Garin wrote:
> The only difference is how PHP behaves when the file doesnt
> exist.  Include just throws a warning and carries on executing
> the script.  Require throws a fatal error and wont execute the
> rest of the script.
> So up to you really.

In that case something is better than nothing, so I'll stick with includes. Thanks Garin. :)

> I have the header and nav in seperate includes/requires, but as
> they're right next to each other should I just put them into
> one
> file?
>
> Yes?

I'm Ron Burgundy?

Oops sorry Jim, I didn't notice you'd done this for me. Thank you so much. :D I'll have to try it out in a bit.

I have a few questions, should I be using include() or require()?

I have the header and nav in seperate includes/requires, but as they're right next to each other should I just put them into one file?

Machie, Garin is right <BR> should be adequate but if you need a little bit more control then stick a single column, two row table in the <DIV> and set the borders to 0 - put your image in the top cell and your text in the bottom one.

Also, I now understand what you want with your random cycling includes - it's a lot easier than what I first thought you were asking for. I'll post some code for doing what you want a little later.

Garin I'm stuck and need your help :( I have a simple div box and I want to have text and an image in it (text on top, image below). How do I go about doing that? In the old days I just put in <p> or <br>, but I want to do it correctly. How about wrapping <p> around the iamge is that correct?

Theoretically, theres no limit.  Hopefully though if you have too many includes then common sense should kick in and you'll realise you need to reorganise.

How many is too many though?  Depends who you ask.  Personally, 5 is about my limit but admittedly I'm efficiency driven when it comes to coding.

Machie wrote:
> Is it okay if I put them all away in a separate folder? I like
> to keep everything tiny.

You can do but dont go crazy with separate folders as further down the line you might start having fun with include paths.

if by 'rotation' Machie means a random include (from a pre-defined list) is shown after each page load then I agree that is not a big job but to cycle through several includes on a time limit without re-loading the page is a bit trickier - mind you I am by no means a pro programmer.

The cycle element of this problem also brings up the question of what to do when/if someone enters the form - it'll obviously have to stop rotating.

Remembering the last include is a simple job of adding a session var then reading it and using the value to choose the next include.

...but like i said above i didn't read Machie's request as wanting a different include per page load. I'll be interested to see if somone (for 'someone' read 'someone who know's what they are doing') can work up a solution.

Aw that's okay then Jim, it's more of an added bonus really, so it wouldnt bother me if I couldnt do it ^^ Have a great holiday though, where you off to by the way? Talking of holidays this work is for a travel website of mine.

JimTheDog wrote:
> ## Machie - what do you mean by rotating?

Hello Jim :) I was wondering if it was possible to have a rotating php include. Similiar to a rotating banner, but I want it to rotate php include files. So in my sidebar I'd want it to rotate between a newsletter sign up form and a site search. Do you know if thats possible at all?

I agree with Eccles in that Dreamweaver (I use DW8) creates loads of unecessary code which you can learn little from as a beginner - but only when you use the DW automated processes/wizards.

I'd also go as far to say that if you don't care about how DW creates the PHP code and you just 'want it to work' then there's no reason to avoid it either - your approach to how much want to understand what you're doing will dictate how you use DW.

If you're serious about learning PHP then the best advice I can give you as a first step is to get hold of a copy of 'PHP for Dummies'. PHP For Dummies also walks you through your first connections to a MySQL database - which Freeloa supports.

Once you understand the basics of PHP then you are able to write your own code directly into Dreamweaver - because don't forget you're also going to need a graphical web site designer for your HTML elements.

I also regularly visit an excellent site 'php.net' which gives loads of examples and code titbits for a lot of PHP functions.

I hope this helps.

I would avoid programs like Dreamweaver that automatically generate code for you.
It is confusing and the code is not very good to learn from (often it's very messy and includes a lot of stuff you don't need).
The best way to learn PHP or ASP is to write the code yourself using a good text editor like Notepad++ or PSPad. Dig around on Google, there are loads of PHP tutorials sites.

Regarding ASP, Freeola do not support this as it is a scripting language that runs on Microsofts web server software. We run Unix on our servers, which do not support ASP.

hiya, im new to all this web design and have been teaching myself by messing around with a site and learning from my mistakes. mainly i find or see something on another website that i would like to do on my site, then search around for ll the help and scripts etc i can, ive got a good understanding of html but ive found that php and asp is the coding to be using, at the moment im trying to get my head around building the script, applications & forms etc but i think i'm in to deep cos i can't get anything to work, to be honest i'm finding it hard, you need this form that script and this snippet, i would love to crack this php and asp, but after trying different things out over the past few weeks i'm starting to wonder if freeola even support asp???? do you know??? by now you may be thinking i have not got a clue wot i'm talking about and your right cos all i know is wot ive worked out for myself and the only php application i successfully have running is a newsletter submission script, since ive been workin with asp ive been amazed at how powerful it could be if that makes sence, so yeh asp is the way to go and when you have cracked it can you let me kno how. many thx.

Ok got it - <?include cheers.php>;? :)

Digi

so can you mix and match html and php ? if we have a page online thats a .htm file an I add the include ph thing? and so long as the include page has the .php extension it will show am i correct? eg I make a web page insert a table and in that table addd the line include menu.php for example - then to change a menu over the site all I do is change menu.php? is that how it works?


Digi

Update - just did a wee test and if I saved a page as .htm it didnt work, but saved both pages with .php ext ad yeah ot worked so i would need to rename all our pages with .php right?

Digi

Server time, which may or may not report GMT.

You can try something like..

<?php putenv('TZ=Europe/London');echo date('l F j, Y');?>

Although whether that works will depend on php security settings.  PHP 5 has built in functions for setting the timezone but dunno if you're running 5 or not.

<?php echo date('l F j, Y');?>

Machie wrote:
> Maybe I should write a beginners guide to php as I learn it.

I started writing one once upon a time, a totally thankless task. :)  I always thought cjh's beginners guide was pretty good.  A cut above everything I could write for certain.

If you look in the hints, tips and tutorials thread theres a link to a topic on this subject.

I'd be very surprised if most web developers with websites of a fairly substantial size don't use this tactic. It's pretty common knowledge as far as I'm aware.

And if you wanted to move a sidebar from the left to the right, then it's entirely possible, it just means that you'd have to update every page where you wanted it to happen. This could potentially take ages, but then in effect it's similar to a site re-design, which will always take a while to implement.

I recommend being entirely happy with your site layout before you put it all together!

It depends on what you're trying to achieve. A PHP include is a must-have if all pages on your site are of a very similar layout.

For example, the footer at the very bottom of every page ('Contact Us | Help & Support' links etc) on our interactive sites is exactly the same on every page, so therefore that part of the code, including the closing table, GetDotted search box and any other odds and sods is created in a separate file and then simply 'included' on all pages that need it. Therefore any changes that need to me made to any part of that section require only one file to be updated.

It's easy to do this, and if includes are all you need you don't need much knowledge of PHP at all. You only need to do the following:

1. Create a new file called something relevant to the code you will be creating, for example footer.php or navigation.html

2. Add the code that you wish to include to this file.

3. On the pages that you wish to include this file just type <?php include('footer.php'); ?> exactly where you want this include to appear. Your files will need to have a .php extension for this include code to work though.

-------------------------

I believe .ASP is for use on Windows servers, and PHP for Linux servers. I've never used ASP, nor do I want to.

And I doubt very much you'd be able to learn PHP in a week!

Hope this helps...