Random select image - with a difference!

[mattyvx]

Hi!

 

I have a small problem in that I have various "how to guides" on my sites.  Each guide has a picture linking to it.

 

Currently I have a file called guides.html which will be included on all my pages;

 

<a href="/search.php">
<img src="/images/sqsearch.gif" /></a>

<a href="/guides/a.php" >
<img src="/images/a.gif"  /></a>

<a href="/guides/b.php" >
<img src="/images/b.gif" /></a>

<a href="/guides/c.php" >
<img src="/images/c.gif" /></a>

 

Example the above script shows 4 images and links to four pages.

 

I want only three images to be shown with the following criteria:

 

The first image/link must always be search.php.

 

The second two images can be any of the remaing links.

 

Im guessing I need to put the above script into an array? Please assist, I dont think the solution is too complicated.

 

Thanks

 

[rajivgonsalves]

this should help you get started

 

<?php
$str = '
<a href="/search.php">
<img src="/images/sqsearch.gif" /></a>';

$links = array('a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'h');
$stable = 'a'; // link you want stable 

$str .= "<a href=\"/guides/{$stable}.php\" ><img src=\"/images/{$stable}.gif\"  /></a>";

$index = array_search($stable, $links);
if ($index !== false) {
    unset($links[$index]);
}
shuffle($links);

for ($i=0; $i<2;$i++) {
    $str .= "<a href=\"/guides/{$links[$i]}.php\" ><img src=\"/images/{$links[$i]}.gif\"  /></a>";
}

echo $str;
?>

[steveboj]

I did something similar to this once with a simple array and the rand() function. Alternatively you could put the your last 3 lines in an array, then use the shuffle() function and display just the first 2 lines.

[mattyvx]

thanks! Abit of tweaking and I have this as my final solution;

 

<?php

echo "<a href=\"/guides/search.php\" title=\"Search\">
      <img src=\"/images/search.gif\" alt=\"Search\" /></a>";

$links = array( 
'horray for the array', 
'how to do something pointless', 
'a guide on something else', 
);

if(!isset($no)){$no = "2";}else{$no = count($links);}

shuffle($links);

for ($i=0; $i<$no;$i++) {
    $str .= "<a href=\"/guides/{$links[$i]}.php\" title=\"{$links[$i]}\" >
             <img src=\"/images/{$links[$i]}.gif\" alt=\"{$links[$i]}\" /></a>";
}

echo $str;
?>

 

There is one page which i would like to display all the links, on this one page just before the include"" I can set the $no variable to anything and it will show all the guides!

 

Working great thanks alot!