Is php our solution?

benair

I maintain a site that currently has about 35,000 static html pages broken down by the fifty states. We are going to revamp the graphics and now is the time to consider moving into the "dynamic age".

I have successfully configured a php shopping cart, but I am far from having the know-how to write custom php applications. So I would like to know if php is the solution for our needs before I dive in.

Basically the idea is this:
Set up the new graphics on a page that pull in the content.
I may have to actually have fifty pages (one for each state) that call their state specific info, because each state has a state logo in the page header.

In toying with the shopping cart I found that I could enter the html file's body content as a record (or "item" in the cart) in the MySQL db. Then it is called in to the established layout, however if I were to try to adapt it to what I want to do, I would have to manually enter 35,000 "items" in the cart. (no-can-do).

I can strip the existing files of everything but the content I want to include, but I'll still have 35,000 pages with html extensions. and I don't know If I can do some type of include to call the files.

"is php our solution" or cfm or ????

unfortunately I can't sub this one out to contractors, but If you can point me towards a good solution I'd appreciate it

Thanks Bob B

brandonschnell

php should be able to handle everything you want.

for the states you could create one page and have it load the graphics and details for any of the 50 states depending on what the user selects.

for your 35,000 pages you could use mysql to lookup the file name depending on what the user clicks on then load the file using the php function include(). or if the pages are similiar you could create a php program to strip the header and footers leaving just the data and layout in the html. then automatically input just the html into a mysql db. data conversion made easy.

benair

Thanks Brandon,
that's what I wanted to hear.
I didn't want to invest time only to hit a dead end down the line.

brandonschnell

if php doesn't do 100% of what you need (most likely it will =) ), at the very least you could use php as an extension to your current pages. in other words don't modify the existing pages but start incorporating php pages as you update the site. as you go along you'll find ways to streamline your site.

Anon

It sounds like you are looking for a content management solution. I've been down that road (ugh) and it ain't pretty.

I stumbled across a neat content management engine called zope. Its free, and looks to be very powerful.

Check it out at zope.org, it definitely piqued my interest.

I'm also making the switch from static to dynamic. Its all about planning and getting the database and templates up and running. Imagine designing three pages that will make up your entire site if constructed correctly dynamically. PHP and MYSQL will make your life easier.

benair

I'll reply to the last two responses (Brandon and cjp) with a thanks for the leads. I'm going to have to pursue/learn php-sql as the solution, I'll check out zope also.

This is the first time I've used this mail list and it's very useful.

I'll continue to check this for followups if anything else comes to mind.

Thanks again,

Bob B