Linking to a PHP in HTML

jimweinberg

Hi all.

What I have is a PHP file that queries a database. I want to use the results to fill a table that's defined in an HTML page. I'd like to do something like:

<HTML>
:
:
<table>
<?php include("http:/alongcrazyalley.com/test/dbtest.php"); ?>
</table>
:
:
:
</HTML>
[code]

The php file queries the database and builds the <td> tags.

I've tried the above code and it doesn't work (table is never populated).  I also tried 
<!--#include virtual="http:/alongcrazyalley.com/test/dbtest.php" -->

No go.

I'd really like to keep the 2 files separate rather than making one large PHP file.

Can anyone please help.

Thanks.

laserlight

The path provided to include is a file path, not a URL, unless you actually want to read from that URL and include the contents (and if you did, you should be using http:// not http:/).

jimweinberg

Hay laserlight:

Sorry about that. Typo. I should have read: <?php include("http://alongcrazyalley.com/test/dbtest.php"); ?>

But, as I said, it doesn't work.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks.

laserlight

I am tempted to just blindly tell you to change it to:

<?php include "dbtest.php"; ?>

but there's no guarantee that it works, and if it does, you need to know why.

So, what's the code in dbtest.php?

jimweinberg

I'll be damed! (please excuse my language) It works! Don't know why. The only problem is that I normally put php files in a different folder. Oh well.

As for what it does, it accesses a database and populates a table.

Thanks for the solution.

If anyone knows why this works when a full up URL doesn't, I really like to know.

laserlight

jimweinberg wrote:
If anyone knows why this works when a full up URL doesn't, I really like to know.

Refer to my post #2.

bradgrafelman

Using a URL means PHP is going to make an HTTP request to a webserver, so the data it receives is going to be no different than if you typed the same URL into your browser and viewed the source of the resulting page.

Using a file path, PHP instead looks for a file on the local file system of the server.

For a long analogy, consider yourself sitting in your living room and deciding you're thirsty and want a soda from the kitchen. So to get there, you go out your front door, walk around your house, knock on your front door, enter your house, head straight to the kitchen, retrieve the soda, exit once again through the front door, walk around your house in the opposite direction, re-enter through the front door, and then sit down again in your living room with the soda. That's essentially what you're telling PHP to do when you use a URL rather than a file path.

jimweinberg

bradgrafelman:

Many thanks. I loved the analogy. Only one problem: I still got the soda 🙂

Anyway, mark this puppy resolved.

My thanks to all who provided input.

bradgrafelman

jimweinberg;11009767 wrote:
Only one problem: I still got the soda 🙂

You're right - that is a problem with the analogy. I suppose I could have said something like "enter the kitchen, watch someone else drink a soda, exit once again through the front door, .." to be more accurate.

laserlight

Nah, analogies are bound to fail in some way, otherwise they won't be analogies but the thing itself 🙂