My new design

[Twister1004]

Hey everyone! I am creating a new thing on my webpage to where I have made a profile page! Now what I'm trying to do is,

 

Objective: Allow Logged in people to view other people's profile.

 

However, I don't know how i would go about that. As you can tell in my sig, I'm not a very advanced coder. I'm basically newborn. Could someone explain to me and also help me with this? O_o.

 

I've all ways like to progress in what I do, and this to me seems like a good goal =D.

 

If any code is needed at all, I will provide it.

 

Any hints or tips is accepted =D

[DarkWater]

Here's how things like this are usually approached:

 

[*]You pass the ID of the user whose profile you want to view in the URL (this is usually done automatically through a link generated in your script).

[*]The script then takes the information in $_GET['id'] and uses it in the query to get a specific person's data.

[*]The data is displayed.

 

Tell me if you need any elaboration.

[Twister1004]

Ok, but how about being able to just type in the user's ID into the link as well? Would that be possible, or would you have to just let the script run while you click on the profile?

 

My next question is, would it just be easier to have everyone's name then link the name to their page?

[DarkWater]

You can always manually change the link and put in the user's ID, yeah.  And user lists are good too, because you can link their name to their profile with their ID.

[Twister1004]

curious, would you be able to show me an example. I never used the $_GET command before.

[DarkWater]

$_GET isn't a function, it's actually a variable that PHP automatically populates with parameters in the URL.  Let's say you had profile.php and you also had a userlist page that would give links like profile.php?id=12 to see people's profiles.  Then, on profile.php, you could do like...

 

<?php
//pretend we're connected to mysql and everything
$id = (int) $_GET['id'];
if (!($id > 0)) {
    $id = $_SESSION['user_id']; //display their own profile if they decide to mess with the query string too much
}
$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id=$id";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
//display results however you want

 

That's just a short example, but hopefully you get the idea.

[Twister1004]

I get the idea, its just not making since to me right now. If you saw how i did my Geometry work, you would see how and why, lol. I showed everyone how i did it they were like "Omg dont show me that! Wth is that!" So, yeah lol.

 

Grr, I really hate asking this, just because so many people have asked me and stuff, But would you mind if i add you to MSN? It would probably help me more and faster if it was an IM.

 

[DarkWater]

Go for it.

[Twister1004]

Umm, The code makes since. It just doesnt make since to my brain. o.o.

[Twister1004]

Ok, so say like i didn't make a userlist page.

 

Ummm, let me see if i can get this...

 

<?php
//Mysql is connected
$id = (int) $_GET['id']; //the ID is a interger. This is what i dont get. where will it get the ID from?
if (!($id > 0)) {//if the ID is above 0 (Or 1 meaning the profile exists)
    $id = $_SESSION['user_id']; //display their own profile if they decide to mess with the query string too much 
//what? how would they do that? lol
}
$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id=$id";//selects the ID of the user from the database from $id
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error()); //Goes to result as a query or it dies if not successful.
//code of the profile is setup by arrays and SQL

[DjMikeS]

@twister: You almost got it...

<?php
//Mysql is connected
$id = (int) $_GET['id']; //the ID is a integer. This is what i dont get. where will it get the ID from?
if (!($id > 0)) {//if the ID is above 0 (Or 1 meaning the profile exists)
    $id = $_SESSION['user_id']; //display their own profile if they decide to mess with the query string too much 
//what? how would they do that? lol
}
$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id=$id";//selects the ID of the user from the database from $id
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error()); //Goes to result as a query or it dies if not successful.
//code of the profile is setup by arrays and SQL

 

The integer comes from the URL (that's what $_GET does...)

Little example: let's say I have an URL like: www.example.com/index.php?profile=1&user=2

You can see that I use 2 variables in the URL: profile and user

<?php
echo $_GET['profile'];
echo $_GET['id'];

//Would output: 12
?>

 

The if(!$id > 0) doesn't mean that the profile exists...Usually when working with databases, the id is aan auto increment value..Meaning that the database automatically assigns the value. This means that the value can't be 0, because this isn't used...So id 0 will always be a wrong number...

 

However, you should still check if the profile exists....

[Twister1004]

Ok, so basically how i set up the webpage for the profiles, i have a pages that is speciflly for the login details and variables. So, umm.... I guess the main part i was confused about, is how would i be able to just get a specific profile without having to put a page just to get on the person's profile?

 

Maybe I'm just confusing myself.

 

I understand the $_GET now. Ummmm, god i'm just confused about how to get to their profiles without giving a page with all the users and linking it to there. ._. Could you possiably explain that? I believe once I understand that, the rest will just fit in.

 

Until then, I will go play with the codes! (God help me, lol)

[DarkWater]

Have a profile.php that dynamically takes the user id out of the URL and then generates the profile page.

[Twister1004]

I have a profile page named cp.php.

 

Do i need to post the $_GET at the top of the page before it loads?

(I honestly think there is no help for me, lol)

 

ugh, Ill see what I can but I dont know how you would take someone out the the URL o.o

[Twister1004]

OMg, i did something on accident and i got the $_GET command to work! However it was an accident. It was in a form.

 

So, now i figured that out, can i just tell it to $_GET the variables anywhere? Or does it have to be in just once place?

[DarkWater]

They can be used anywhere, and you don't need a form for GET.

[KevinM1]

$_GET is a superglobal (i.e., always accessible) variable that contains the values of the query string passed to the script.

 

What is a query string?  Have you ever seen a URI with a structure along the lines of:

 

http://www.somesite.com/contact.php?id=2&post=438

 

The part after the '?' is the query string.

 

So, let's look at this fictional contact.php script.  In order to get to the information in the query string, you simply have to use the $_GET array, like so:

 

$myId = $_GET['id'];
$myPost = $_GET['post'];

 

Like DarkWater said, no form is necessary in order to use $_GET.  What is necessary is a query string.  The reason it works with a form is that when a form is created with its method attribute set to get, the info submitted by the form is sent as a query string to the script that handles the form.  In other words, say you have a simple form like:

 

<form name="myForm" action="handleForm.php" method="get">
   <input name="name" type="text" value="bubba" /><br />
   <input name="email" type="text" value="test" /><br />
   <input name="submit" type="submit" value="submit" />
</form>

 

When that form is submitted, the info is passed along as a query string in the URI:

 

http://www.somesite.com/handleForm.php?name=bubba&email=test

 

PHP also has a $_POST array designed to handle form data sent via the post method.  The main difference between post and get is that info passed along using post is done behind the scenes rather than being visible in the URI.

[DjMikeS]

What most designers usually do is get the variable at the top of the page, sanitize it, and store it...

 

Like:

<?php
$intProfileId = mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['profile']);
?>
[code]

Now $intProfileId has the id that was in the url, but it's also sanitized using mysql_real_escape_string so you can check it in a database...

[Twister1004]

I now understand it somewhat better now! But my only problem is I just can't seem to get it to call correctly. I'm getting notices (I'm using error_reporting(E_ALL) ). saying there is no index for it. (Yes i changed inside the  "[]")

[Twister1004]

This is how my profile is setup right now. The header.php has all the Sessions and login information within it. However, I can't seem to get the $_GET working correctly. I'm getting notices or errors. He is my Profile page:

Now with that all said, how would i be able to call a $_GET since It doesnt like me, lol.

 

<?php session_start(); ?>
<?php error_reporting(E_ALL);?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<style>
body,td,th {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 12px;
color: #FFFFFF;
}
body {
background-color: #000000;
background-image: url(images/bg-soft.PNG);
background-repeat: repeat;
}
#loggedin_info {
position:absolute;
left:159px;
top:100px;
width:218px;
height:400px;
z-index:1;
margin:auto;
padding:0px;
}
#header{
position:absolute;
background:#000000;
top:2px;
left:100px;
}
#notloggedin{
position:absolute;
left: 405px;
top: 198px;
width: 444px;
height: 32px;
}
#content_loggedin{
position:absolute;
top:99px;
left:381px;
width: 528px;
height: 399px;
}
#side_rename{
position:absolute;
top:99px;
left:920px;
width: 189px;
height: 401px;
}
#nav{
position:absolute;
left:4px;
top:102px;
width:145px;
height:388px;
color:white;
background:#4682B4;
}
#button_account{
position:absolute;
top:473px;
left:209px;
width: 150px;
}
#content_account{
position:absolute;
top:472px;
left:586px;
}
#unknown_account{
position:absolute;
top:474px;
left:955px;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>
<div id = login>
<?php
include('header.php');
$result = mysql_query("SELECT about,content,unknown FROM `profile` WHERE `accountid` = {$_SESSION['login_id']}");
if (!$result) {
    echo 'Could not run query: ' . mysql_error();
    exit();
}
$row = mysql_fetch_row($result);
?>
</div>
<?php if (isset($_SESSION['login_user'])){ ?>
<div id="loggedin_info">
<p align = center>
<br/><br/>
About me, <br/><?php echo htmlentities($row[0]); ?></p>
</div>
<div id = content_loggedin>
  <p align = center>About your self,<br/> <?php echo htmlentities($row[1]); ?></p>
</div>
<div id = side_rename>
  <p align = center>Personal Use <br/><?php echo htmlentities($row[2]); ?></p>
</div>
<?php
}
else{
?>
  <div id = notloggedin>
    <center>
<strong>You must be loggedin to view your profile!</strong><br/> The profiles is currently, not done, or functional. Please wait while we get this online, ASAP!<br/> Thank you!</center></div>
<?php } ?>
<div id = nav>
<center>
<hr />
<a href = "./index.php">Home</a><br/><hr />
<a href = "./faq.php">FAQ</a><br/><hr />
<a href = "./about.php">About Us</a><br/><hr />
<a href = "./index.php">Projects</a><br/><hr />
</center>
</div>
</body>
</html>

 

I know this is a double post, but i can't edit O_o.

[Twister1004]

Hummmm.... maybe I'm still a blond, or I get it but don't understand how to use it X_x. I guess my best luck is to research it.

 

Thanks you all of your help everyone!

[keeps21]

Say you have a page with a list of users and by clicking on their name you can view their profile.

This is how you could do it with $_GET

 

users.php - lists users

<html><head><title>Profile list</title></head>

<body>
<a href="view_profile.php?profile_id=1" > Profile of user 1</a>
<a href="view_profile.php?profile_id=2" > Profile of user 2</a>
<a href="view_profile.php?profile_id=3" > Profile of user 3</a>
</body>
</html>

Notice the links, they have ?profile_id=1 and so on. When you click on that link you will be taken to a page called view_profile.php with the profile_id variable appended onto the end of the url.

 

In this next page, to show the profile you need to 'get' that variable from the url.

 

view_profile.php - view the profile of selected user.

<?php 

// Get profile ID to show
$profile_id = $_GET['profile_id']; // No error checking is done here so do not use this code as is.

// you'll need to change the values here to suit your db
$query = "SELECT profile_id, name, email FROM users WHERE profile_id = $profile_id";

$result = mysql_query($query) or die ("There was an error");
$row = mysql_fetch_row($result);

?>
<html><head><title>Profile of User <?php echo $profile_id; ?></title></head>

<body>

<h1>Profile - <?php echo $row['id'] . ' - ' . $row['name'] ;?> </h1>

Email - <?php echo $row['email'] ;?> 

</body>
</html>

 

You need to change the $row[''] to suit the db field value you want to show.

$row['name'] shows data from the name column in your db

$row['email'] shows data from the email column in your db

 

I hope this clears things up a little for you.

 

 

 

 

[Twister1004]

oooh! oooh! ooh~~~ So my next question is, does the variables and the stuff after the "?" in the link have to be there before I use the $_GET? Or is it supposed to be there when the $_GET is used?

[keeps21]

The $_GET needs to appear on the page which needs the information from the url.