capturing and writing browser source

Anon

I need some help here. I'm using a form to allow some users to build a table of information. When they click the 'submit' button, they preview the table they created next, correctly formatted, for QA. After they are sure it is right, the next step is to write a portion of that file (the table code itself without all the other html formatting code) to a directory. How do I capture the table code from the source and write it to a file. In the past, I've opened a remote file, used eregi() to remove the code I needed, and wrote that to a new file. But, since I need the code in the current file I'm looking at, I'm not sure how to capture that and write that to a new file. I'm assuming that I need it in a variable somehow? Since I'm passing params to the preview page to build the preview of the table of information through the URL, if I call $PHP_SELF, it shows the file without the table 'cause it has no info to work with. Any suggestions?

[deleted]

You have to think 4-dimentionally :-)

You don't have to grab a section of the page you are looking at, you can re-create the page.
All you have to do is pass the same information again.

Then you can use ob_start() and it's related functions to capture output from your script into a variable which you can then write to a file. Have a peek at the manual for more info.

Anon

Thanks vincent... works like a dream. Life is a lot easier when you know what is available to you.

Now, here's another question. I've found methods for creating directories, deleting directories, and deleting files. Where's the method for creating a file on the fly so I can then write to it?

Thanks.

[deleted]

Chekc out the filesystem functions.
You create a file by opening it for writing.

if ($fp = fopen('myfile.txt','w'))
{
fputs($fp, 'hello');
fclose($fp);
}
else
{
echo 'Could not open file for writing';
};

Anon

Thanks Vincent. I found them and have been working with them. Works great on my local box, but I'm having trouble creating the file and writing to a remote box. I figured it was a permissions thing, but everything seems to be writable on that box. Both are behind the firewall, so that doesn't make a differnce. This is the error:

Warning: fopen("http://ipaddress/content/Item/text2.jhtml","w") - Success in /home/directory/chart_builder/index2.php on line 687

Still working on it! Thanks again!