I have a small situaton here. I'm building a custom CMS for one of my websites.
Below is the code for the main index page:
<?php
require("includes/config.php");
include("includes/header.php");
if(empty($_GET['page'])) {
include('pages/home.php');
} else {
if(!empty($_GET['page'])){
$app = mysqli_real_escape_string($db,$_GET['page']);
$content = mysqli_fetch_assoc(mysqli_query($db, "SELECT * FROM pages_content WHERE htmltitle = '$app'")) or die(mysqli_error($db));
$title = $content['title'];
$metakeywords = $content['htmlkeywords'];
$metadesc = $content['htmldesc'];
?>
<h1><?php echo $content['title']; ?></h1><hr /><br />
<div id="content"><?php echo $content['content']; ?></div>
<? } else { include('includes/error/404.php');} }
include('includes/footer.php'); ?>
The file, includes/header.php contains code to echo variables, such as, page title and meta stuff.
The issue is that when the include("includes/header.php"); is where it is, outside of the if conditions, it will not echo the varables, obviously, however, I can't put the include in the if condition otherwise, the home page, which does not require any url variables will show without these conditions.
What do I do?
You can't really write code like this for too long. It's ok to for start, but you will soon realize it's hard to maintain. The usual way is to split it into a few steps.
First check input and determine on which page are you
If you know you are on the homepage, include something like includes/templates/homepage.php
Otherwise try to load the page from the database
If it worked, include includes/templates/page.php
Otherwise include includes/templates/404.php
Each of the files in includes/templates will output the whole page, i.e. they all include the header, do something and include the footer. You can use for example Smarty templates instead of PHP files, which will make the approach obvious.
Once you have this, you can split the code even more. Instead of loading the page directly from index.php, include another file which defines a function like load_page($name) and returns the page details.
Then a few more changes and you realize you are using the MVC approach. :) The functions that load data from the database are your Models, the Smary templates are Views and the PHP files that put them together are Controllers.
Related
I am new to PHP and programming in general and hope someone can help me with this.
I am working on building a website where the code for each page is saved in a separate file.
Now I have a couple of code snippets that I want to use on different pages but not on all of them.
My current approach is that I paste them on every file that uses them which duplicates code and therefore supposedly is not good practice.
On the other hand when I use snippets on all pages I have removed them from the single files and store them as separate includes files using PHP's include or require in order to include them on a page, e.g. for the header, the footer and the menu etc. - example:
require_once("includes/header.php");
This works well and I was wondering if there is a similar way I can include the other code snippets as well BUT without having to save each of them as a separate file.
Is there a way for example that I could use functions for this or is there some other common practice ?
Example (just to show what I mean):
<?php
// example of what I would like to include on different pages
echo "<button type="button" class="class1" id="btn1">Button 1</button><br />
<button type="button" class="class2" id="btn1">Button 2</button><br />
<button type="button" class="class3" id="btn1">Button 3</button><br />";
?>
The pieces to insert could be anything but usually they are some small PHP / HTML snippets, like a set of buttons or a div or a dropdown etc.
Make the code snippets inside a function so you can call it on any other page by including the same page everytime.
Let's say we have an index.php page, and we have a test.php that have this code (that we want to include on the index page):
<?php
function hello(){
echo 'Hello World!';
}
hello(); //to print "hello world!" in this particular page
?>
Now, in the index.php page, we put:
<?php
include('test.php');
?>
<h1><?php hello(); ?></h1>
use a single index.php file to handle the rest
index.php
<?php
require_once 'header.php';
if(isset($_GET['page']){
switch($_GET['page']){
case "123":
require_once 'snippet1.php';
break;
case "1234":
require_once 'snippet2.php';
break;
default:
require_once 'notfound.php';
}
}
require_once 'footer.php';
I have a custom CMS here entitled phpVMS, and I want to exclude a piece of code, a banner for a single page. phpVMS is steered using templates, for instance, the main template that codes the general layout for all pages is entitled layout.tpl. So, like I said, this displays whatever is in the template, on all of the pages. I have however created a special control panel, and therefore require to exclude the banner, because it slightly destroys the theme of it. Is there any PHP code that excludes a piece of code on a single site? I need to remove a single div...
<div id="slideshow"></div>
...on a single page.
Basically, I could create a new template but this is a very long winded and unefficient way within this CMS, and the final result isn't that great - because I can't reinclude the mainbox div which is the box defining the content on the centre white bit of the theme - it's already in the layout.tpl.
I hope you can somehow help me, hope I've included enough information there.
Thanks.
I don't think you can do what you're asking in PHP, but you might be able to do this on the client-side, by either hiding the div (CSS display:none) or by removing it with JavaScript. You might be able to do something like:
<?php
include("layout.tpi");
if (condition)
{
// Javascript:
echo "<script>document.getElementById('slideshow').style.display = 'none';</script>";
// OR jQuery:
echo "<script>$('#slideshow').hide();</script>";
}
?>
If you use a variable to determine you don't want to include the div, you could do this:
<?php if ($include) { ?>
<div id="slideshow"></div>
<?php } ?>
OR
<?php
if (!$include)
echo "<!--";
?>
<div id="slideshow"></div>
<?php
if (!$include)
echo "-->";
?>
EDIT: Obviously, there is no good reason to use the second method. The second method will only comment out the HTML so it will still show up in the source.
I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for, but seems simple
<?
$template = true;
if($template) {
?>
<div id="slideshow"></div>
<?
}
?>
On the template, you could have some code that reads:
if($_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] == /*control panel file*/) {
//exclude
}else{
//include
}
I want to use php to easily maintain my website, but I simply can't figure out the language - I've found some tuts online, and some other questions here, but none help me.
I've divided my site into some .php files, header/footer and such - And using
works fine..
Now I want the content of my site, to update according to which menu I click on at my site.
http://dawtano.com/pp/
If I click on "about" I want the "Hello World" to open inside my content div, but I can't get the right php code to do it.
I think you should do this---
Note: This will only work if the CSS styling are on the current directory! ()
<div>
<?php
$html_page = implode('', file('http://dawtano.com/pp/'));
echo $html;
?>
</div>
Hope this helps!
well currently your links are taking you to a separate page entirely. So why not just code it so that your include file is specific to the page. i.e, on about.php, use something like
include 'about_content.php
in your contetnt div.
If you're looking for your content to load dynamically into the content div you'll need to look into using ajax to fetch the content pages.
One popular way to construct the site is to have a single php script which displays content based upon a $_GET variable like 'page' or 'content', and then make the link as:
'http://dawtano.com/pp/index.php?page=helloworldcontent'
Using this method, you would need to check if the variable ($_GET['page']) is set using isset(), and then make sure the string is safe... as anybody with a browser could just type in some mumbo-magic script and hijack your site:
'http://dawtano.com/pp/index.php?page=somecleaverlycraftedhax'
Once it exists and is safe, add the '.php' to the file name and include that file... if it exists! If it doesn't exist, then you will need some code to handle that, probably by displaying a 'File not Found' message, or redirecting home, or something.
I prefer not to do this because it is a pain to make safe, and I feel like it is pretty ugly. What I do instead is put all the header/footer/navbar/title bar scripts into seperate 'display' functions, and put them in another file.
Then include this file with the function definitions, and call all the 'display' functions to set up the page. So every php script in your site might look like:
<?php
include 'html_display_functions.php';
/* put lines here to parse $_GET and $_POST, session_start()/$_SESSION, etc... */
print_html_pre_content();
print '<p>Hello, world!</p>';
print_html_post_content();
?>
Since every script will have this structure, you can just create a template file once. When you want to create a new page for your site, copy the template, rename the copy to the php filename you want, and add content between the two print functions.
You also keep the ability to modify the header/footer/navbar/title bar for the whole site in a central location, namely the included file with the functions.
You might be looking for some sort of Template Engine which allows you to create your pages out of variable parts. You could have a look at TBS, which is more or less what is suggested by the name. But there is a whole lot more engines out there which could do the job.
If that's already too much over the top, maybe Apache SSI (Server Side Includes) are a try for you.
A little suggestion from my side, I am often using Apaches mod_rewrite in connection with a single controller.php file. Apaches mod_rewrite will then send all request to the controller.php which will fetch the appropriate page parts for the requested page using TBS and return the respective page. So you have the controll of the page in one location only.
To your original question about.php could look like:
<?php
include('header.php');
?>
// original page content as html for about.php
// assuming header ends with the starting div <div> where you like the content to appear
// and footer starts with the closing div </div>
// if you need variable content here, simply use <?php echo $your_variable ?>
<?php
include('footer.php');
?>
The best way would be to use a switch statement:
http://php.net/manual/en/control-structures.switch.php
Something like this:
<?php
include("header.php");
$page = $_GET['page'];
switch($page)
{
case "about":
include "about.php";
break;
case "faq":
include "faq.php";
break;
case "help":
include "help.php";
break;
default:
include "home.php";
}
include("footer.php);
?>
Then just make all of your links look like this:
http://www.example.com/index.php?page=home
Just replace home with the correct page.
I'm currently using include 'header.php' and include 'footer.php' in every page, and as far as I know that's how most people do it. I thought of a way that I personally thought would be better, however. I thought of making index.php, then in the index include the page. This would both eliminate the need for a footer and eliminate the need for include twice in every page. I'm really new to php, however, so I don't know how I would do this. I tried using POST and GET methods, but it doesn't seem to work. What I want to achieve is including pages in the header using a URL such as http://mysite.com/index.php?page=history and then load history.php. If I need to clarify something, just ask. Sorry if I don't accept an answer right away, I'm really drowsy. I'll get to it when I can.
It is not a problem if you include 2 pages in a file, like header.php and footer.php...
Just writing 2 lines of code in each page is not a matter.
You can decide what pages you want to include dynamically in every page by using if statement, instead of passing the page name in the url.
If you'll do it via index.php, you will no doubt do it wrong.
Nothing bad - every newbie does it this way.
Just because you're thinking of includes, while you should be thinking of templates.
You can make it via index.php, no problem. But there should be not a single HTML tag in this index! As well as in the actual page.
No matter if you're doing it in separate pages or via index.php, the scenario should be the same:
Get all data necessary to display particular page.
Call a template.
Thus, your regular page would look like
code
code
code
include 'template.php';
while index.php would look like
get page name
sanitize page name
include page
include 'template.php';
now you can decide what to choose
First off i agree with Meager... Take a look at soem frameworks. Most will use a two step view which essentially does this althoug in a more complex and flexible way.
With that said it would look something like this:
<?php
$page = isset($_GET['page']) ? $_GET['page'] : 'home'; // default to home if no page
if(file_exists($page.'.php')) {
// buffer the output so we can redirect with header() if necessary
ob_start();
include($page.'.php');
$content = ob_get_clean();
}
else
{
// do something for error 404
}
?>
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
<?php echo $content; ?>
</body>
</html>
You could get more complex than that. One thing you want to do uis make sure you dont blindly assume that the page in the $_GET var is safe... make sure the file exists on your server or otherwise sanitize it...
I've been working on a small page in PHP, one that doesn't need the power of a full-fledged framework behind it. One thing that I'm really missing from previous work in Ruby-on-Rails is the ability to effectively pass content up the page using "content_for".
What I was wondering is, how could you create a page lifecycle that would accomplish this same effect in PHP?
So, here's a simple example:
Let's say you have a template that defines an index page, just a recurring header and menu you want to use on all your pages. So your index.php file looks basically like this:
...header stuff...
<body>
<?php include $file.'.php'; ?>
</body>
...footer stuff...
EDIT: Thanks for the tips on URL security, but let's just assume I'm getting the user request safely :)
Now, lets say in the header you want to put this:
<head>
<title><?php echo $page_title; ?></title>
</head>
It would be nice to be able to specify the title in the included file, so at the url http://example.com/index.php?p=test you're loading test.php, and that file looks like this:
<?php $page_title = 'Test Page'; ?>
... rest of content ...
Now, obviously this doesn't work, because the including page (index.php) is loaded before the variable is set.
In Rails this is where you could pass stuff 'up the page' using the content_for function.
My question is this: What would be the simplest, leanest way that you all can think of to effect this kind of 'content_for' functionality in PHP?
Ideally I'd like suggestions that don't involve strapping on some big framework, but some relatively light boilerplate code that could be used in a lot of different applications.
Never do include $_GET['p']. This opens a huge security hole in your site, as include accepts filenames and URLs, so anybody would be able to read any file on your site and also execute any code on your server. You may want to check and sanitize the value first.
If you need something simple, you may put header and footer in separate files, execute your test.php which would set the variables, capture its output using output buffering, then include the header, output the middle part and include the footer. Example:
<?php ob_start(); ?>
<body>
<?php include $filename.'.php'; ?>
</body>
<?php $content = ob_get_clean();
include 'header.php';
echo $content;
include 'footer.php';
?>
If I understand you correctly (I have not used RoR extensively), you could put your data in a variable or a function. If your content was in a variable, your "test.php" could simply hold all your variables and you could load it at the very beginning of your index file (likewise for a function depending on how complicated your needs are; if you're doing a lot of extra work, you may need to use a function as a variable won't work).
For example, your test.php would look something like this:
<?php
$page_title = "Test Page";
$page_content = "Some sort of content";
// Or
function page_content()
{
// Run some functions and print content at the end
}
?>
Then, in your index.php
<?php include $_GET['p'].'.php'; ?>
...header stuff...
<title><?php print $page_title; ?></title>
<body>
<?php print $page_content; ?>
<!-- OR if function -->
<?php page_content(); ?>
</body>
...footer stuff...
This way everything should load properly. You could also split things up, but that would complicate your structure (especially if there is no need for an elaborate framework, this would be unnecessary).
Good luck!
Dennis M.
Are you worried about XSS? Or are you going to filter/whitelist the "filenames" from the query string?
My answer would be to use mod_rewrite -- if you're using PHP, you're likely using Apache!
You could filter out files with a RewriteCond and your RewriteRule could be:
RewriteRule /index.php?p=(.*)$ $1 [L,QSA]
This may be a different approach than the PHP functionality you were looking for, but it comes to mind...