Load a file, edit it and the save it (server side) PHP - php

Question

I got a page that loads html code from a text file into an textarea and I need to be able to save the contents of it using a script.
I'm using a PHP script to load the code from a file and echo it out to the textarea, but how can I send back the contents to the script and save it either to the same file or to a file with a new name?
I was thinking if getElementById would help me but I'm not sure how.
The load script(it has the ability to delete files too)
// The file hierarchy:
//
//Web root - admin - This file
// - pages - in here are the page text files
// The variable pagesList is the filename chosen in a dropdown list earlier
$page = $_GET["pagesList"];
$action = $_GET["action"];
//get the path to the page( all pages are in a folder named 'pages')
$filename = dirname(dirname(__FILE__))."/pages/".$page;
if(file_exists($filename) and is_file($filename)){
//If I want to load a file
if($action == "open"){
$f = fopen($filename,"rt");
$content = fread($f, filesize($filename));
echo $content;
#fclose($f);
//If I want to delete a file
}elseif($action == "delete" && is_file($filename)){
//move the working directory to where the file is
$old = getcwd();
chdir(dirname(dirname(__FILE__))."/pages/");
//----
if(unlink($filename))
echo "File deleted,".$filename;
else
echo "Error deleting file!";
//change back the working directory to where it was
chdir($old);
//If I want to save a file
}elseif($action == "save"){
if(file_exists($filename)){
//Unknown script, need help!
}else{
}
}
}
The textarea is only one line with an include in it:
<textarea id="html_content" style="width:600;height:200;"><?php include("loader.php") ?></textarea>
To sum it up: I need help getting the contents of an textarea to a script for saving later.
EDIT: Thanks to davidkonrad I just had to add a few POST receives in the script and add file_put_content with the content sent to it.
The problem that arised is that jQuery apparently puts \ before each " or '. That messes up all the html code that is supposed to be clean and valid. I'll have to replace the \" with " somehow, str_replace wont cut it. Any ideas?
EDIT2: Thanks again to davidkonrad that fixed it by using encodeURIComponent(jQuery) clientside and urldecode(PHP) serverside.

Answer 1

Update, OK if you just are in doubt how to submit a textarea to your loader.php :
<form method="post" action="loader.php">
<input type="hidden" name="filename" value="test.html">
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="save">
<textarea name="html_content"></textarea>
<input type="submit" value="save">
</form>
loader.php, now you have
$filename=$_POST['filename'];
$action=$_POST['action'];
$html_content=$_POST['html_content'];
Which here is "test.html", "save" and any text typed into the textarea. use those variables in your if .. else loop as above, eg
} elseif($action == "save"){
if(file_exists($filename)){
//Unknown script, need help!
file_put_contents($filename, $html_content); //or how you want to do it
}
}
The disadvantages is
the page needs to be reloaded on each action
you need to echo the inserted content again, between <textarea> .. </textarea> once it is inserted (as I understand, the HTML is part of loader.php)
likewise keeping track of the current filename is more complicated
NB : Unless there is a particular reason, you dont have to check if a file already exists before writing to it. And still thinks travelling around in the directories just makes it complicated :) Is /pages/ not just a relative path?
It does not need to be so complicated. I would use a more simple and structured approach, consisting of
A PHP class that performs each task by simple file_put_contents, file_get_contents and unlink, including some small error handling
A system of $.ajax calls (jQuery) calling the above PHP class
The following working example performs save, load and delete of HTML files to a directoty /files, which you must give RW permissions.
file.php
class File {
private $filename;
private $dir = 'files/';
public function __construct() {
$action = isset($_POST['action']) ? $_POST['action'] : false;
$this->filename = isset($_POST['filename']) ? $_POST['filename'] : false;
if ((!$action) || (!$this->filename)) return;
switch ($action) {
case 'save' :
$this->save(); break;
case 'load' :
$this->load(); break;
case 'delete' :
$this->delete(); break;
default :
return;
break;
}
}
private function save() {
$content = isset($_POST['content']) ? $_POST['content'] : '';
file_put_contents($this->dir.$this->filename, urldecode($content));
}
private function load() {
$content = #file_get_contents($this->dir.$this->filename);
echo $content;
}
private function delete() {
unlink($this->dir.$this->filename);
}
}
$file = new File();
file.html, markup
<input type="text" id="filename" value="test.txt"><br>
<textarea id="html_content" style="width:600;height:200;"></textarea>
<br>
<button id="save">save</button>
<button id="load">load</button>
<button id="delete">delete</button>
file.html, script :
var url = 'file.php';
$("#save").click(function() {
$.ajax({
url : url,
type: 'post',
data : {
filename : $("#filename").val(),
action : 'save',
content : encodeURIComponent($('#html_content').val())
}
});
});
$("#delete").click(function() {
$.ajax({
url : url,
type: 'post',
data : {
filename : $("#filename").val(),
action : 'delete'
}
});
});
$("#load").click( function() {
$.ajax({
url : url,
type: 'post',
data : {
filename : $("#filename").val(),
action : 'load'
},
success : function(html) {
$("#html_content").val(html);
}
});
});
The HTML content (tags, HTML entities) is maintained upon save by the use of encodeURIComponent and urldecode. Try it out yourself, and consider this as the base for a more complex system. If you want to create a new file, just enter a new filename in the filename box. If you want to load a file, enter that filename in the filename box. I think file_put_contents etc is by far more robust than dealing with file handles, chdir(dirname(dirname(__FILE__))."/pages/"); (??) and so on.

Answer 2

try using php fputs function to save file