Any php gurus out there?

[Anon]

Ok this is for you php gurus
This is a tuff one because it deals with php and flat files, like .txt documents.

I have a text file, inside that file are accounts formatted like this
[username]
PASSWORD=whatever
EMAIL=[e-mail]

Now theres an html form that has the text fields username and pass.
What I need is for a php script to read the text file with the accounts, until it comes across a matching
username
pass
to the same one that was entered in the html form, if it does not match it, kick them back to a page. If it does match it, write the username to a variable to be used in another php script, if possible?

Then on html form 2. It has a space for new password, email.
What the second php script is supposed to do is take the variable from the earlier script that allowed them to get here, take the new variable password, and the new email
and write it to a text document formatted like
[username]
PASSWORD=newpass
EMAIL=[e-mail]
then kick them back to another page.

So far I have gotten the second script working fine except for the global variable username.
But the first script i have no idea how to make it work, and pass the variable on.
Might be more than once person using it, so figured a lock until it finishes read and writing would help.

Any ideas?
thanks

[jsagara]

Is there any chance you can use a database, like MySQL or PostgreSQL? If you expect to have many users, then this flat-file solution will not scale well. Anything over 100 users and you should use a DB (that's a rule of thumb, anyway).

[Anon]

I wish I could=(
But the server that reads the account file can only read and write to/from a .scp file type.
So it has to be a flat file only grumbles

Do you mean 100 users at a time? or 100 users peroid, at a time most people that will use it is maybe 20 if that.

[Anon]

100 period

[[deleted]]

So what exactly is your problem?

[Anon]

The first script, I am unsure of how to make it read and compare the username and password in the text file to the one that a user types in the html form. And im also unsure of how to make it then assign the username a global variable and pass it on to the second scritpt.

[[deleted]]

The first problem is simple;
read the file line by line until you find the username.

When you find the username, read the next line to get the password. Then compare that password to the one you got from the form.

You can send vars to the next script through the URL:

http://www.foorbar.com?variable=value

[Anon]

Thanks im beggining to get it now
If you have time maybe a simple example code of the read file code? im newer to php so a little example would prbly get me going=)
thx

[[deleted]]

Assuming that your datafile looks like this:

[carl]
PASSWORD=foo
EMAIL=[e-mail]
[john]
PASSWORD=bar
EMAIL=[e-mail]
[pate]
PASSWORD=doodie
EMAIL=[e-mail]

you can use this:

error_reporting(E_ALL);
// set the username (can also come from a form or whatever)
$sUsername = 'john';

// Open the file
$aDatafile = file('data.txt');

// loop through the file, starting at line one, then skipping two lines every time
// because we only need the 'username' lines
for&nbsp;($iT=0;&nbsp;$iT<count($aDatafile);&nbsp;$iT+=3)
{
&nbsp;&nbsp;if&nbsp;(trim($aDatafile[$iT])&nbsp;==&nbsp;'['.$sUsername.']')
&nbsp;&nbsp;{
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;//&nbsp;Found&nbsp;the&nbsp;user.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;//&nbsp;His&nbsp;password&nbsp;is&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;next&nbsp;line,&nbsp;$aDatafile[$iT&nbsp;+&nbsp;1]
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;//&nbsp;use&nbsp;substr&nbsp;and&nbsp;strpos&nbsp;to&nbsp;get&nbsp;everything&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;right&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;first&nbsp;'='&nbsp;sign
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$sPassword&nbsp;=&nbsp;substr($aDatafile[$iT&nbsp;+&nbsp;1],&nbsp;strpos($aDatafile[$iT&nbsp;+&nbsp;1],&nbsp;'=')&nbsp;+&nbsp;1);
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;echo&nbsp;'User&nbsp;'.$sUsername.'&nbsp;found,&nbsp;his&nbsp;password&nbsp;is:&nbsp;'.$sPassword;
&nbsp;&nbsp;}
}

[Anon]

Thanks
this should be enough to get me started with what I need to do=) thanks again