PHP Sturcture ?

[RizlaUK]

Hi All

Im working on my site (again), i almost got it finished than changed my mind on the structure of the PHP, i was echoing each line of html from within the php file, didn't like it, was unmanageable!!

so i opted to use raw html and insert <?php ?> where i want some scripting done

is this a recommend way, if not, what the h3ll is ?

<!-- start page -->
<div id='page'>

    <!-- start content -->
    <div id='content'>
        
        <?php 
            $Query=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Plugins WHERE ID=".$ID);
            if ($Query<>false)
            {    
                while($Row = mysql_fetch_array($Query))
                {
                ?>
                    <div class='post'>
                        <h2 class='title'><?php echo($Row["PluginName"]); ?></h2>
                        <div class='entry'>
                            <p><?php echo("<b>Version:</b> ".$Row["Version"]."<br/><b>ReleaseDate:</b> ".$Row["ReleaseDate"]."<br/><b>LastUpdate:</b> ".$Row["LastUpdate"]."<br/><b>Author:</b> ".$Row["Author"]."<br/><b>Licence:</b> ".$Row["Licence"]."<br/>");?></p>
                            <p><?php echo($Row["LongDesc"]);?></p>
                            <p><?php echo("<b>Requirements:</b> ".$Row["Requirements"]."<br/><b>Installation:</b> ".$Row["Installation"]);?></p>
                        </div>
                        
                        <div class='meta'>
                            <p class='byline'><?php echo("Views: (".$Row["Views"].")  Downloads: (".$Row["Downloads"].")"); ?></p>
                            <p class='links'><a href='news.php?ID=<?php echo($Row["ID"]);?>' class='more'>Read full article</a> <b>|</b> <a href='#' class='download'>Download</a></p>
                        </div>
                    </div>
                <?php
                }
            }
        ?>

    </div>
    <!-- end content -->
    
    <?php 
        include("sidebar.php");
    ?>
    
    <div style='clear: both;'>&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<!-- end page -->

[RizlaUK]

Ermm, Hello ...


C'mon Guys, This isn't the Krypton Factor, a simple "Yes" or "No" would suffice!!

[RizlaUK]

Agrrrr.... im going mad here trying to get my javascript to work from php generated html.....

You ever have those times when you ask your self "Why on earth did i start this"!

This is like trying to learn French, Spanish and German all at the same time, how the h3ll do you web devs do it??

heres what i want to do, i have a javascript function that i want called from a html hyperlink "OnClick" event and return false if the user does not confirm and true if he does and follow the link

my javascript

function Confirm_Delete_Plugin()
{
	
	var answer = confirm("Are sure you want to delete this plugin.")
	if (answer)
	{ 
		
		return false ; 
	}
	else 
	{ 
		return true ;
	}
}

my html (and php)

<a href='deleteplugin.php?Type=<?php echo($Row["PluginType"]);?>&ID=<?php echo($Row["ID"]);?>' onClick='return Confirm_Delete_Plugin()'; class='more'>Delete</a>

from all the information i can find, this seems the correct way to do it, but i just cant get it to work, it just follows the link address no matter what i do

i can get this system to work from a form button, but not from a link....Please...HELP!!!!, lol

[RizlaUK]

Cheers, thanks for the tips guys

I found out why it didn't work, my dam browser cached the .js file so when i added the function the stupid browser could not see it, only found that out by accident while trying to validate an email address!

I don't need no dam help!!

[azmanar]

Hi Riz,

So you solved your problem by thinking aloud in IR forum... eh? I should be doing the same way to solve my issues. lol.

I make this belated respond a long one, so you can divide them among your unanswered posts. ROFLMAO !!

About the preferred methods of whether:
1. HTML echo'ed by PHP or
2. PHP wrapped around HTML.

Here are some rationale:
>I use both according to HOW READABLE THE WHOLE PAGE CODE will look like.

>In terms of page economy ( so it will load faster ), I will wrap the PHP codes around HTML.

>In terms of convenience ( for later replications ), I will wrap PHP codes around HTML.

>When echo-ing HTML, you're putting lots double or single quotes. This will mess up my logic sometitmes. In the end, something which is so easy becomes difficult.

>In my experience, my apps run faster with HTML as the template. Probably because Apache Web Server looks for HTML first, then the rest.

>The last rationale why I wrap PHP around HTNL is that, it would be easier for me to change the Server Side App language whenever there is a need to do so. I might want to change PHP to TOMCAT, Java, J,K, D or even LUA.

At times, we do need to REQUIRE or INCLUDE, I still wrap PHP codes around HTML in those snippets.

As far as I remember, the only significant time to echo HTML is when I use SWITCH or location REDIRECT or LOOPS. Other than that, HTML will be the frame.

This little bit of knowledge comes from experience making custom CMS some years back for a fairly large NGO, a Travel Agency and a Housing Developer. Not because I wanted to but because ready-made CMS in the market cannot cater for their needs.

NOTE:
PHP is far easier than LUA but LUA is the fastest in terms of processing of all languages.

[RizlaUK]

Ha Yes, thinking aloud solved my problems

after 2 or 3 attempts at the site i went with the template system with just basic loops and conditions in the html pages and cut the use of "echo" to a bare minimum, and some backend modules for the more complex php stuff, this seemed to be the general advice on the web, so after pulling most of my hair out i finally got a working system that seems pretty robust (im all my tests)

im really enjoying working with PHP, iv done some things with my site i never thought i would be able to get done on my own, progress is slow because of my work life, but its getter there

Thanks for the tips, i pretty much built the site to the same spec

[azmanar]

Hi,

Sorry for confusion.

What I mean by "have PHP code wrapped around HTML" is actually, having PHP codes nested within HTML.

It means, HTML is the template.