[RESOLVED] Creating 'dynamic' page for profiles

hodgshcf

What I want to do should be very straight forward but I can't find any tutorials to help, or, more likely, I don't know the technical term for what I'm trying to achieve.

I'm setting up a site for a craft group and within this I want to show a small profile page for each member, no logins, just a photo, bit of info and a link.

I wanted a members page that shows all members, with a small pic and bio, down the page. This I have no problem with.

What I then wanted to do is to create a page, but not a seperate .php file, for each member, as mentioned earlier, when the small pic is clicked on the members page.

I've seen on sites they have:
www.website.com/members.php - where all members are displayed

then :

www.website.com/member.php?member_name=phpnewbie - where the individual profile is shown.

when a certain member is clicked on.

I guess it would involve including files, I'm not really sure. I just don't want to have to create .php files for each one and I know there is a way around this but cannot, for the life of me, fathom it.

My code for the initial members page would be something along the lines of:

<html>
<head>
the usual
</head>

<body>
<?php $page="members";  ?>

<div id="container">
<div id="header">
<?php include("header.inc"); ?>
</div>
<div id="content">
	<div id="contentheader">
	Members
	</div>

<?php
	include("misc.inc");
	$cxn = mysql_connect($host, $user, $passwd);
		if (!$cxn)
			{
				die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
			}
	mysql_select_db("craftgroup", $cxn);
	$query= "SELECT * FROM members";
	$result = mysql_query($query,$cxn) 
		or die ('Could not execute query: ' . mysql_error());

	$num=mysql_numrows($result);
		mysql_close();
?>
<?
	$i=0;
	while ($i < $num) {
		$membername=mysql_result($result,$i,"membername");
		$img=mysql_result($result,$i,"img");
		$bio=mysql_result($result,$i,"bio");
		$url=mysql_result($result,$i,"url");
?>

	<div id="contentitem"> 
		<? echo "<a href=\"$url\"><img height=\"120px\" border=\"0\" width=\"120px\" src=\"$img\"></a>"; ?> 
  		<? echo "<a href=\"$url\">$membername</a> $bio"; ?> 
	</div>

<? $i++; } ?>

<? include("footer.inc"); ?>

</div>
</body>
</html>

This may be completely the wrong way to start going about it but is how I've done it for sites that then linked to other .php files, not within it's own page.

Many Thanks,

Caroline

hodgshcf

Alternatively, if anybody knows of a tutorial covering this I would be very grateful.

Rodders

OK, to use the URL pattern that you suggested (www.website.com/member.php?member_name=phpnewbie) then you need to learn to use the $_GET array.

Basically, at the top of your code somewhere you'll check if it contains a "member_name" index, and if so you'll want to build the page using its value.

if (empty($_GET["member_name"])) {
    // Build page normally
} else {
    $member = $_GET["member_name"];
    // Build page using this
}

See if you can work out some more on that.

hodgshcf

Thanks Rodders,

I'll have a tinker with that and let you know how I get on, cheers.

hodgshcf

So I had a good old search and am still completely confused :s

I understand that the information is sent to the url and then the page is retrieved but from all the information I've read this depends on a separate page existing. I'm getting really confused!

I found this thread: http://www.codingforums.com/archive/index.php/t-107466.html
which is exactly what I want to do but the guy never solved the problem!

Also I can't solve how to cause a link to pass the variable.

Basically I don't know what I'm doing and have read about a hundred pages telling me a small section of what I need to do and I don't know how to put it all together.

Hope somebody can help, sorry if this is a bit frantic, I have been on it all day to no avail!

Rodders

Well, don't fret. You'll find when you're learning something new in programming that you can often spend hours or days (or weeks) trying to think of a solution. It's all good for you and you should enjoy it!

Break down your problem(s) into more manageable steps.

How do you create a link that will include the important "member_name" thingy?
How do you read the URL and act upon it?

Looking at number one you're already most of the way there. Just modify your code like this:

<div id="contentitem">
            <? echo "<a href=\"$url\"><img height=\"120px\" border=\"0\" width=\"120px\" src=\"$img\"></a>"; ?>
              <? echo "<a href=\"$_SERVER[PHP_SELF]?member_name=$membername\">$membername</a> $bio"; ?>
        </div>

Now, I haven't tried that so I urge you to do so and report back what happens.

hodgshcf

Hi Rodders,
Thanks for the prompt, and the moral support, I stumbled across a post which has helped a lot and is similar to what you suggested. So at the moment I have this in the members.php:

 <?
		$i=0;
		while ($i < $num) {
			$id=mysql_result($result,$i,"id");
			$name=mysql_result($result,$i,"name");
			$bio=mysql_result($result,$i,"bio");
			$img=mysql_result($result,$i,"img");
	?>

	<div id="contentitem"> 
		<? echo "<a href=\"template.php?name=$name\"><img height=\"120px\" border=\"0\" width=\"120px\" src=\"$img\"></a>"; ?> 
  		<? echo "$name $bio"; ?> 
	</div>

<? $i++; } ?>

And I'm currently constructing a template page which shows the individual page by calling for the $_GET name, although this isn't finished yet.

I'll keep you updated, thanks for the help.

hodgshcf

Well, Thanks Rodders! I got the thing working using a separate template.php file, but your suggestion of using

<a href=\"$_SERVER[PHP_SELF]?Id=$Id\">

was niggling at me. So had another go this morning and have got it sorted.

I'd really appreciate if you, or anybody else reading this, could have a look over my code and let me know how it is, I mean it works but I'm learning by putting bits together. Any pointers on tidying it up or more efficient ways of doing things would be much appreciated.

Many Thanks, Caroline

<html>
<head>
</head>

<body>
<?php $page="members";  ?>

<div id="container">
<div id="header">
<?php include("header.inc"); ?>
</div>
<div id="content">
	<div id="contentheader">
	Members
	</div>

<?php
if (empty($_GET["Id"])) {
	include("misc.inc");
	$cxn = mysql_connect($host, $user, $passwd);
		if (!$cxn)
			{
				die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
			}
	mysql_select_db("crafters", $cxn);
	$query= "SELECT * FROM members";
	$result = mysql_query($query,$cxn) 
		or die ('Could not execute query: ' . mysql_error());

	$num=mysql_numrows($result);
		mysql_close();
?>
<?
	$i=0;
	while ($i < $num) {
		$Id=mysql_result($result,$i,"Id");
		$name=mysql_result($result,$i,"name");
		$bio=mysql_result($result,$i,"bio");
		$img=mysql_result($result,$i,"img");
?>

	<div id="contentitem"> 
		<? echo "<a href=\"$_SERVER[PHP_SELF]?Id=$Id\"><img height=\"120px\" border=\"0\" width=\"120px\" src=\"$img\"></a>"; ?> 
  		<? echo "$name $bio $Id" ; ?> 
	</div>

<? $i++; } ?>

<!--   P A R T   T H A T   D I S P L A Y S    S E L E C T E D    M E M B E R  -->	
<?php 

} else { 
		$itemid = $_GET["Id"];
   		include("misc.inc");
		$cxn = mysql_connect($host, $user, $passwd);
			if (!$cxn)
  				{
  					die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
  				}
		mysql_select_db("crafters", $cxn);
		$query= ("SELECT * FROM members WHERE Id = $itemid" );
 		$result = mysql_query($query,$cxn) 
 			or die ('Could not execute query: ' . mysql_error());
			$num=mysql_numrows($result);
			mysql_close();
			?>
    <?
	echo "<a href='members.php'>Back to Members Page</a>";
		$i=0;
		while ($i < $num) {
			$Id=mysql_result($result,$i,"Id");
			$name=mysql_result($result,$i,"Name");
			$bio=mysql_result($result,$i,"Bio");
			$img=mysql_result($result,$i,"Img");
	?>

	<div id="contentitem"> 
		<? echo "<a href='template.php?Id=$Id'><img height='120px' border='0' width='120px' src='$img></a>"; ?> 
  		<? echo "$name $bio"; ?> 
	</div>

<? $i++; } ?>

	<? } ?>
<? include("footer.inc"); ?>

</div>
</body>
</html>

Rodders

Looks OK. What does template.php do?

I'd say that your code looks decent enough for what you're doing. If you want to get deeper into developing and PHP specifically then you could look at Separation of Concerns (keeping your HTML separate from your style, and from your logic, database calls etc.)

Also, look at OOP. But, don't get too hung up on it. If it works, then it's fine. The above suggestions just make maintenance easier, and will actually help you become more efficient with your code. That's no concern unless you want to make money.

hodgshcf

Sorry, template.php was a bit left over from what I trying previously, to load the individual page in a separate file. I changed that afterwards to no link on the img, but thanks for the pointer.

I will definitely look into Separation of Content, and also OOP if I have time, it is mentioned a lot, although I haven't ventured there yet.

I think I'm a long way off of employable standard. I do them for free as I like to do it as a hobby and to experiment, a lot. I was thinking about trying for professional but not any time soon.

So, thanks for the advice, I have learnt a lot and probably more than I would have from a tutorial.