I'd like to build a Message Board...

Anon

...but where should I start. Any advice that anyone would like to offer would be greatly appreciated. I need to do this without database support so ideas and advice for the logic for a message board based on .txt files only please!

Features wise I would like to start as simple as possible and build it up over time... I have got as far as writing a page that will accept form submissions for name, eMail, subject, message, time and IP address.

Not very far hey...?

🙂

Anon

A messageboardsystem without a database?
My advice: don't.

If you want any kind of features other than post/read you will end up writing your own text-based database.

Anon

Message board using .txt file isn't something that's hard to setup.
That method of message-boarding has been almost forgotten when databases became popular.

If you want to build messagebord system based on .txt files you will be faced with many problems in the future.

I think you shouldn't do it without database support.

There are also few great messageboard solutions in PHP that are available for free.
Check www.neoboard.org for example ...

Slaven

Anon

Yeah guys - I know io'm mad...! I want to do this as a test of stupidity! Actually I am a believer of 'In at the deep end' learning - and I need a message board that doesn't use mySQL or similar (Hence .txt based solutions). I wanted to do something similar to Matt's WWWBoard as that is simple and uses .txt files...

Mad...

Anon

I believe they are refered to as Flat Files, because it'd be kinda dumb to save the 'Flat Files' as .txt extension because then uses could view the flat files. Which as you said has the IP information 🙂

Anon

And saving the files without the .txt extention makes them unreadable for users? :-)

Anon

There\'s many ways to make files \"unreadable\" for users - the best perhaps is to put it somewhere above the document root or outside the document tree of your webserver; especially since the file cannot be protected with rwx settings...the script needs to read and write it, you know... And it will in most cases do so with the role of \"nobody\"; an unprivileged user. Hence, your flatfile needs to be openly readable/writeable for anybody (rwxrwxrwx). Hence, it must be outside the document tree fo the webserver to be out of reach for people with no user on the host computer...

       Eivind