Messaging system, displaying the messages

[keyboard]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to display all the messages one after another.

<?php
$userfinal= $_COOKIE['ID_my_site'];  
require "database.php";


$message = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM messages WHERE to_user = '$userfinal'") or
die(mysql_error());


while ($row = mysql_fetch_array ($message)) { 
echo "<h1>Title: ".$message['message_title']."</h1><br><br>";
echo "<h3>From: ".$message['from_user']."<br><br></h3>";
echo "<h3>Message: <br>".$message['message_contents']."<br></h3>";
}

echo '<form name="backfrm" method="post" action="inbox.php">';
echo '<input type="submit" value="Back to Inbox">';
echo '</form>';



?>

It's coming up with this error

( ! ) Warning: mysql_fetch_array() expects parameter 1 to be resource, array given in C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\canberra amatuer productions\www\Canberra Amatuer Productions\edited pm\read_message.php on line 19
Call Stack
# Time Memory Function Location
1 0.0003 371352 {main}( ) ..\read_message.php:0
2 0.0150 378784 mysql_fetch_array ( ) ..\read_message.php:19


and I'm not sure if I'm even doing the code right. Any help?

[JShor]

Try changing $message to $query. It could be a conflict.

<?php
$userfinal= $_COOKIE['ID_my_site'];  
require "database.php";


$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM messages WHERE to_user = '$userfinal'") or
die(mysql_error());


while ($row = mysql_fetch_array ($query )) { 
echo "<h1>Title: ".$row['message_title']."</h1><br><br>";
echo "<h3>From: ".$row['from_user']."<br><br></h3>";
echo "<h3>Message: <br>".$row['message_contents']."<br></h3>";
}

echo '<form name="backfrm" method="post" action="inbox.php">';
echo '<input type="submit" value="Back to Inbox">';
echo '</form>';



?>

By the way, $row is returning the array of data, not $message. I changed that for you in the code.

[keyboard]

Thanks Jshor for your help. When I open the page all I see is the button to go back to the main page. The messages arn't dispaying. The table they are stored in is called messages. The error message is gone.

I changed the code to what you suggested.

<?php
$userfinal= $_COOKIE['ID_my_site'];  
require "database.php";


$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM messages WHERE to_user = '$userfinal'") or
die(mysql_error());


while ($row = mysql_fetch_array ($query )) { 
echo "<h1>Title: ".$row['message_title']."</h1><br><br>";
echo "<h3>From: ".$row['from_user']."<br><br></h3>";
echo "<h3>Message: <br>".$row['message_contents']."<br></h3>";
}

echo '<form name="backfrm" method="post" action="inbox.php">';
echo '<input type="submit" value="Back to Inbox">';
echo '</form>';



?>

[JShor]

That probably means that when executing SELECT * FROM messages WHERE to_user = '$userfinal', nothing is returned (zero rows match).

Try adding this at the end of your script:

echo "Number of rows matching query: <b>".mysql_num_rows($query)."</b>"; 

If it returns a message of "Number of rows matching query: 0", then it means that nothing matches your query and no rows are being returned.

[keyboard]

It's now displaying the messages fine??? Me thinks it was a problem with the sql database Thanks for all your help jshor.

[keyboard]

I've got another question.

I would like to have the title of the message act as a hyperlink to another page where it would display the message which has the same id as the title?

So something like this

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM messages WHERE to_user = '$userfinal'") or 
die(mysql_error()); 


while ($row = mysql_fetch_array ($query )) {  

echo "<h3><i><a href=""> ".$row['message_title']."</a></i></h3>"; 

But when i get to the page, how do i get the id of the title that was clicked on. Any help?

[JShor]

Do you have a primary key/auto-increment column set? If so, that would be your ID.

Assuming you have this column and you named it "id", the code would look like:

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM messages WHERE to_user = '$userfinal'") or 
die(mysql_error()); 


while ($row = mysql_fetch_array ($query )) {  

echo "<h3><i><a href="message.php?ID=$row[id]"> ".$row['message_title']."</a></i></h3>"; 

[keyboard]

Then how do I display the message based on the id in the url?

[JShor]

The "ID" is a query string. Use the _GET variable to retrieve a query string variable's value.

<?php

$id = mysql_escape_string($_GET['ID']);

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM messages WHERE id='$id'") or 
die(mysql_error());

[keyboard]

I'm not sure if I'm doing this right but here it is

<?php 
$userfinal= $_COOKIE['ID_my_site'];   
require "database.php"; 


$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM messages WHERE to_user = '$userfinal'") or 
die(mysql_error()); 


while ($row = mysql_fetch_array ($query )) {  

echo "<h3><i><a href="read_message2.php?ID=$row[message_id]"> ".$row['message_title']."</a></i></h3>"; } 
 
<br /><br /><br /><br />
<?php
} 

echo '<form name="backfrm" method="post" action="inbox.php">'; 
echo '<input type="submit" value="Back to Inbox">'; 
echo '</form>'; 



?>

Thats read_messagetitle.php and the error on it says


( ! ) Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting ',' or ';' in C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\canberra amatuer productions\www\Canberra Amatuer Productions\edited pm\New Folder\read_messagetitle.php on line 12

<?php

$id = mysql_escape_string($_GET['ID']);

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM messages WHERE message_id='$id'") or 
die(mysql_error());

$row = mysql_fetch_array ($query )

echo ".$row['message_content'].""; } 

?>

Thats read_message2.php and it's coming up with this error

( ! ) Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_ECHO in C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\canberra amatuer productions\www\Canberra Amatuer Productions\edited pm\New Folder\read_message2.php on line 10


Thanks for all your help,

keyboard1333