Newbie Question

funkdrm

This feels like a stupid and simple question, but whatever. I thought about it, and I realized I was still a little unclear on how it worked. Lets say i have a site and all of the pages run off a simple script that changes a variable in the url:

like this:
www.something.com/index.php?page=1
www.something.com/index.php?page=2
www.something.com/index.php?page=3

What I'm curious about is: you have each of those page parameters. When you call it though, is there an actual page its calling, such as page1.php, page2.php etc... How does this work?

Anon

Chris,
All this does is define a varible for one single page. (in your case, the page is "index.php," and the variable is "page"). This is very helpful in creating database-driven pages, in that with one page/script, you can supply specific data. A catalog is a classic example.

If you have a page/script called menu.php, you might have a bit of code like this:

<?php
$sql = "SELECT * FROM item_list WHERE item_id = $isbn";

$sql_result = mysql_query($sql,$connection)
or die ("Couldn't get record!");

...
?>

if you put a link "whatever/menu.php?isbn=201," the code will translate $isbn (in $sql) to "201." Hope this helps.... It is a useful techneque!

funkdrm

that does help. However I'm thinking as far this: You mention one variable is changed, i know that much. But is the page generated when i click on each of those links a seperate script, or is all the code to change the content on contained on the index.php page, lets say using a switch or multiple if statements

Anon

The page/script is not genarated, but the HTML sent to the browser is. Most of the information is probobly stored in a database, but I guess you could put it all on one page.

dolphinsnot

hi. i'm working on a site right now that generates pages in a similar way to what you seem to be looking for.

i'm using phpMyAdmin, a great app, for mysql db administration. i have tables in my database that store one page on each row in the database. i have different columns for all the info that might change (meta tags, content, etc.), and use a URL system similar to what you were describing (www.website.com/index.php3?page=foobar)

i use a single .html file as a'face' for the site, and use a simple .php3 script to generate all the pages. it's verrrrry simple, but it works wonders.

i learned almost everything on how to make use of templates from a great article on this site, 'Templates, the PHPLIB Way'.

the URL for that is:

http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/david20000512.php3

check it out, it's very helpful. if you have any specific quesitons one you read the article, feel free to check back here for help.

good luck!

-dolphinsnot

Anon

Hey guys... I'm kinda stuck here... i have the whole thing working... kinda. the page i have is http://www.killab0026.f2s.com/beings1.php

for some reason, i get an error: url could not be retrieved when i just leave it at beings1.php. but when i type beings1.php?page= it works... as well as ?page=1 and ?page=2.

here is the source i have for the instance where there is no extension...

if ($page == '') {
print "beings<br>";
}

what do i need to change?