best practices for echo statement that outputs html? - php

Question

Hi guys I have an application that allows users to post content on an empty div. I need some advice on making it scalable as I have to make sure if users are posting a lot of content the browser will not slow down or crash. I am a beginner so please put up with me. So in my code below I have an echo statement that prints out html content. I want to know how to make that function scalable in the long run? should I set the html as a variable then print it? should I encode it with JSON? please advice me as such. Thank-you
PHP Code
<?php
include_once("connection.php");
$conn = new mysqli(DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASS, DB_NAME);
//You can use Inner Join to display the matched records in between the two tables
$query = "SELECT * FROM `qpost` A INNER JOIN `user` B ON A.id=B.id ";
$result = $conn->query($query);
if($result) {
} else {
echo "bitch: " . $conn->error;
}
while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
$time = time();
if( $time < $row['logged_time'] + 30) {
echo " <div class='row'>
<div class='col-md-8'>
<div id='thePost' class='panel panel-default'>
<div class='panel-heading'>
<h3 class='panel-title'><span class='glyphicon glyphicon-user'> <b>{$row['username']}</b></span> &#8195&#8195 &#8195&#8195 <span class='glyphicon glyphicon-time'></span> Posted_on: {$row['time']} </h3>
</div>
<div class='panel-body' style='word-break:break-all'>
<h4>{$row['question']} </h4>
<p> {$row['description']}</p>
</div>
<div class='panel-footer'>
<button class='btn btn-primary'>Request Connection</button>
<button class='btn btn-success'>Chat <span class='glyphicon glyphicon-comment'></button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div> ";
}//end if
}//end while
?>

Answer 1

Did you try to separate the data logic and data display ? if you used php MVC framework which will more convenient on your case.
Following is a simple example.
//demo.html code
<?php
include_once("connection.php");
$conn = new mysqli(DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASS, DB_NAME);
//You can use Inner Join to display the matched records in between the two tables
$query = "SELECT * FROM `qpost` A INNER JOIN `user` B ON A.id=B.id ";
$result = $conn->query($query);
if ($result) {
} else {
echo "bitch: " . $conn->error;
}
$time = time();
$data_result = array(); // focus on your data logic process
while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
if ($time < $row['logged_time'] + 30) {
$data_result[] = $row;
}
}
?>
<?php foreach($data_result as $index => $row) { ?>
<div class='row'>
<div class='col-md-8'>
<div id='thePost' class='panel panel-default'>
<div class='panel-heading'>
<h3 class='panel-title'><span class='glyphicon glyphicon-user'> <b><?php echo $row['username']?></b></span>
&#8195&#8195 &#8195&#8195 <span class='glyphicon glyphicon-time'></span> Posted_on: <?php echo $row['time']?>
</h3>
</div>
<div class='panel-body' style='word-break:break-all'>
<h4><?php echo $row['question']?></h4>
<p> <?php echo $row['description']?></p>
</div>
<div class='panel-footer'>
<button class='btn btn-primary'>Request Connection</button>
<button class='btn btn-success'>Chat <span class='glyphicon glyphicon-comment'></button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<?php } ?>

Answer 2

It's fine what you're doing.
However as Eric has said you can exit and re-enter your PHP
You could store the html in a file, grab it using file_get_contents then use sprintf to manipulate it
In a file called "row.html"
<div class='row'>
<div class='col-md-8'>
<div id='thePost' class='panel panel-default'>
<div class='panel-heading'>
<h3 class='panel-title'>
<span class='glyphicon glyphicon-user'>
<b>%s</b> <!-- username -->
</span> &#8195&#8195 &#8195&#8195
<span class='glyphicon glyphicon-time'>
Posted_on: %s <!-- time -->
</span>
</h3>
</div>
<div class='panel-body' style='word-break:break-all'>
<h4>%s</h4> <!-- question -->
<p> %s</p> <!-- description -->
</div>
<div class='panel-footer'>
<button class='btn btn-primary'>Request Connection</button>
<button class='btn btn-success'>Chat <span class='glyphicon glyphicon-comment'></button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Then in your PHP....
<?php
while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
$time = time();
if( $time < $row['logged_time'] + 30) {
$rowHtml = file_get_contents('row.html');
echo sprintf($rowHtml,
$row['username'],
$row['time'],
$row['question'],
$row['description']);
}
}
?>
I personally like as much abstraction as possible between my languages :)
Good luck!

Answer 3

One way to echo out HTML with PHP is using Heredoc syntax (http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.string.php#language.types.string.syntax.heredoc)
<?php
$name = 'MyName';
echo <<<MYHTML
<p>
My name is <b>"$name"</b>.
</p>
MYHTML;
?>