I have small problem.
I've coded a full website in php using CodeIgniter framework. One of my modules is search module, it contains text input with keyword and three select lists with filtering criterias.
That's ok, when I'm searching something - result's listing pagination is done via URL like that:
mysite.com/$keyword/$criteria1/$criteria2/$criteria3/$offset
works like a charm.
But when I'm entering into one of my images (it's image gallery) I want to have an option to go into NEXT and PREVIOUS image from my search results - the ones which I entered this image from.
I'm solving this case now in this way - I have session table called 'search_conditions' and I'm storing values of keyword and my three criterias there, but that's quite not comfortable, because why if someone opens second window and search something else there?
Then all of his searches in another windows or tabs are getting the same criteria - because with every new search, user overwrite the session value.
My next and previous functions:
public function next($count)
{
$search = $this->session->userdata('search_conditions'); //getting session table and overwriting it
$catid = isset($search['catid'])?$search['catid']:'0';
$brandid = isset($search['brandid'])?$search['brandid']:'0';
$prodid = isset($search['prodid'])?$search['prodid']:'0';
$keyword = isset($search['keyword'])?$search['keyword']:'';
$res = $this->search_model->main_search($keyword, $catid, $brandid, $prodid, $count, 1);
}
public function previous($count)
{
$search = $this->session->userdata('search_conditions');
$catid = isset($search['catid'])?$search['catid']:'0';
$brandid = isset($search['brandid'])?$search['brandid']:'0';
$prodid = isset($search['prodid'])?$search['prodid']:'0';
$keyword = isset($search['keyword'])?$search['keyword']:'';
$res = $this->search_model->main_search($keyword, $catid, $brandid, $prodid, $count-2, 1);
}
Can you recommend me some other, more comfortable solution, because this seems not to be good...
: )
Thank you!
Add an index to the $search_conditions variable:
$search_conditions[1]['catid']
$search_conditions[1]['brandid']
...
then refer to it with a controller's or config variable. This way you can allow one session to store multiple search conditions.
But I would recommend you drop storing the search condition in session. Instead, just pass it with the URI. Session data, in the case you describe, work as an intermediary; you don't need it. Use the Pagination Class and pass the search page number, not the direction (next or previous) to the URI.
Do not worry that the URI may look ugly - it only depends on what user searches for, and it's still friendly to share. Your only concern is if the GET string does not extend the limited length.
Pull the segments from the URI in your next() and previous() functions. Use the codeigniter URL helper. That should allow you to pass the different search criterion as variables to the next page, this would also remove your need to use the session.
Related
I am creating a website using the MVC structure. Below is a code I have used to use clean URLS and load the appropriate files. However it only works for the first level.
Say I wanted to visit mywebsite.com/admin it would work, however mywebsite.com/admin/dashboard would not. The problem is in the arrays, how could I get the array to load content after the 2nd level along with the second level.
Would it be best to create an array like this?
Array
- controller
- view
- dashboard
Any help here would be great. Also as a side question. What would be the best way to set up "custom" urls. So if I were to put in mywebsite.com/announcement it would check to see if its got controllers, failing that, check to see if it's got custom content (maybe a file of the same name in "customs" folder, and then if there's nothing execute the 404 page not found stuff) This isn't a priority question though, but loosely associated in how the code works so I thought it best to add.
function hook() {
$params = parse_params();
$url = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$url = str_replace('?'.$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'], '', $url);
$urlArray = array();
$urlArray = explode("/",$url);
var_dump($urlArray);
if (isset($urlArray[2]) & !empty($urlArray[2])) {
$route['controller'] = $urlArray[2];
} else {
$route['controller'] = 'front'; // Default Action
}
if (isset($urlArray[3]) & !empty($urlArray[3])) {
$route['view'] = $urlArray[3];
} else {
$route['view'] = 'index'; // Default Action
}
include(CONTROLLER_PATH.$route['controller'].'.php');
include(VIEW_PATH.$route['controller'].DS.$route['view'].'.php');
var_dump($route['controller']);
var_dump($route['view']);
var_dump($urlArray);
var_dump($params);
// reseting messages
$_SESSION['flash']['notice'] = '';
$_SESSION['flash']['warning'] = '';
}
// Return form array
function parse_params() {
$params = array();
if(!empty($_POST)) {
$params = array_merge($params, $_POST);
}
if(!empty($_GET)) {
$params = array_merge($params, $_GET);
}
return $params;
}
Can you clarify this: "The problem is in the arrays, how could I get the array to load content after the 2nd level along with the second level."
I don't understand how you want this thing to work. I checked your code and it works. Maybe you just need to put $urlArray[1] instead of $urlArray[2] and 2 instead of 3? First element in the array is at index 0.
Usually it's done like this:
Url format:
/controller/action/param1/param2/...
-controller- should be a class. That class has a method/function called -action-.
ex. /shoes/show/121/ --> this will load controller shoes
and execute the method/function show(121)
that will show the shoes that have the id 121 in the
database.
ex. /shoes/list/sport --> this will load controller shoes
and execute function list('sport') that will list all
shoes in the sport category.
As you can see, you only load one controller and from that controller you run only one function and that function will get the rest of the path and use it as parameters.
If you want to have multiple controllers for one URL, then the rest of the controllers will have to be loaded from the main controller. Most MVCs (like CodeIgniter) load only one controller per URL.
Second question:
Best way for pretty urls would be to save them in the db. This means you can have URLs like this:
/I-can-write-anything-here-No-need-to-add-ids-or-controller-names
Then you take this URL and search it in db and get the -controller- and -action- that you need for this URL.
But I have yet to see a popular MVC framework do this. I guess the reason is that the db will get a lot of queries for text matches and that will slow things down.
Popular MVC frameworks use:
/controller/action/param1/param2
This has the benefit that you can directly find the controller/action from the url.
The downside is that you will get urls like:
/shoes/list/sport
//when what you really want is
/shoes/sport
//or just
/sport //if the website only sells shoes
This can be fixed by redirecting /shoes/sport to /shoes/list/sport
If you make your own MVC then you should use OOP because if not, thing will get ugly quick: all actions/functions are in the same namespace.
Personally I would recommend that you use one of the many PHP frameworks that exist as that will take care of the routing for you and let you concentrate on writing your application. CakePHP is one that I've used for a while and it makes my life so much easier.
What I do:
I create a .htaccess file that redirects an url like www.example.com/url/path/or/something to www.example.com/index.php?url=url/path/or/something, so it will be pretty easy to do an explode on your $_GET['url']
Second, it's better because everything a user input, will be redirected to your index.php, so you have FULL control over EVERYTHING.
If you want I can PM you the url to my mvc (bitbucket) so you can have a look on how I do this ;)
(Sorry for the others, but I don't like to put url's to my site in public)
edit:
To be more precise to your particular question; It will solve your problem, because everything goes to index.php and you have full control over the requested url.
I am trying to call pages using Zend_Paginate() on a query that loads based on a GET search string the query essentially does the following:
SELECT * FROM table WHERE column LIKE '%searchstring%' OR alt_column LIKE '%searchstring%';
The query works fine when called via search/submit text form and the URL returns something similar to
URLINK.php?search=searchstring
However when trying to move onto the next page the program dumps me back to the paginate alternate URL (used for errors or no page display)-- hope this last line makes sense it is late and am doing my best to type this up with transparency.
What is the best method when using paginate against URL.php?search=searchstring"?
A bit more on the call to the url
//search query
$search = searchQuery('search', 'list_sql_rows.php');
$results - searchTable($dbRead, $search);
search method using the variables above in the order below
if(isset($_POST['submit_search'])) { $searchstring = $_POST['searchstring'];
if($searchstring) { header('Location: results.php?search=' . $searchstring); } }
This bit works well, but when I try to call the results.php?page=2 with paginator the system reverts me to the fall back URL list_sql_rows.php as mentioned above. Any thoughts/comments are appreciated.
Just to clarify a search field/form from the search.php page sends the $searchstring to the results.php page via $_POST && $_GET as fail safe. The get method sends the $searchstring in the URL header so the results of the search DO work on the first page results.php?search=$searchstring. This works just fine. The pagination seems to lose the $searchstring, and I wonder if this is due to a loss of the $_POST/$_GET when paginator begins to 'paginate' it returns URL results.php?page=2 so it seems $_GET may not be the method of choice?
UPDATE
On the write track now paginate works it is my link structure that is broken.
_results_samples.php?search=robert&page=4_ will in fact return page 4 of the paginated results using the word ROBERT
SOLUTION FOUND VIA variant suggestion by ROCKYFORD
variant of recommended method by first persisting $searchstring
change to paginate links as shown below
<a href='" . $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] . "?search=" . $searchstring . "&page={$page}'>$page</a>
Here is the example of correct using of pagination:
in action-method:
$select = $clients->getAll();
$paginator = new Zend_Paginator(new Zend_Paginator_Adapter_DbSelect($select));
$paginator->setCurrentPageNumber($this->_getParam('page'));
$paginator->setItemCountPerPage(20);
$this->view->clients = $paginator;
in a view script:
<?php if (count($this->clients) > 0): ?>
...
<?php echo $this->paginationControl($this->clients, 'Sliding', 'partials/paginator.phtml'); ?>
<?php else: ?>
<h3 class="notice">No registered clients found!</h3>
<?php endif; ?>
But even if you will fail with this variant, you can always try to compose your own component, Zend only aids us in solving some tasks.
you need to make sure you preserve the query strings between requests, use Zend_Session_Namespace or Zend_registry.
Everytime Zend_Paginator loads a page when using the DbTableSelect or DbSelect adapters it has to hit the db with the query, it just changes the limit option.
Or you could just dump the whole query result into a Zend_Paginator_Adapter_Array and it will page through the array.
[edit]
you are going to have to persist the query string between requests someway so you can put it back in the url string, I usually use Zend_Registry, but then I use the whole MVC stack. You don't seem to be using the whole stack so you'll need another method, probably $_SESSION would work. I'm sure there are many other ways to persist this data.
P.S. you didn't mention which adapter you are using so I'm making some assumptions.
[edit]
Personally I always use $_post for this when possible to avoid all this, only seem to have this problem with $_get.
I'm doing a website. There's a pagination, you click on links and they take you to the page you need, the links pass $_GET variable ( a href="?pn=2" ) and that works fine.
However when i add the category links (also contain $_GET variable
(a href="?sort=english") on the same page, which kind of sort the content on the page, and click it, the system simply overrides the url and deletes all the previous $_GET's.
For example, I'm on page 2 (http://website.com/index.php?pn=2)
and then I click this sorting link and what I'm expecting to get is this (http://website.com/index.php?pn=2&sort=english), but what I get is this:
(http://website.com/index.php?sort=english). It simply overrides the previous $_GET, instead of adding to it!
A relative URI consisting of just a query string will replace the entire existing query string. There is no way to write a URL that will add to an existing query. You have to write the complete query string that you want.
You can maintain the existing string by adding it explicitly:
href="?foo=<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_GET['foo']); ?>&bar=123"
Try using this:
$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
On this link you can see examples. And on this link I have uploaded test document where you can try it yourself, it just prints out this line from above.
EDIT: Although this can help you get the current parameters in URL, I think it's not solution for you. Like Quentin said, you will have to write full link manually and maintain each parameter.
You could create a function that will iterate through your $_GET array and create a query string. Then all you would have to do is change your $_GET array and generate this query string.
Pseudocode (slash I don't really know PHP but here's a good example you should be able to follow):
function create_query_string($array) {
$kvps = array();
for ($key in $array) {
array_push($kvps, "$key=$array[$key]");
}
return "?" . implode("&", $kvps);
}
Usage:
$_GET["sort"] = "english";
$query_string = create_query_string($_GET);
You need to maintain the query parameters when you create the new links. The links on the page should be something like this:
Sort by English
The HTTP protocol is stateless -- it doesn't remember the past. You have to remind it of what the previous HTTP parameters were via PHP or other methods (cookies, etc). In your case, you need to remind it what the current page number is, as in the example above.
OK, here's my dilemma:
I've read all over about how many guys want to be able to display a set of images from Flickr using PHPFlickr, but lament on how the API for PhotoSets does not put individual photo descriptions. Some have tried to set up their PHP so it will pull the description on each photo as the script assembles the gallery on the page. However, the method has shown how slow and inefficient it can be.
I caught an idea elsewhere of creating a string of comma separated values with the photo ID and the description. I'd store it on the MySQL database and then call upon it when I have my script assemble the gallery on the page. I'd use explode to create an array of the photo ID and its description, then call on that to fill in the gaps...thus less API calls and a faster page.
So in the back-end admin, I have a form where I set up the information for the gallery, and I hand a Set ID. The script would then go through and make this string of separated values ("|~|" as a separation). Here's what I came up with:
include("phpFlickr.php");
$f = new phpFlickr("< api >");
$descArray = "";
// This will create an Array of Photo ID from the Set ID.
// $setFeed is the set ID brought in from the form.
$photos = $f->photosets_getPhotos($setFeed);
foreach ($photos['photoset']['photo'] as $photo) {
$returnDesc = array();
$photoID = $photo['id'];
$rsp = $f->photos_getInfo($photoID);
foreach ($rsp as $pic) {
$returnDesc[] = htmlspecialchars($pic['description'], ENT_QUOTES);
}
$descArray .= $photoID."|~|".$returnDesc[0]."|~|";
}
The string $descArray would then be placed in the MySQL string that puts it into the database with other information brought in from the form.
My first question is was I correct in using a second foreach loop to get those descriptions? I tried following other examples all over the net that didn't use that, but they never worked. When I brought on the second foreach, then it worked. Should I have done something else?
I noticed the data returned would be two entries. One being the description, and the other just an "o"...hence the array $returnDesc so I could just get the one string I wanted and not the other.
Second question is if I made this too complicated or not. I like to try to learn to write cleaner/leaner code, and was looking for opinions.
Suggestions on improvement are welcome. Thank you in advance.
I'm not 100% sure as I've just browsed the source for phpFlickr, and looked the the Flickr API for the getInfo() call. But let me have a go anyway :)
First off, it looks like you shouldn't need that loop, like you mention. What does the output of print_r($rsp); look like? It could be that $rsp is an array with 1 element, in which case you could ditch the inner loop and replace it with something like $pic = $rsp[0]; $desc = $pic['description'];
Also, I'd create a new "description" column in your database table (that has the photo id as the primary key), and store the description in their on its own. Parsing db fields like that is a bit of a nightmare. Lastly, you might want to force htmlspecialchars to work in UTF8 mode, cause I don't think it does by default. From memory, the third parameter is the content encoding.
edit: doesn't phpFlickr have its own caching system? Why not use that and make the cache size massive? Seems like you might be re-inventing the wheel here... maybe all you need to do is increase the cache size, and make a getDescription function:
function getDescription ($id)
{
$rsp = $phpFlickr->photos_getInfo ($id);
$pic = $rsp[0];
return $pic['description'];
}
I have created a small search and filter form with a POST action in controller/index, which POSTs to itself the conditions and fields to paginate ($this->paginate($conditions)).
That is good for the first page, however on the subsequent pages the filter conditions are lost. Pagination passedArgs supports GET variables well.
Are there an un-complex ways to pass the POST conditions to the other paginated pages?
The method I have looked at is to pass the $conditions via the session, which isn't without complexity of assigning the session and unsetting the session on submitting the form again (more refinements to the filter criteria by the user).
The other method is passing the $conditions as serialized string with url_encode as a GET parameter.
Is there a good 'cake' way to do this more like passedArgs. Sessions and url_encode do not look like cake style.
Thanks
Is there an un complex way to pass the
post conditions to the other paginated
pages?
Nope.
Is there an good cake way to do this
more like passArgs, sessions and url
encode do not look like cake style.
There is only one way, no matter, cake or not cake.
Search must be done using GET method.
Parameters being passed via QUERY STRING.
So, make your search form with method="GET" and then use http_build_query() to assemble a query string and use it to make links to other pages.
Being a little curious, you can see an example right here on SO:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged?tagnames=php&page=5&sort=newest&pagesize=50
You can use passedArgs.
in the method controller :
if ( empty($this->passedArgs['search']) ){
$this->passedArgs['search'] = $this->data['YourModel']['search'];
}
if ( empty($this->data) ){
$this->data['YourModel']['search'] = $this->passedArgs['search'];
}
in your view :
$this->Paginator->options(array('url' => $this->passedArgs));
If it was me I would run with your idea of saving the stuff into the session. Then I would add a page dimension to the session, to store each page, thus allowing users to go back and forth with ease.
$this->Session->write('Search.page.1.params',$params);
$this->Session->write('Search.page.2.params',$params2);
In order to do it in a Cake way, you'd probably want to write your own Pagination helper, or plugin. Which you could then use more effectivly in your controllers as
$this->MyPages->paginate('MyModel');
I suppose, this functionality would also give you the option to allow your users to 'Save my search' if they wanted to, as you could dump the session params into a SavedSearch model or similar.
Don't forget to $this->Session->destroy() before starting a new search though!
You can also use the Post/Redirect/Get design pattern pattern to solve this, allowing users to bookmark URLs of searches (without them expiring as a session would) and keeping URLs looking friendly. For example:
function index($searchTerms = null) {
// post/redirect/get
if (isset($this->data['SearchForm'])) {
$this->redirect(array($this->data['SearchForm']['search_terms']));
}
// your normal code here.
}
The search form data POSTs to /controller/action but the user is redirected and instead GETs /controller/action/search+terms where the terms are passed into the action as a parameter (ie. $searchTerms).
If you simply change the form submission method to GET you will instead see something like: /controller/action?data[SearchForm][search_terms]=search+terms
Thanks Deizel for the POST / REDIRECT / GET pattern.
I implemented the GET method of posting data.
For pagination used this
$urlparams = $this->params['url'];unset($urlparams['url']);
$paginator->options(array('url' => array('?' => http_build_query($urlparams))));
We had multi checkboxes and the naming convention used where :
foreach ($checkboxes as $chbox ) {
// used variable variables to generate the data grid table based on selected fields
${'_field'.$chbox} = (isset($this->params['url']['displayfields'][$chbox])?$this->params['url']['displayfields'][$chbox]:1);
$options = array('label'=>$chbox,'type'=>'checkbox','value'=> ${'_field'.$chbox});
if ( ${'_field'.$chbox} ) $options['checked'] = 'checked';
echo $form->input('Filter.displayfields['.$chbox.']',$options);
In the post method the naming convention for the checkboxs would be Filter.displayfields.checkbox name
This helps in getting an array either in $this->data or $this->params['url']
There should be an persistent pagination plugin/component for cakePHP would make life much more easier and fun to develop with cakePHP.
Thanks all.