Ninjakreborn

It's set up like month-date-year I have it formatted in the databas,e I can save it however, if it's better then I will start saving it in that format. The thing I was wondering was, is there another way to do calculations, or is there a good place to put the program to keep it from overloading the server, if a lot of people get it to do the same thing everytime.

I have something that I find myself doing quite a bit, but I end up doing it the same way everytime.  I have a number, for instance 30.  I need it to go down daily, like if 3 days go by, I need it to be 27, and so forth until it hit's 0, then I can do something with it.  Like a timeperiod of how long something can be active.  The thing is I always record the date like 09-11-06 or something in the database, this is the date that the item, or whatever was entered into the database, then I have the current date.  I use something, like I decide when is the best imte, like right when they log in, or right when a specific page is open.  Then I check the date, turn it into a timestamp, record todays date, turn it into a timestamp, compare them, do some calculations, to make the date update, and that's it.  Then I go back, and above that, do a check for the 0 or less value, so it doesn't run unnecessary calculations, and instead either deletes the item, or moves it into another table for old items, or something, this would be whatever, a use with a timelimit on a paid account, or the lifetime of the post for a classified system.  does anyone know of a better way to do this, or a place I can put the information to run the script, somewhere that won't kill the server.  Because if I check all the entries in all the database, and update them all everytime someone logs in, or visits the site, then it might kill the server if a lot of people hit the site at once.  I don't really want that happened, and hoenstly, that many database calls at that many times, can calls db rewrites, and a lot of other things, and make the information in accurate. Or it could end up doing it 2-3 times before it updates the number, and make the number over-update. I am thinking of checking an individual users posts everything he/she logs into the site.  Then I also have the problem of people who create accounts, put some posts down then never come back to the site, they never get deleted.  Should I check each post individually.  Like if someone is browsing posts, go ahead and check then, or does anyone have another way of doing this, any advice, opinions are welcome, I have to do something to return a number of day's left, that's the whole point.

I have have an entire session system right, then also use a cookie, seperate, completely seperate from the session, right.

Along time ago for some unexplainable reason, I swore to myself, I would never resort to using frames.  They are a nice idea, and even I frames, I just don't like the way they function, and when I did some reasearch on them, you can have a major load of issues when programming/designing with them. I have frames/iframes/tables, and other related technologies, I have started using tables for tabular data however, I might run some test practices on frames later to see how they work, maybe, but not yet.

After a lot of thinking, a lot of planning I created something I can do the programming with pretty easily, and it's a clean system I can update, and change around easily later on Tables relating to Posts categoryinformation Categoryname Subcategoryname SETS In this website I am using sets as a basis for the posts.  A general set is a group of related information, and different categories may be set to different sets, it’s the set name, the fields needed within the set, at the bottom it is a list of what things go with what sets.  In case if anyone but me ever works on this website, in the future. postset1 Related subcats- everything under the item and event categories Categoryname Subcategoryname Userid Postid Item Title Price Description postset2 Related subcats- lost items only under found category Categoryname Subcategoryname Userid Postid Item Title Reward Description postset3 Related subcats- found items only under found category Categoryname Subcategoryname Userid Postid Item Title Description Postset4 Related subcats- everything under the rental category Categoryname Subcategoryname Userid Postid ItemTitle Price NumberOfUnits Description Postset5 Related subcats- Everything under the work offered BY students category Categoryname Subcategoryname Userid Postid Item Title Wage Description Postset6 Related subcats- everything under the work offered TO students category Categoryname Subcategoryname Userid Postid ItemTitle Wage HoursPerWeek Description Postset7 Categoryname Subcategoryname Userid Postid Course number Title Author Price

Ok, I have an idea of what you mean, I also found out it's only a category/subcategory/information there are no 2 levels deep.  here is what I am wondering, is this correct, is this what you mean. catid        subcatid item        couches item        beds item        desks item        refrigerator event      tickets event      concerts event      clubs event      sports event      parties event      charity events rental      sublets rental      parking Then I can continue so on and so forth, is that what you are talking about, the only thing I didn't get was the null value.  If this is what you meant, I like the idea so far, then I can just have the sub-category specific information, each set in a different table, then have that table reference the category and sub-category.or something similar, then a master table I guess for posts, that will have damn.  Ok I understand how to fashion my categories, my sub-categories.  I understand how to set up specific information, now what do I do about the posts.  When someone posts something they choose category, sub-category, based on the sub-category they enter the necessary information.  Then how to do I get that information together in a post, if someone can see where I am coming from.       

If you mean relating categories, and sub-categories based on id, I knew how to do that, if that's what you mean. but you are saying instead of 1 table with category, then another with sub-category and relate them, but you are saying all in one table. I am picturing something liek TABLE- name- categoryinformation id          category            subcategoryid Then have the names and id's  ??? Very confused, I am trying to take all of this in, I know most of mysql, I know about joins, I know about relational databases, and I know all about queries, but I don't understand the format you mean, it sounds like with your idea, I would have an easier time, managing categories, sub-categories, sub-sub-categories, and sub-sub-category specific information where applicable, but I don't understand the theory(or how to do) what you said, it's got me very confused.  It makes sense as in putting the category and sub-category into the same table, but I don't understand I do understand the parent/child relationship theory from oop, and javascript, but not how it relates to this:S

Ok so like CatID        SubCatID        SubSubCatID 1                  item shit I am really, really confused.  I think I understand part of what you are saying so shit.  Totally lost.

I am still not grasping how to add in the last part, if it was just category, and sub-category, with all the same information It would be easy to me, but because I have to creaet sub-sub categories for some of the categories, along with each sub-sub category or sub-category has to be ablet o hold information it's making my head spin, I have been brainstorming, I have planned out most of the site, almost all the systems, and programming ideas, so I know everything I need to do, I haven't planned 2 things, this schema, working it within the site, and how I am going to allow them to browse, along with about 100 permission situations I have to create, which is fine, once I get past the schema things will start rolling forward from there.  I don't understand fully?

[quote]Just have a single table of categories, child and parent; have the root categories with a NULL parent, and you're done.[/quote] I didn't understand that, can you re-explain it Does it have to do with something similar with what I said I had. Also This was a requirement I just didn't know how to explain it first, this is a ad system, and I know all the requirements, but since I have been planning I am encountering, and thinking, since I took all of your advice on this planning, it's making a world of wonders, I feel after I am done planning totally, I could code/program it in a few days, because I can program lightning fast, what slows me down is when I start to have a problem, and have to learn something, or spend a few days thinking through something, that is when it becomes very very time consuming.  This is going to change the way I run my career forever.

Ok here is what I have, I just want input/advice on how well you think it'll be to mantain ok first off, as I said, I have categories, sub-categories, then those sub-categories sometimes have sub-sub categories, each sometimes needing different information for them. ok here is hte current plan I have for my schema, I just have to write up the specifics for it [b]Table Number 1[/b] This will have by category id.  I will have the name of the category and category id [b]Table Number 2[/b] I will have a sub-category name, sub-category id, and the category id from the category it is associated with. [b]Table Number 3[/b]This contains all the sub-sub categories.  It has the sub-sub category name, the sub-sub category id, the sub-category, and category id's associated with it.  [b]Other tables[/b] I have 1 different table for each type of specs. Like I might have a table that has type name description then one that has price type description address whatever, then in those tables have the cat, sub-cat, sub-sub-cat, associated with it All of this here is making sense but it seems to be getting a little too hairy near the end, any advice?

It's not that, it's that each of the sections have to be different.  Like each category has a sub-category, but some sub-categories have different data than others, some have different informaiton they need than others, this is what is slowing me down.

bump

I am thinking of this so far. a list of categories on one table a list of sub-categories on another table, but have the id for the cateogry affiliated with the sub-categories. for instance I have all the sub-categories in one table, then have a place for the category id, which is hte category that sub-category falls under.  It'll get pretty hairy though, because from there, i have to figure out hte rest of the schema, so still open to any suggestions, personal experiences, opinions, ex-cetera.

[quote]I posted a question here about phpfreaks.com article section beeing rendered 5x the width of the screen on my Firefox and Linux IE with a SCREENSHOT link and my post gets deleted? Is this the way problems get solved arround here? Not to mention I didn't get a single response from anyone in charge. Guys this is not a mock. It is a serious issue. So if you guys intend to run this site as PHP itself deserves please don't put problems under the bed.[/quote] You need to rethink what your talking about, obviously you have no idea what you are talking about.  Who cares if there is a small design issue, you can never come on here demanding a response, it's not a service you pay money to. These admins, and users are people who come here on there spare time, and help people, and help run the site when they can.  It's not there responsibility to jump at every request, question, and aggravated complainer about the site, if you don't like it buzz off. The site may have problems, but the person who created the site, he created about 8-10 sites, he doesn't have the time to jump to every problem every person want's to whine about, I have asked questions on here before that people didn't answer, sometimes they don't want to reply, but coming here acting like your expecting a paid service, when your not paying anything is a little vain.  If you were paying 20-30 bucks a month for this forum, and then I would understand expecting everything to go smoothly, and you to get responses, but you are here for free, with people working out of the kindness of there hearts to answer questions, and help people, and work on the forums/site, so get over it until they have time to fix it.

I am adding that to my bag of possibilities on this, but I am still looking for further advice/input, that is on my list, but I am wanting to create a different system somehow, something simpler to manage, simpler mantain, and definitely simpler to impliment.  I am thinking of 1 table for reach thing, and just linking them by id number, along the similar lines of what you showed me, just different somehow, any other advice, personal experiences, or ideas are appreciated.

I might consider using javascript, I liked the idea earlier, about using javascript, just doing it, and then using noscript tags for people without javascript, I didn't think of that until now, I think that was a good idea, thanks.  I will go through a few ideas, I may not even run with this, it was just a thought process I was going through to see if it worked out.

I have already planned most of my database, but an entire, and very important section of the site, hasn't been planned yet. I am trying to set up something for categories, an idea for a database schema.  I have a category, sub-category, and different settings for different types of posts.  Meaning there are different things they input based on which category/sub-category they selected when posting an ad.  It also shows different things when they are viewed, depending on which ones.  Like they have a category, a sub-category, but each sub-category will need to accept different things. The thing I am trying to do, like for instance the category is items, the sub-category for instance would be [b]Items[/b] Couches Beds Desks Refrigerators Microwaves TVs Air Conditioners Posters/Paintings Drawers/Dressers Chairs CDs/DVDs Household Electronics Clothing/Jewelry See for items category they are all the same like o Item Title (Adjacent one line text box) o Price (Adjacent one line text box) o Description (Large text box below) that will cover 2 categories. Then I have this setup, for instance once category is [b]Academics[/b] Textbooks Notes Cheat Sheets Now the category, then the sub-categories. The textbooks will need information like o Course number (Adjacent one line text box) o Title of book (Adjacent one line text box) o Price (Adjacent one line text box) Then the notes/cheat sheets will need o Item Title (Adjacent one line text box) o Description (Large text box below) You see, so different categories/subcategories need different things, and on some of them there might be a category, then each sub-category is going to need information, I am having a hard time coming up with a good database schema, can someone offer some advive, personal input something like that. I am thinking about 1. individual tables for each thing I need 2. Making one big table that will have category subcategory then all the fields there, and it will only fill in the related fields, and only pull the related fields(I think this will be too hard to manage/create), I have to do this to where I can still update it, and change things around later, maybe add more later, or refine them, or change them around, Ihave to start this system off right int he planning stage before I can start building it. Sporting Goods Computer/Accessories Bikes Collectibles [b]Events[/b] Tickets Concerts Sports Clubs Parties Charity Events Bar specials Poker Tournaments [b]Lost and Found[/b] Items found Items lost [b]Rentals[/b] Sublets Parking

Normally I feel that way, and normally I do, but on this specific project, the website is geared towards college students from various colleges, because of this, by what they said most school computers have javascript disabled, so I have the potential to close out most of the users that will be using the site.

That's exactly the kind of idea I was looking for, so I greatly appreciate it, I will brain storm it and see if it's worth it, and how to put it together, thanks for all the help./

I meant was, I know hot to construct the system in javascript(if I knew flash I would do it with flash), I am trying to get a system set up to figure out whether or not it's going to be cross-browser compatible. I might use a group of switch statements, and create a mini system comprised of get statements, keep feeding the navigation data back to itself, so I can still have all teh information on that one page, If I can't think of something during the planning process, I will create another idea instead.

yes, I was thinking sessions, I just needed some help with the brainstorming, thanks for the input

In this situation, it has to be final than that.  For instance, it starts off with one chosen by default, then select a different one from a drop down menu, which is going to change it, but it stay's changed at this point.  I may have them as links, but I want to keep the programming clean on this one, ahving a bunch of get's feeding back onto the same page, will get a little aggravating, I am in the planning phase, and have 2 weeks from monday, so I am coming up with ideas ahead of time, do you think using hte sessions will work as well, so it can register the session, and put the proper includes based on the session that is registered?

I know how to do it in javascript/ajax, it's just these people said the browsers tehy use/plus other users of the site, are going to have javascript enabled, and I didn't want to learn/use flash on an advertising system.  Am I missing something, I could have sworn all of you were hinting at something:S

Is there any other  language, I would use flash but 1. I am still learning it, I don't know enough to do that 2. It's in a smaller area 3. I don't want them having to get the plugin I need this in a confined area, a page, this is where they are posting a listing, it needs to be something that they can use, I think my only 2 options are ajax, or flash though.