htaccess call php script then continue processing - php

Question

I have this specific problem where I have to check URL if its part is 8 chars long hash code that is saved in my database or its just normal URL where you want to navigate.
For example if i write url :
- www.example.com/A4s8Gga3
i want to process it with my script in php file
And if i write url :
-www.example.com/my-books
-www.example.com/about
i want to navigate on those pages.
I know i have to use htaccess (so much I managed myself) and so far it looks like this :
#part1
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (\/\w+)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ mobile_redirect.php [L]
#part2
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/|\.htm|\.php|\.html|/[^.]*)$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule (.*) index.php
My mobile_redirect.php looks like this:
ob_start();
require_once('connect.php');
$request = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$request_hotovy = str_replace('/', '', $request);
$request_hotovy = mysql_real_escape_string($request_hotovy);
$select = "SELECT HASH_ID,OFFER FROM kasko_send_form WHERE MOBILE_HASH_ID = '".$request_hotovy."'";
$query = mysql_query($select);
if(mysql_num_rows($query) > 0){
// request is mobile hash id
$result = mysql_fetch_array($query);
$hash_id = $result['HASH_ID'];
header("Location: some_link?def=".$hash_id);
} else {
// request is normal url
header("Location: ".$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
}
I know that it will end up redirecting in loop. I tried to put part1 after part2 and still have the same problem. I am using joomla and it have many urls (which im not able to write down) that are not real directories or files that is why i cant just use in my php file this solution :
ob_start();
require_once('connect.php');
$request = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$request_hotovy = str_replace('/', '', $request);
$request_hotovy = mysql_real_escape_string($request_hotovy);
$select = "SELECT HASH_ID,OFFER FROM kasko_send_form WHERE MOBILE_HASH_ID = '".$request_hotovy."'";
$query = mysql_query($select);
if(mysql_num_rows($query) > 0){
// request is mobile hash id
$result = mysql_fetch_array($query);
$hash_id = $result['HASH_ID'];
header("Location: some_link?def=".$hash_id);
} else {
// request is normal url
header("Location: page_not_found.php");
}
Because there is clearly more url processing done in joomla after it ends reading my htaccess (i dont know much about joomla either).
Can you guys give me a hint how to process the url (then maybe alter it so it wont end up in loop and then alter it again after the part1 back to normal so it can continue processing as it would normally)?
Also if you guys have any good tutorials where I could learn such things it would be really helpfull, because i understand only basics of regex and how htaccess works ...

Answer 1

If you use Joomla for most of your URLs exact the one that should have this eight character string there is a simple solution for this.
Just use the regular Joomla .htaccess file and add two lines before RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/[A-Za-z0-9]{8}$
RewriteRule .* mobile_redirect.php [L]
But the Problem here is that if you have regular URLs in Joomla with 8 character than they would be redirected es well e.g. http://example.com/lastnews
So for this URL's you have to add a exception, and the hole thing would lock like this:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/latesnews$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/youandme$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/[A-Za-z0-9]{8}$
RewriteRule .* mobile_redirectt.php [L]
There is no way to redirect back to Joomla with the same URL if your script do not find a record in your DB. Either your script is handling the URL or Joomla dose it. So you have to provide a 404, or find a way to include the index.php file from Joomla in your script.