I require assistance, simple problem i think

[ryogun]

hello there, im new to these forums and also a newbie at php, and i saw this would be the best place to get help, i have a simple problem i hope, that i dont know how to fix since im not that knowledgeable on php

i have a simple php script that takes out the most recent topics of my forum, the only problem is, when somebody makes one that it is too long, like for example "teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeest" would be too long and mess up my layout because it is on a table, is there a way like if the message is too long, it would be turned like this teeeeeee... and have a certain number of characters that would show up?

example

hello test test test

would be

hello test...

 

help is appreciated 

php script bellow

 

 

 

 

 

<?php

//

// Basic Configuration

// How Many Topics you want to display?

$topicnumber = 10;

// Scrolling towards up or down?

$scroll = "down";

// Change this to your phpBB path

$urlPath = "************";

 

// Database Configuration (Where your phpBB config.php file is located

include '**********';

 

// Connecting & Selecting Databases

$table_topics = $table_prefix. "topics";

$table_forums = $table_prefix. "forums";

$table_posts = $table_prefix. "posts";

$table_users = $table_prefix. "users";

$link = mysql_connect("$dbhost", "$dbuser", "$dbpasswd") or die("Could not connect");

mysql_select_db("$dbname") or die("Could not select database");

 

// Perform Sql Query

$query = "SELECT t.topic_id, t.topic_title, t.topic_last_post_id, t.forum_id, p.post_id, p.poster_id, p.post_time, u.user_id, u.username

FROM $table_topics t, $table_forums f, $table_posts p, $table_users u

WHERE t.topic_id = p.topic_id AND

f.forum_id = t.forum_id AND

t.topic_status <> 2 AND

p.post_id = t.topic_last_post_id AND

p.poster_id = u.user_id

ORDER BY p.post_id DESC LIMIT $topicnumber";

$result = mysql_query($query) or die("Query failed");

 

// Outcome of the HTML

// Be carefull when you edit these!

print "<marquee id=\"recent_topics\" behavior=\"scroll\" direction=\"$scroll\" height=\"130\" scrolldelay=\"1\" scrollamount=\"2\" onMouseOver=\"document.all.recent_topics.stop()\" onMouseOut=\"document.all.recent_topics.start()\">

<table cellpadding='3' cellSpacing='2' width='50'>";

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {

echo  "<tr valign='top'><td><font face=\"Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\" size=\"1\"><font color=\"#FFCC00\"><b><a href=\"$urlPath/viewtopic.php?f=$row[forum_id]&t=$row[topic_id]\">" .

$row["topic_title"] .

"</a></td></font></b><td><font face=\"Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\" size=\"1\"><font color=\"#C0C0C0\"> by: <a href=\"$urlPath/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=$row[user_id]\">" .

$row["username"] .

"</td><td><font face=\"Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\" size=\"-1\"><font color=\"#C0C0C0\">" .

date('F j, Y, g:i a', $row["post_time"]) .

"</td></tr></font>";

}

print "</table></marquee>";

 

// Free Result

mysql_free_result($result);

 

// Close the Connection

mysql_close($link);

?>

[GingerRobot]

You can do what you're after with a few of the string functions. E.g: strlen and substr_replace.

 

In future, please try to wrap your code in

tags. And welcome to the forums.

[ryogun]

sorry about that, im really a n00b on php any idea how they would be implemented? or kind of used, ill try to find  tutorial see if i can understand it somewhat, either way, thanks.

[allistera]

http://www.meiocodigo.com/2008/10/14/pretty-truncate-string-function-in-php-substr-replacement/

[ryogun]

nevermind, found the problem, sorry for the bother, and thanks for the help!