticly creats a blank line at end, so it desplays that on webpage. How do I remove the blank line at end for display

djjjozsi

use an if condition to determine if its an empty value:

foreach(.......)
{
   if(!empty(trim($vars[0])))
   {
      take here your vars
   }
}

big-dog

😕 Huh

djjjozsi

<?php
$file_string = file_get_contents( "admin/data.dat" );
$rows = explode( "\r\n", $file_string ); //if this doesn't work, try \r\n or just \r
unset( $rows[0] );
foreach( $rows as $value ) 
{

    $vars = explode( "|", trim( $value ) );
if ( empty( $vars[0] ) ) 
{
    echo "<b><i>Venue</i></b><br>";
    echo "<b>" . $vars[0] . "</b><br>";
    echo $vars[1] . "<br>";
    echo $vars[2] . " " . $vars[3] . "<br>";
    echo $vars[4] . " " . $vars[4] . "<br>";
    echo "<hr>";
} 
} 

?>

big-dog

copied and paisted your excample code and now nothing shows up except
Venue

Weedpacket

big-dog wrote:
copied and paisted your excample code

That's one place where you're making a mistake. Copy-and-paste code never works, and examples are only supposed to be used as examples - aids to understanding - not real solutions. For one thing, there are likely to be significant bugs in the code, often caused by trivial typos. This case is a perfect example: the row is only being displayed if it is empty, not if it is not, which would obviously be what you want.

Still, that code is way more complicated than necessary, given the existence of [man]fgetcsv[/man]; you're not the first person to want to store data in a file, and you won't be the last. Consider it very likely, therefore, that someone has already found a solution so that you don't have to create a new one.

big-dog

I dont understand fgetcsv; how do I get the dat file to be a cvs file and will that deplay on a webpage in the format ive got

djjjozsi

change the:

 if ( empty( $vars[0] ) )

into

if ( !empty( $vars[0] ) )

i was posting from a tiny eee701 laptop 🙂 If this example will show the values you need, lets try to understand the method. In my previous post you can see the schematic example, lets compare them if its not working.

After all, it has weak points. If the user post | or \r\n this system will mix the data with the separator characters. You need to filter the user input first.

Why is it better to store data in database? While this mission takes max 10 lines of code if you build database, flat file solution takes more then ~10 and has security problems.

how this project looks like in database:

http://phpcode.hu/teszt/table_code/

add the field names and label names, and watch how easy.

big-dog

Im al fore doing this project a little differant but the way I am trying to do it is the only way I could do a data storing thing or it was the simplest way I kind of knew how to get started anyway.
I use a mysql DB for my site and cant by know means say Im expert but I have done a few creations and extrations from mysql.
This is for a friend website she doent have a host that suports sql persay. so My thought was a file that would store the data and a page that would read it then display it.
Heres a html form to submit to the file

<form enctype='multipart/form-data' action='Engagements_.php' method='post'>
<table width='50%' border=0>
<tr><td> Logo</td>
<td>
<input type='file' name='Logo'></td></tr>
<tr><td> Venue</td>
<td>
<input type=text name='Venue'></td></tr>
<tr><td> Date</td>
<td>
<input type=text name='Date'></td></tr>
<tr><td> Time</td>
<td>
<input type=text name='Time'></td></tr>
<tr><td> Address</td>
<td>
<input type=text name='Address'></td></tr>
<tr><td> Comment</td>
<td>
<textarea name='Specials' rows=4 cols=28></textarea></td></tr>
<tr>
	<td> Host</td>
<td>
<input type=text name='Host'></td>
</tr>
<tr><td> Website</td>
<td>
<input type=text name='Website'></td></tr>
</table>
<input type='submit' value='Submit Form'> <input type=reset value='Clear Form'></form>

then heres the current page that retrieves the data

<?php

$file_string = file_get_contents("admin/data.dat");

$rows = explode("\r\n", $file_string); //if this doesn't work, try \r\n or just \r
unset($rows[0]);
foreach($rows as $value){
     $vars = explode("|", $value);
if ( !empty( $vars[0] ) )

 echo $vars[1]."<br>";
 echo $vars[2]." ".$vars[3]."<br>";
 echo $vars[4]."<br>";
 echo $vars[5]."<br>";
 echo $vars[6]."<br>";
 echo "<hr>";


}
?>

if someone wants to spent the time with me to do something a little better Im all for it

djjjozsi

hello,
i've got you something, this is a flat file solution:

if you don't have mysql, you could use sql_lite, on the most servers you reach it as a default... i've got a table generator to teach sql_lite:
You need to set the correct permissions to the folder where you place the database.
http://phpcode.hu/teszt/sqlite_tables/

But you need to use a login system (.htacces protection)

and take the edit/insert/create functions into one file, and protect it with login,
then the select goes to evry page where you need to list the values. The database is downloadable, so always keep that far from your public folders.

hello,
jjozsi.

big-dog

Where do I get sql_lite and I assume it is an app so does it run on server that you don’t have really any privileges on. What she’s got it cox.net free 10mg website basically you just have the ability to upload your pages and create folders so the app would need to run from a folder she creates

djjjozsi

sql lite is a default on apache servers.

if you run:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>
you can search its version. If you see in the list, you can use my generator to build tables /fields, or build a system of your own using the sql lite functions without any installation. With this sql lite you can run commands similar with mysql.
Basecally this is a flat file database.

I created that generator for those who interested other data storage methods 🙂
INSERT , UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, TRUNCATE, LIKE and much more available.

For further information, read more on : php.net

big-dog

Well I upload to cox web space and it doesnt support php or sql lite does do javascript type stuff. What kind of host is that:eek:
So now what should I do, I know host on a real host site LOL I cant got to stick with this crapy one. so.......

djjjozsi

1.,iframe should solve your problem related to one of your stable php+mysql host 🙂

2.,you can list the database with AJAX, content load into divs. But the administration page redirected to a dynamic webhost.