Php Dynamic Urls, Seo Friendly?

[NewcastleFan]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm working on teaching myself php/mysql by build a Content Management System I've got to a certain point which I'm quite proud of but I've hit a bit of a bump.

 

at current my dynamic page urls are "index.php?pid=1" However I would like them to be actual words e.g. "/home-page" "/example-page".

 

I have no idea how to even begin to do this, I've seen a lot of posts about using .htacess and url re-writes but I don't seem to be able to get these to work.

 

Current build menu code in functions.php:

 

// ***************************************
// Start Build Menu
// ***************************************
$sqlCommand = "SELECT id, linklabel, seourl FROM pages WHERE showing='1' ORDER BY pageorder ASC";
$query = mysqli_query($myConnection, $sqlCommand) or die (mysqli_error());
$menuDisplay = '';
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($query)) {
$pid = $row["id"];
$linklabel = $row["linklabel"];
$seourl = $row["seourl"];
$menuDisplay .= '<a href="index.php?id=' . $pid . '">' . $linklabel . '<a><br .>';
}
mysqli_free_result($query);

// ***************************************
// End Build Menu
// ***************************************

 

I have added the extra seourl field into the database so when a new page is created it grabs the page title, removes the spaces and replaces them with - so a page called example page one will turn into example-page-one.

 

However I am completely lost on how to use the seourl to load the content in the page.

 

This is also how I currently pull the content from the database for the page info.

// ***************************************
// Select Page ID and Content, Keywords/Description
// ***************************************

if (!$_GET['id']) {
$pageid = '1';
} else {
$pageid = ereg_replace("[^0-9]", "", $_GET['id']);
}

$sqlCommand ="SELECT pagebody, description, keywords FROM pages WHERE id='$pageid' LIMIT 1";
$query = mysqli_query($myConnection, $sqlCommand) or die (mysqli_error());
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($query)) {
$body = $row["pagebody"];
$desc = $row["description"];
$keywords = $row["keywords"];
}
mysqli_free_result($query);

// ***************************************
// Select Page ID and Page Title
// ************************************

 

If anyone has any advice or can point me in the right direction that would be fantastic!

 

Thanks

[Muddy_Funster]

<<---- points at a .htaccess file

[NewcastleFan]

Are .htacess files the only way to do this? I would of pefered to of done it thought PHP if it was possible.

[thara]

as far as I know, .htaccess is the only way to do this...

[NewcastleFan]

Ah, so my whole seourl was a futile effort? I have tried using the mod rewrite .htacess before attempting to do it with php, however it was to a failed effort as it either broke the page links or did nothing, would someone be able to show me an example for my current setup?

 

Thanks.

[haku]

This is done at the server level, not the php level.

[Christian F.]

Not quite the only way, but you will have to use the file name in the URL.

If you write an URL like this:

<a href="my.domain.com/index.php/test/id=3">Page 3</a>

Then you'll find all of the stuff after the filename in the $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] index, which you can then run through a RegExp to expand into an array (or add it to the $_GET superglobal). That's what I've done in my framework, and it works a treat no matter which server I've tested it on.

 

Best part: No .htaccess rewrite rules needed.

[NewcastleFan]

Not quite the only way, but you will have to use the file name in the URL.

If you write an URL like this:

<a href="my.domain.com/index.php/test/id=3">Page 3</a>

Then you'll find all of the stuff after the filename in the $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] index, which you can then run through a RegExp to expand into an array (or add it to the $_GET superglobal). That's what I've done in my framework, and it works a treat no matter which server I've tested it on.

 

Best part: No .htaccess rewrite rules needed.

 

This sound way more complicated than I thought

 

I've tried again with .htaccess but using this I've managed to get nothing to change:

 

 

Options +FollowSymLinks

RewriteEngine on

 

RewriteRule /id/(.*)/ index.php?id=$1

 

 

I cant even get my page ID's to be /id/1 never mind a nice looking text link

 

Anyone able to help me out?

 

Thanks

[Christian F.]

Remove the last slash from the rewrite rule, and it should work.

 

However, my solution isn't all that complicated. All you need is one IF test and one loop, and the IF test looks like this:

// Split path, and check if any parameters were found.
if (!preg_match_all ("#/(?[^=/]+)=([^/&]+))|([^/&]+)#", $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'], $Matches, PREG_SET_ORDER)) {
	// None found, abort.
	return;
}

 

I've added mine inside a function, thus the use of return to stop the parsing if no matches are found.

[NewcastleFan]

Remove the last slash from the rewrite rule, and it should work.

 

However, my solution isn't all that complicated. All you need is one IF test and one loop, and the IF test looks like this:

// Split path, and check if any parameters were found.
if (!preg_match_all ("#/(?[^=/]+)=([^/&]+))|([^/&]+)#", $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'], $Matches, PREG_SET_ORDER)) {
	// None found, abort.
	return;
}

 

I've added mine inside a function, thus the use of return to stop the parsing if no matches are found.

 

Ha, yeh that's way above my knowledge at the moment I think .htaccess is getting on my nerves are either nothing happens or i get a 500 server error.

 

How would I go about implementing what you suggested with php into my original post code?

[White_Lily]

Hi, this is the .htaccess file that i wrote for the last website i built:

 

Options +FollowSymLinks

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.example\.co\.uk [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.co.uk/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.php -f
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)$ $1.php
RewriteRule ^product/([a-zA-Z0-9_-\s\'\,\(\)\.]+)$ product.php?product=$1
RewriteRule ^category/([a-zA-Z0-9_-\s\'\,\(\)\.]+)$ category.php?category=$1
RewriteRule ^category/([a-zA-Z0-9_-\s\'\,\(\)\.]+)/price/([0-9]+.[0-9]+)-([0-9]+.[0-9]+)$ category.php?category=$1&lower=$2&upper=$3
RewriteRule ^category/([a-zA-Z0-9_-\s\'\,\(\)\.]+)/([0-9]+)$ category.php?category=$1&pageNo=$2
RewriteRule ^page/([a-zA-Z0-9_-\s\'\,\(\)\.]+)$ page.php?page=$1
RewriteRule ^search/([a-zA-Z0-9_-\s\'\,\(\)\.]+)$ search.php?search=$1
RewriteRule ^search/([a-zA-Z0-9_-\s\'\,\(\)\.]+)/([0-9]+)$ search.php?search=$1&pageNo=$2
RewriteRule ^reset-password/([0-9]+)/([a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)$ log.php?id=$1&authCode=$2
RewriteRule ^orders/([0-9]+)$ orders.php?pageNo=$1
RewriteRule ^view-order/([a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)$ view-order.php?id=$1
RewriteRule ^view-order/([a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)/([a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)$ view-order.php?id=$1&authCode=$2
RewriteRule ^news/([0-9]+)$ News.php?pageNo=$1
RewriteRule ^news/article/([a-zA-Z0-9_-\s\'\,\(\)\.~\%\*]+)$ article.php?pageNo=$1

ErrorDocument 404 /404.php

 

it all works perfectly.

Edited November 2, 2012 by White_Lily