[Lannister]

Hi, I have an html table on my website in which I want to <? php include ?> certain data (2 variables: "name" and "answer") as it is posted to the site. I have already set up the html post code, and have the following php code to write it to a text file:

PHP Code:

<?php 

$name=$_POST["name"];

$answer=$_POST["answer"];



if( isset( $name) ) { 



$hFile = fopen( "data.txt", "a+" ); 

fwrite( $hFile, "\n$name" . "\n$answer"); 

fclose( $hFile ); 

} 

?>

Obviously this is only sufficient to store the data. I need to assign variable names to the data pieces such that the new info replaces the old, but the old is not written over. Then, I want to php echo each data piece in a different location on the html table. Let me try an example to explain:
John posts "name=John" and "answer=Red" via html form to data.txt. I want to pull "John" and "Red" out of the data file, and assign $name1="John" and $answer1="Red". When Jame subsequently posts "name=Jane" and "answer="blue" to the data file, I want her info pulled out and the variable reassigned so that $name1=Jane, $answer1=blue, and $name2=John, $answer2=red. When Pete posts "name=Pete" and "answer=green", I want $name1=Pete, $answer2=green, and $name2=Jane, $answer2=blue, and $name3=John, $answer3=red.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[whizmail]

Hi,

Walk through the file from the bottom to top jumping each 2-lines. Use a variable ($i, for example) to keep track of the count. Assign variable names like this:

$name_var = "name".$i;
$answer_var = "answer".$i;
$$name_var = [read from file];
$$answer_var = [read from file];

I hope you get what I mean.

Regards,

Raphael Pirker

[infinitylimit]

I wonder what you are building because I think your logic might be improved because I couldn't think of a reason to do this. Maybe explain what you are building not what code is giving you problems.

[mikaelf]

the simplest way is by using pseudo indexing in your flat file.

Code:

//your_file.txt
1;john;doe
2;foo;foobar
3;april;may

and then you can set rules in your php file

PHP Code:

$structure = array(0 => 'idx', 1 => 'name', 2 => 'answer');



$name=$_POST[$structure[1]]; 

$answer=$_POST[$structure[2]];

$idx = $_POST[$structure[0]]; // you can set encoding to $_POST['idx'] to prevent users to know how your script work

//$idx = myDecodeFunction($idx);



if( isset( $name) ) { 



//To add

$hFile = fopen( "data.txt", "a+" ); 

fwrite( $hFile, "$idx;$name;$answer\n"); 

fclose( $hFile );



//You may also sort out the data after

//$toSort = file("data.txt");

//sort($toSort);

//$toSort = implode("",$toSort);

//$hFile = fopen( "data.txt", "w" );

//fwrite( $hFile, $toSort); 

//fclose( $hFile );



//To update

$hFile = fopen( 'data.txt', 'w+' ); 

$content = fread($hFile,filesize('data.txt'));

$content = preg_replace("/$idx;[^;]+;[^\n]+/","$idx;$name;$answer",$content);

fwrite($hFile,$content);

fclose($hFile);



} 

Anyway, using database is much better than this 'old conservative' way.

[Lannister]

This isn't working for me:

PHP Code:

<? php

$structure=array(0=>'idx',1=>'name',2=>'address'); 



$name=$_POST[$structure[1]]; 

$answer=$_POST[$structure[2]]; 

$idx = $_POST[$structure[0]]; 



if( isset( $name) ) { 

 

$hFile = fopen( "data.txt", "a+" ); 

fwrite( $hFile, "$idx;$name;$address\n"); 

fclose( $hFile ); 

 

$toSort = file("data.txt"); 

sort($toSort); 

$toSort = implode("",$toSort); 

$hFile = fopen( "data.txt", "w" ); 

fwrite( $hFile, $toSort); 

fclose( $hFile ); 



$hFile = fopen( 'data.txt', 'w+' ); 

$content = fread($hFile,filesize('data.txt')); 

$content = preg_replace("/$idx;[^;]+;[^\n]+/","$idx;$name;$address",$content); 

fwrite($hFile,$content); 

fclose($hFile); 



} 



?>

When I post the data, I get a parse error.

[mikaelf]

how is the error?? i mean the error message output to the browser. it's normal. i just typed the code without executing it. anyway, it's only an example *a bad example, though.*. i don't encourage you to do it that way.