Preview text from a TEXtAREA using PHP??

KeYBLeR · #1 (**permalink**) 03-01-06, 03:08 PM

Hello

I have html page, that looks like this

Code:

<form action=handle.php method=post>
<textarea name=code></textarea>
<input type=button value=Preview>
</form>

How can I make the preview button, open what ever has been entered into the textarea.

Code:

<textarea name=code><font size=4>I Want To Preview This</font></textarea>

Basicly The people are going to type there html code into the textarea, and then I would like for a new window to open, containing a preview of what was just entered into the textarea.

Is this possible?

Thanks keith

stormshadow · #2 (**permalink**) 03-01-06, 03:28 PM

$preview = $_POST['code'];
echo"Your Post/Code:<br>
$preview";

:-) Happy learning.

digioz · #3 (**permalink**) 03-01-06, 03:44 PM

Try the following instead:

PHP Code:


			
<?php
echo '<center>';
if(isset($_POST['submit']))
{
  echo '<table bgcolor="#efefef" width="500"><tr><td>';
  echo stripslashes($_POST['stuff']);
  echo '</td></tr></table>';
}
echo '<br><br><form action="'.$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'].'" method="post">';
echo '<textarea name="stuff" cols="60" rows="10">';
if(isset($_POST['stuff']))
{
  echo stripslashes($_POST['stuff']);
}
echo '</textarea><br>';
echo '<input type="submit" name="submit" value="preview"></center>';
?>

A Warning! Do NOT use this code to submit user content without validating first! I didn't include any validation in this code, but make sure to do so before actually using it on a real site.

4saken · #4 (**permalink**) 03-02-06, 06:43 AM

try the following:

Code:

<form action=handle.php method=post>
<textarea id="code" name=code></textarea>
<input type=button value=Preview onclick="doPreview()">
</form>
<script>
function doPreview() {
  var newWin = window.open("", "_blank");
 newWin.document.write("<html><body>"+document.getElementById('code').value+"</body></html>");
  newWin.document.close();
}
</script>

digioz · #5 (**permalink**) 03-02-06, 08:54 AM

Nice code 4saken! Although its in JavaScript, not PHP.

4saken · #6 (**permalink**) 03-02-06, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by digioz

Nice code 4saken! Although its in JavaScript, not PHP.

Thanks

I don't think there is any sense in using PHP script there to just show a preview page like KeYBLeR asked. Javascript will work faster.

digioz · #7 (**permalink**) 03-02-06, 09:11 AM

I agree. JavaScript is a bit more handy for preview. I would still recommend doing some validation on the user input before displaying the page though.

wirehopper · #8 (**permalink**) 03-02-06, 09:18 AM

One other idea is to use the readonly attribute on the textarea. That prevents the user from modifying it.

Here are two other methods.

Code:

<textarea readonly cols=120 rows=25 wrap="off" >
<?php readfile("preprocess.php");?>
</textarea>

PHP Code:


			
<?php

$buf=@file_get_contents($filename);

?>

<textarea readonly rows="20" class="textbox" cols="40" name="updated" id="updated" >

<?=$buf?>

</textarea>