Dynamic image problem

[Tuk]

I'm having an issue with dynamic image creation. I know what my problem is so I'm just wondering if there's a way to make it work, or if I'm out of luck.

 

Basically I have an image and I want to display a dynamic string on it. I've looked up tutorials, etc, and eventually I got it working, except the string isn't showing, and I think it's because it's a variable. I got it to work perfectly by putting a static word as the string ('hello'), but when I changed that to a variable, the main image shows up but with no text on it.

 

I believe my problem is that the variable is obtained by using $_GET then a select query to get the information from the database for that particular user. I have the dynamic image set up in a separate file (file names have been changed, but I know those aren't the problem):

<?
$image = imagecreatefrompng("image url");
$textcolor = imagecolorallocate($image, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF);
imagestring($image, 1, 10, 10, "$variable", $textcolor);

header('Content-type: image/png');
imagepng($image);
?>

 

I then call on the image with this, in the file I want the image to be displayed in...:

<img src=imagefile.php>

 

So basically, here's my problem... I need to use a select query to get the proper information for $variable, but since the dynamic image file needs to define itself as an image/png content-type, adding in any other script such as a query will cause the image to break... I can't include anything for the same reason...

 

When I was looking up how to do a dynamic image in general, the only examples I found had static strings, but I kept reading that you could use a variable instead... but now I'm trying and it's not working. :/

 

As a note, I tried doing the select query in a separate file and including it, and the image broke again.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks.

[jl5501]

Is there any reason why you have $variable in " " in your imagestring() call, and what happens if you remove them?

[Tuk]

Nothing happens when I remove them. I am almost positive the problem I described is why this isn't working. I don't think the quotes have anything to do with it.

[JAY6390]

If it works with a static string but not a variable then the variable isn't being set. A function will not stop working based on if you pass a string or a variable with the same string on it. Firstly you need to learn how to make valid HTML

<img src="imagefile.php" alt="Dynamic Image" />

Secondly you say you are passing the text via $_GET but that is not the case. If you want to pass it via $_GET you would need

imagefile.php?var_name=some_value

and then use $_GET['var_name'] in your imagefile.php script to get the data and use it

[jl5501]

Anywhere you can use a literal string, you can also use a string variable. As you will see from the examples in the manual at http://php.net/manual/en/function.imagestring.php a string variably is often used.

[Tuk]

I wasn't clear enough in my description of how it's working, I suppose, as some of what you said doesn't apply. I also changed the names of files, etc.

 

However, as I was typing this reply, I had an epiphany, and it worked.