Using php as external javascript with CakePHP? - php

PHP files can be used as external javascript files. Basically make a php file output valid javascript and use that php file as your javascript file: http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/externalphp.shtml . Can this be done with cakephp since we don't specify php files in the browser but rather a directory based on controllers and their actions?

Late answer, but anyway, this is how I did it.
When linking to external javascript file, don't forget to set inline to false like the one shown below:
$this->Html->script('scriptname', array('inline' => false));

Sure, as long as you output valid JS, id does not matter what the URL looks like and what is behind that URL.

When you link a javascript file with
$this->Html->script('scriptname');
all that happens is that a tag is created in the HTML
<script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/webroot/js/scriptname.js"></script>
So, you can link whatever you'd like.

Related

What is the best way to modify the JavaScript included in a scraped web page?

During a site scraping, I discovered several scraped functions in JavaScript that I need to modify because the code uses a relative path:
/UserControl/bla
I need to modify it to use absolute path:
www.domain-name.com/UserControl/bla
The problem is, those functions written in a separate file included by the scraped page. So far I can only stream that file using the PHP function file_get_contents(), change the part I need using preg_replace, and insert that script in the head section of the scraped HTML. I don't have access to modify the included JavaScript file because it's on a server I don't have access to.
Is that the right way to do this?
What I do in this cases is to declare JavaScript global variables with the objective to be constant values, then, I can access this variables from my included JS files, for example:
<script>
Globals = {
absoluteUrlPrefix: "<?= getAbsoluteUrlPrefix(); ?>"
};
</script>
<script src="myjsfile.js"></script>
on myjsfile.js
...
var absoluteUrl = Globals.absoluteUrlPrefix+"/UserControl/bla";
...
preg_replace is an option, if it's just to show the web pages on your machine, you could also insert a base-path tag:
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_base.asp

How to know php file is loaded from source code

I'm working with my JS files, what i have now is a unique php file with JS header, if a variable is set it includes the real js file, which is fine.
The "home" page has the script tag for the php-js file:
<head>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="bootstrap.php"></script>
</head>
the bottstrap.php file has something like:
if(isset($hostData) && !empty($hostData)) {
include('bootstrap.js');
}else {
echo "document.write('<center><bold>PLEASE DO SOMETHING...!</bold></center>');";
}
all that seems to be fine, however when viewing the source code (CTRL+U) the browser shows the "bootstrap.php" part as a link, if clicked it obviously redirects to http://mydomain/bootstrap.php and the js code can be easily seen, which is exactly what i don't want...
So my question is, is there any php-way to know if the file is being loaded from browser's "rendering view" or being loaded from browser's "source code view" ???
Any help is truly appreciated =)
In short, no. You can't hide your script source from your users. The best you can do is obfuscate it using tools like YUICompressor.
There's no way you can hide the javascript code. It needs to be executed by the client, and even if you try to hide it by formatting your code badly, tools like firebug can easily introspect the code and pull out the code.
To be honest I don't think you can actually hide it like that. I'm assuming the best thing you've got to go on is the useragent string but I'm assuming if you "view source" in a browser it would still send the regular headers.
The only way I can think of adding the JS include without it appearing when in view source mode is to actually load the external file via javascript (you could even break the path of the js file into variables so it isn't really human readable) which I would not advise.
If someone wants to get at your javascript they will there no is way of avoiding it.
and the js code can be easily seen, which is exactly what i don't want...
You don't want the JS to be seen, but you do want to use it???
There IS something wrong with your code though if you want the js file to be used in your page.
You need to include / require the file:
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="<?php include bootstrap.php ?>"></script>
Otherwise the browser will load the contents of the bootstrap file, but you want to run the code inside it (which can only be done at the server).
Also:
change:
include('bootstrap.js');
to
echo bootstrap.js;
EDIT
by re-reading your question (and other answers) that's exactly what you want: make your JS code invisible (correct me if wrong).
The answer to that is: No cannot be done.
You can try to obfuscate the code but it will take someone who wants to see it seconds to 'decode'.
Try using the $_SERVER["HTTP_referer"], which have the url that called this file.
I'm really sorry for disappearing from here...
The best solution I decided to implement is quite simple: don't show ANY URL or PHP files within JS code; so during last months I've used a unique PHP file to do all necessary database queries, a stored procedure generates dynamically all the URL's needed from JS.
In that way URL's vary every time and what I've named "poor logic" goes free for users to view/copy I don't mind that while server data is secure.
THANKS ALL FOR YOUR VALUABLE ANSWERS!!!

Javascript in an external file

Before I ask this question I must point out that I have tried to search for EVERYTHING!
My question is how can I run javascript from an external file instead of inside my php / html. What I'm trying to do is.
function ClearForm() {
document.form.message.value="";
}
function comeBack(){
if (document.form.message.value == "") {
document.form.message.value="What's on your mind?";
}
}
I have included<script type="text/javascript" src="javascript.js"></script> in the <head> and I have a file in the root called javascript.js and my php file is in the root too so that shouldn't be the problem! But how do I run that pieces of code you see above in the javascript.js file instead of in my php file. It work's fine if I have it in the php file but I want to separate things!
I have also tried to give the form / input field an id and then use getElementById in the external JavaScript file.
But as you can see and hear I'm kinda new to JavaScript so I'm apparently doing something wrong here.
If the above code is the only thing in your Javascript.js file, then you need to call the functions to run the code.
You've included the external Javascript file correctly - however, because all of your JS is included within functions, these function/s must be called before the code will run.
A call to 'ClearForm()' or 'comeBack()' from within your PHP file should run the code.
That JS file will have to be in the same folder as your PHP page.
Test whether the file is found or not by adding this line at the top of the js file
alert('js file found OK!');
document.form is an array, so if you only have one form use:
document.forms[0]
Also depending on which browser you use, find and install some Developer Tools to help you identify these errors.
You have declared those functions in the <head>. All fine.
The question is when do you want to call/run those functions?
If you simply want to run them at the end of the page, then you can add another external javascript file and include it using <script src="my_external_file.js"> right before the </body> tag.
Otherwise, you have to declare onXXX handlers, like onLoad() for the document, onClick() for certain elements, onSubmit() for forms, etc. These, too, can be declared in an external file, but specified after the relevant elements are loaded.

Can I source a php file as javascript?

I am using a WP template that allows me to incorporate arbitrary HTML. Unfortunately, I have to use this particular widget and can't use other WP widgets.
I have on my webserver /some/path/serve_image.php that spits out a random HREF'd IMG SRC with a caption and some other info from a MySQL query.
Now...how can I say "take that output and treat it as HTML"? If I just put "/some/path/serve_image.php" I get that literal string.
I tried:
<script type="javascript" src="/some/path/serve_image.php"></script>
but that didn't work. I tried changing everything in serve_image.php to be document.write() calls and that didn't seem to work either. I'm not the world's greatest JS guy...
So if I have a URL on the net that spits out some HTML and I want to include that HTML in my web page, what's the best way to do that? Sort of like what Google does with Adsense - you source their show_ads.js.
Why no? Add
header('Content-Type: application/javascript');
And output JavaScript Like:
echo("var image = \"".$images[array_rand($images)]."\";");
echo("$('img.randim').attr('src', image);
No. JavaScript and PHP are two completely separate languages. In fact, if it was JavaScript, you aren't even loading it the right way.
<script type="text/javascript"></script>
The way you're trying to do it would throw a parse error, because it would try to use the PHP as JavaScript. Some browsers would even reject it, because PHP files have a text/html MIME type, while JavaScript should be application/javascript.
PHP has to be done server side, so loading it in the client just doesn't work.
What I think you're after is this:
<?php
require('/some/path/serve_image.php');
?>
Just place that wherever you want the image to be.

is there some Wordpress template shortcode for javascript files?

I know we can get some path with <?php bloginfo('something');?> into php files, but is it some equivalent for javascript file loaded with the enqueue_script function ?
Did wordpress change some shortcode into those files ?
EDIT : I think I did not clearly express my needs. So i want to know if wordpress had some shortcode who, placed into a js file who is loaded with the enqueue method, will be replaced by the template path. Typically i need to make some ajax call form a .php file from my template and want to avoid hard linking file
No javascript files won't be parsed as php, and as such won't process any shortcodes or php.
Why not just make your links relative. Often I find subdomaining my dev copy, removes any problems when moving a site live and broken links.
You could cheat and link to a php file, which then passes header information as Javascript. Doesn't seem very elegant though. See here.
Or you could just declare the variable in a little bit of inline Javascript and pick it up in the external JS file.
<script type="text/javascript">
var siteURL= '<?php bloginfo('url');?>';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="yourscript.js"></script>
Then in yourscript.js just reference the variable 'siteURL'
You have to register scripts using wp_register_script(). Then by placing wp_enqueue_script before wp_head() it will load them in for you. The idea of using wp_enqueue_script is that you don't need to enter them all in manually, and you can load other scripts depending on whether a certain script has been loaded.

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