Viewing Thread:
"Should I be using php?"

I mastered HTML and CSS (kinda), but I never really got into php despite owning a few books.

When I create a site I can change pretty much anything with CSS, but if I want to change big chunks of the site layout I have to alter every single page which is not good. So my question is, should I have studied php all those years ago? Is there anything out there that can do all this form me for free so I dont have to change 100s of webpages individually? Or maybe there's a new programming language in development thats better than ASP and PHP, in which case should I start learning now?

Its okay, this wont affect my current site, but I need to know for future projects. Freeola is done in php right? it cant be that difficult. Could I be able to master it within a week?

Thanks for your help guys, I appreciate it.

No probs Machie - let me know how you get on.

Also - if you want to show a random image instead of a whole page then replace the "page1.php, page2.php" etc in the array with "image1.jpg, image2.gif" etc and also add the last lines as


//finally, include the page
//include_once("$page");

//or show the graphic
?>
<img src="<?php echo $page;?>" />



JTD

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?

Machie wrote:
> I have a few questions, should I be using include()
> or require()?

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.

> 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?

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,

In response to your random page include - try this - you will need to create yourpagex.php and include any paths if you create the files in a seperate directory from the page you call this from.

I hope it helps.



<?php
//start a session
session_start();

//create an array. Add your pages here.
$pageArray = array("page1.php", "page2.php", "page3.php");

//count the elements for later use
$count=count(pageArray);


//check to see if the session var is set (it won't be on the first page load)
if (isset($_SESSION['page'])) {$lastPage = $_SESSION['page'];} else {$lastPage = -1;}

//check to see if the same page has been choosen since the last load but not if there is only one page in tha array.
if ($count >=1){

//chooses a random entry from the array making sure it is not the same as the last page loaded
do{
$random = array_rand($pageArray);
}
while ($lastPage == $random);
}

else

{//set the $random var to 0 if there is only one element - NOTE: there is no check for zero length array.
$random = 0;};

//set the session var for last page
$_SESSION['page'] = $random;

//get the page to include
$page= $pageArray[$random];

//finally, include the page
include_once("$page");
?>


Machie, Garin is right
should be adequate but if you need a little bit more control then stick a single column, two row table in the