Display the 200 first characters

tomarild

Hello!

I have the following code:

<?php

$con = mysql_connect( "localhost", "username", "pwd" ) or die( 'Could not connect: ' . mysql_error() );
mysql_select_db( "min_db", $con ) or die( mysql_error() );

$result = mysql_query( "SELECT * FROM `artikler` LIMIT 7, 1; " ) or die( mysql_error() );

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))


  {  

  echo "<font color=#919191>" . $row['day'] . "." . $row['month'] . "." . $row['year'] . "</font>";

  echo "<br />";
  echo "<b><font color=B9720E size=2>" . $row['tittel'] . "</font></font></b>";
  echo "<br />";
  echo "<br />";
  echo $row['tekst'];
  echo "<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />";

  }
mysql_close($con);
?>

....where i would like to show only the 200 first characters from the field "tekst". Does somebody know what I can do, and where to put it in my code above?

nrg_alpha

You can use substr().

So in your case, you can change:

echo $row['tekst'];

to:

echo substr($row['tekst'], 0, 200);

...and where to put it in my code above?

Something tells me you are too new with PHP. I would recommend taking some time to learn some basics, as this will help you in the long term should the need arise in making modifications to your php pages.

Also note that in your code snippet, the use of the font tag is now depreciated.
And making use of multiple <br /> is not recommended.. Have a look at this link for some basic things to avoid.

tomarild

YEEESSSS!!!!

Thank you so much! It works great! I cant tell how many hours Ive used to figure out this 🙂

And I shall take note on your tips. I am new to PHP, and I will take a look at the page you linked to. Thank you! 😃

tomarild

Ohhh..... new problem popped up. This may be the last in a while.

On my page now I have a main post (the latest) which displays in full text. Then underneath I have pulled the first 300 characters from the next four posts. Underneath each of the four I have a link saying "Read more".

When this link is clicked I like to be taken to a new page called artcles.php or something, where the post clicked is displayed in full text. Can this be done easily?

My code now looks like this (just some examples):

<?php
$con = mysql_connect( "localhost", "username", "pwd" ) or die( 'Could not connect: ' . mysql_error() );
mysql_select_db( "my_db", $con ) or die( mysql_error() );

$result = mysql_query( "SELECT id, kategori, day, month, year, tittel, tekst FROM artikler LIMIT 1 , 1 ; " ) or die( mysql_error() );

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))

{

echo "<font color=#919191>" . $row['day'] . "." . $row['month'] . "." . $row['year'] . "</font>";

echo "<br />";
echo "<b><font color=B9720E size=2>" . $row['tittel'] . "</font></font></b><br>";
echo substr($row['tekst'], 0, 300) . "...";
echo "<a href=http://www.mysite.com/dansesiden/artikler/artikkel.php?" . "kategori=" . $row['kategori'] . "&id=" . $row['id'] . "><b>Les mer</b></a>";
echo "<br />";

}
mysql_close($con);
?>

nrg_alpha

Does your code not work? You seem to have the hyperlink in place. If it doesn't work, you should rightclick and view source to see what that anchor tag contains (and as a result, see if that page exists).

Your link's href is missing quotes...

You have:

echo "<a href=http://www.mysite.com/dansesiden/artikler/artikkel.php?" . "kategori=" . $row['kategori'] . "&id=" . $row['id'] . "><b>Les mer</b></a>";

You can simply do something along the lines of:

echo "<a href=\"http://www.mysite.com/dansesiden/artikler/artikkel.php?kategori=${row['kategori']}&id=${row['id']}\"><b>Les mer</b></a>";

-or-

echo '<a href="http://www.mysite.com/dansesiden/artikler/artikkel.php?kategori=' . $row['kategori'] . '&id=' . $row['id'] . '"><b>Les mer</b></a>';

tomarild

Hello again!

I am so glad you're helping.

I am currently at work, so I cant test anything. But this is the case:
The link is working.... but there is nothing at "the other side".

If I had a php-file which was named 2.php i guess it would work, but the thing is that the article doesn't appear on iots own page. It is just a text in the database. You see? (Im not to experienced with explaining complicated things in english 🙂)

This is how I do it (or would LIKE to do it).

I got a form on a website where i type in all the info related to the article. The form look like this:

<form action="insert.php" method="post"><br>

Kategori:<br>
<input type="text" name="kategori" /><br><br>

Dag:<br>
<input type="text" name="day" /><br><br>

Måned:<br>
<input type="text" name="month" /><br><br>

År:<br>

<input type="text" name="year" /><br><br>

Tittel:<br>
<input type="text" name="tittel" /><br><br>

Bilde 1:<br>
<input type="text" name="bilde" /><br><br>

Tekst:<br>
<textarea rows="20" cols="50" name="tekst"></textarea><br><br>

<br>

<input type="submit" />
</form>

Then Ive got the insert.php which is putting all these fields into the database.

Then Ive got this code to show the articles first few lines:

<?php
$con = mysql_connect( "localhost", "username", "pwd" ) or die( 'Could not connect: ' . mysql_error() );
mysql_select_db( "my_db", $con ) or die( mysql_error() );

$result = mysql_query( "SELECT id, kategori, day, month, year, tittel, tekst FROM artikler LIMIT 1 , 1 ; " ) or die( mysql_error() );

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))

{
echo "<font color=#919191>" . $row['day'] . "." . $row['month'] . "." . $row['year'] . "</font>";

echo "<br />";
echo "<b><font color=B9720E size=2>" . $row['tittel'] . "</font></font></b><br>";
echo substr($row['tekst'], 0, 300) . "...";
echo "<a href=http://www.mysite.com/dansesiden/artikler/artikkel.php?" . "kategori=" . $row['kategori'] . "&id=" . $row['id'] . "><b>Les mer</b></a>";
echo "<br />";

}
mysql_close($con);
?>

Now we are getting to the place where I need help. How can I get the whole article to open as its own page when someone clicks on "Read more"? Do you understand what I mean? 🙂

nrg_alpha

In your action form, since you are using post as your method, the values are stored into the $_POST superglobal..

So you should have $POST['kategori'] (which is the value of the kategori field, $POST['day'] which is the value of the day field... etc.. So you can simply echo out those $_POST values.

Swamp56

nrg_alpha;10916847 wrote:
You can use substr().

So in your case, you can change:
echo $row['tekst'];
to:
echo substr($row['tekst'], 0, 200);

 echo substr($row['tekst'], 0, 199);

If it starts at 0, and you want 200, then the last would be 199 🙂 .

nrg_alpha

Swamp56;10916912 wrote:
If it starts at 0, and you want 200, then the last would be 199 🙂 .

Yes, as an index that is.. strings start at index 0, but the substr will still return 200 characters.

So to give a simpler example:

$row['tekst'] = 'Hello!';
echo substr($row['tekst'], 0, 4);

Say we only wanted the first 4 characters, the above will output: Hell
H=>0 e=>1 l=>2 l=>3
So the index will be from 0 to 3 (but this totals 4 characters).

tomarild

Ouch....you lost me 🙂

Thank you guys. Im so glad that you are taking time to help.

I dont see where I should put the $_POST. Does it help my problem?

Example:

Take a look at this page. In the black squares there are some "read more" links. I think this is what I want. They use a database, dont they?