How to post comments to a php page

**jackbenimble4** · 02-09-2008, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by Benedizione

Well, guys, I am stumped on all this scripting too. I have been working with all kinds of stuff for hours and have not established anything. *grins*

I did find this example: http://www.instantsitecomments.com/test.html that I like the way it works and it would be great to do this...just a simple task it seems.

It's not php but isn't there some kind of simple code I could establish to create the same thing? Something that is much less complicated than databases and code I do not understand?

Dre

More than likely, the code behind that example you would find confusing. The only thing I can recommend is taking your time. New concepts can't be instantly absorbed by our brains. If you be persistent and take a tutorial step by step, completing every exercise highlighted, you will understand it in time. It will also be a stepping stone allowing you to move on to more complicated programming techniques and concepts.

**Benedizione** · 02-09-2008, 06:11 PM

Is it possible to tweak a simple mail program to "post" to a page instead of sending in an email?

http://www.dynamicdrive.com/style/cs...less-form/P50/

Dre

**thetestingsite** · 02-09-2008, 06:24 PM

You could, but either way you would want to reference what was already mentioned on how to do it. http://www.php-mysql-tutorial.com/ is a good place to start for using php to post and retrieve info to/from a MySQL database. The following pages should be looked at for some sample code on how to do both of these. The other option is to avoid a database and simply post to text files using the commands I referenced earlier in this thread.

http://www.php-mysql-tutorial.com/mysql-insert-php.php
http://www.php-mysql-tutorial.com/php-mysql-select.php

Hope this helps.

Edit:
Also, the link that you posted above is just a form and there is no server side action to it.

**Benedizione** · 02-09-2008, 08:16 PM

It would certainly be better to avoid the database since it is even more difficult for me. How many pages of php would I need to accomplish this task in just php?

Is this right............I create a php page with php coding which is going to "echo" off of another .txt page which contains the actual html coding of the design and content of the page?

Am I close to what I need to do? Or am I still way off base?

That seems to be the way it worked for my menu and to password protect the page but I have been looking over the php material you all showed me and I am still confused about how to coordinate the coding. I keep goofing around with it to see what it does but would like to know if I am even on the right track or not.

Dre

**jackbenimble4** · 02-10-2008, 05:27 PM

At this point, you would probably want to hard code the html into the php. Here's a little example. This would all be one file.:

Code:

<html>
<head>
<title>Comments</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Comments</h1>
<?php

// read comments from the database, a text file, a xml file, whatever

// loop through comments, and for each one:
echo "<p>".$comment['text']."</p>";


?>
</body>
</html>

Here's an example using a mysql database:

Code:

<html>
<head>
<title>Comments</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Comments</h1>
<?php

$conn = mysql_connect("localhost","user","password");
mysql_select_db("database_name",$conn);

// get all the rows from the table named 'comments' in the database 'database_name'
$getCommentsQuery = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM comments");

// this loops through the results from the query
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($getCommentsQuery)) {
      // $row will be an associative array of data for a row during each iteration

      // print the data that's in the column 'text'
      echo "<p>".$row['text']."</p>";
}

?>
</body>
</html>

I hope that helped you. By the way, reading and writing to a text file isn't all that easy for a beginner. I'd recommend you stick with a database if your host supports it. It's more commonly used, and it's arguably the most simple way to do this.

**Benedizione** · 02-10-2008, 06:18 PM

Thank you, Jack! I will play around with this and see how it goes.

I have a big medical terminology exam tomorrow so I may have to wait until after my exam to get back to my coding.

Dre

**Master_script_maker** · 02-10-2008, 07:17 PM

here is a script that uses a text file named comments.txt:
an example form:

HTML Code:

<form action="submit.php" method="post">
Name: <input type="text" name="name"><br>
Comment:<br>
<textarea name="comments"></textarea>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Send">
</form>

submit.php (comments.txt must already be created):

PHP Code:


<?php
if(isset($_POST['submit']) && $_POST['name'] != null && $_POST['comments'] != null) {
    $file=fopen("comments.txt","r+");
    $contents=fread($file,filesize("comments.txt")+1);
    $contents=$contents."\n[".$_POST['name']."]".$_POST['comments'];
    fwrite($file,$contents);
    fclose($file);
}
?>

read.php:

PHP Code:


<?php
$format=Array(
'<table width="100%" align="center" border="0">\n', 
'<tr>\n<td><b>',//beginning tags for the name
'</b></td>\n',//ending tags for the name
'<td>',//beginning tags for the comment
'</td></tr>',//ending tags for the comment
'</table>'
);
$contents=file("comments.txt");
$formated_comments=$format[0];
for($a=0;$a<count($contents);$a++) {
    $formated_comments.=preg_replace("^/\[(.*?)\](.*?)/$",$format[1].'$1'.$format[2].$format[3].'$2'.$format[4],$contents[$a]);
}
$formated_comments.=$format[0];
?>

example page (will display the comments):

Code:

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<?php
include("read.php");
echo $formated_comments;
?>
</body>
</html>

**Benedizione** · 02-12-2008, 03:38 AM

I am getting this error message. What does this mean? If a database is setup then what is keeping it from connecting? It connected with another program I tried.

>>
Warning: mysql_connect(): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/usr/local/mysql-5.0/data/mysql.sock' (2) in /home/content/b/e/n/benedizione/html/test.php on line 29

Warning: mysql_select_db(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/content/b/e/n/benedizione/html/test.php on line 30

Warning: mysql_query(): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/usr/local/mysql-5.0/data/mysql.sock' (2) in /home/content/b/e/n/benedizione/html/test.php on line 33

Warning: mysql_query(): A link to the server could not be established in /home/content/b/e/n/benedizione/html/test.php on line 33

Warning: mysql_fetch_array(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/content/b/e/n/benedizione/html/test.php on line 36
<<

Dre

**Medyman** · 02-12-2008, 01:16 PM

Code:

$conn = mysql_connect("localhost","user","password");
mysql_select_db("database_name",$conn);

Change the highlighted portions of the above line to reflect the details for your own setup.
Also make sure you've created a MySQL table called "comments" (or change the name in the script if you name it something else)

**Benedizione** · 02-12-2008, 04:54 PM

Yea, I already tried that and I am still having problems.

However, I am receiving very rude feedback from the tech support of dynamic drive. I may be forced to leave this forum altogether. Maybe they should send me to prison for having used "a font".

If there is a rule about using "fonts" in this forum then the "font options" need to be removed altogether. This is truly absurd and insulting.

Thank you all for your help if I do not get an opportunity to say another word. I may need to look elsewhere for script help.

Dre