[SOLVED] How to combine a php template with MySQL database

[patrickm]

I am having a problem with a script I’m writing. It is using a MySQL database, where it should retreive general information from a product (a template with several variables defined in it in plain text). From the same table, questions are retreived and shown to the visitor of the site. After the questions are answered, the template should be displayed and all variables in it should be substituted with the corresponding answers.

 

In concept, this script works. If I put the template text as a string in the php file, the variables get substituted (example 1). But when it gets the template from a database, it doesn’t work (example 2) ?!?

 

Example 1:

// template text

$text = “Article: dummy1<br>Length: $answer1<br>Height: $answer2… etc. “;

 

Visual output:

Article: dummy1

Length: 315

Height: 504

…

 

Example 2:

// template text

include("../source/config.php");

$sql = "SELECT * FROM article_info WHERE id = '$id' ";

$result = mysql_query($sql) or die (mysql_error());

$dump_data = mysql_fetch_object($result) or die (mysql_error());

mysql_close();

text = $dump_data->text;

 

Visual output:

Article: dummy1

Length: $answer1

Height: $answer2

…

 

And yes, displaying $answer1 and $answer2 in example 2 ("echo $answer1;") gives the proper results.

 

I have been going through php documentation, but I can't seem to find it.

Could anybody give me clue on this one?

[tommyboy123x]

I'm not sure if I fully understand your database / table setup, however try using a different function

 

$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
$text = "Article: dumm1
Length: $row['col_name_for_answer1']
Height: $row['col_name_for_answer2']
etc...";

 

 

hope it helps!

[patrickm]

Thanks for the thought, but the setup of the database it different.

 

I'll try to explain: the table contains the following colomns:

id, text, question1, specs1, question2, specs2, ... , question15, specs15

 

Depending the product, certain questions are used/not used (not all have the same 15 questions).

Because the questions differ per product, the relevant specs describe what kind of question should be asked (text input, selection with <SELECT>, etc.).

 

When a visitor selects a specific product, the script goes through all questions/specs info and shows the relevant questions.

The answers gieven are not stored in the database. The database is used only for asking the right questions 

[patrickm]

A good night sleep helped a lot.

I solved it by using the str_replace command.

 

The script checks all answers (default being "") and replaces where needed the info in the template (defined as ANSWER1, ANSWER2, etc.).

 

		if ($answer1 <> ""){
			$temp-string = str_replace("ANSWER1",$answer1,$text);
			$text = $temp-string;
		}