PHP variables in a link

OsirisElKeleni · October 5, 2014

Hello everyone,

i'm struggeling with posting a link with variables in a table with info i receive from a database.

The variable

$url = "http://mtgimage.com/card/$cardname.jpg";

works but the variable

$cardname = $row['Name'];

doesnt. i dont know what i am doing wrong in that line of code.

my actual goal with this is so when i hover over the card name which i receive from the database it shows the image.

This is the actual full file.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>MTG Card List</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<style type="text/css" media="screen">
@import "filtergrid.css";
body{ 
	margin:15px; padding:15px; border:0px solid #666;
	font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:88%; 
}
h2{ margin-top: 50px; }
caption{ margin:10px 0 0 5px; padding:10px; text-align:left; }
pre{ font-size:13px; margin:5px; padding:5px; background-color:#f4f4f4; border:1px solid #ccc;  }
.mytable{
	width:100%; font-size:12px;
	border:1px solid #ccc;
}
th{ background-color:#003366; color:#FFF; padding:2px; border:1px solid #ccc; }
td{ padding:2px; border-bottom:1px solid #ccc; border-right:1px solid #ccc; border-left:1px solid #ccc; border-top:1px solid #ccc; }
body p {
	font-size: 50%;
	color: #000;
}
a:link {
	color: #000;
}
a:visited {
	color: #000;
}
</style>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="actb.js"></script>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="tablefilter.js"></script>
</head>
<body>


<form align="center" action="password.php" method="POST">
<b>Username:</b> <input type="text" name="username">
<b>Password:</b> <input type="text" name="password">
<input type="submit">
</form>
<?php
$dbhost = 'hostname';
$dbuser = 'user';
$dbpass = 'pw';
$cardname = $row['Name'];
$url = "http://mtgimage.com/card/$cardname.jpg";
$conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
if(! $conn )
{
  die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db('e_industries');
$sql = 'SELECT `Name`, `Color`, `Type`, `Subtype`, `Power`, `Toughness`, `Manacost`, `Rarity`, `Expansion`, `Foil`, `Stock` FROM `Osiris`';


$retval = mysql_query( $sql, $conn );
if(! $retval )
	{
	die('Could not get data: ' . mysql_error());
	}
	echo '<table align="center" id="mytable" cellspacing="0" class="table" >';
	echo "<tr><th >Name</th><th >Color</th><th >Type</th><th >Sub Type</th><th >Power</th><th >Toughness</th><th >Converted mana cost</th><th >Rarity</th><th >Expansion</th><th >Foil</th><th >Stock</th></tr>";
	while($row = mysql_fetch_array($retval, MYSQL_ASSOC))
		{
			echo "<tr><td>";
			echo "<a href=$url>. $cardname .</a>";
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Color'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Type'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Subtype'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Power'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Toughness'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Manacost'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Rarity'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Expansion'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Foil'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Stock'];
			echo "</td></tr>";
		}
		echo "</table>";
mysql_close($conn);
?>

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
	var table2_Props = 	{
							col_1: "select",
							col_2: "select",
							col_3: "select",
							col_7: "select",
							col_8: "select", 
							col_9: "select",
							col_10: "none",
							display_all_text: " [ Show all ] ",
							sort_select: true 
						};
	setFilterGrid( "mytable",table2_Props );
//]]>
</script>
</body>
</html>

Thanks in advance!

Ch0cu3r · October 5, 2014

These two lines need to be inside your while loop

$cardname = $row['Name'];
$url = "http://mtgimage.com/card/$cardname.jpg";

Variables need to be defined before you can use them.

QuickOldCar · October 5, 2014

Besides what Ch0cu3r wrote, also use the single quotes for a hyperlink.

$cardname = $row['Name'];
$url = "http://mtgimage.com/card/" . $cardname . ".jpg";
echo "<a href='" . $url . "'>" . $cardname . "</a>";

I also noticed this.

echo '<table align="center" id="mytable" cellspacing="0" class="table" >';

change to

echo "<table align='center' id='mytable' cellspacing='0' class='table' >";

An easy way to do it is to use all single quotes within and wrapped with double quotes, can wrap variables with curly braces or concatenate

Edited October 5, 2014 by QuickOldCar

jcbones · October 5, 2014

I'm in disagreement with the last post, I think the way it is will process faster, and is more readable.

OsirisElKeleni · October 5, 2014

Okay thanks that works,

but now all the other data isnt showing anymore...

Anyone knows what the cause is?

This is a link to the actual website

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>MTG Card List</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<style type="text/css" media="screen">
@import "filtergrid.css";
body{ 
	margin:15px; padding:15px; border:0px solid #666;
	font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:88%; 
}
h2{ margin-top: 50px; }
caption{ margin:10px 0 0 5px; padding:10px; text-align:left; }
pre{ font-size:13px; margin:5px; padding:5px; background-color:#f4f4f4; border:1px solid #ccc;  }
.mytable{
	width:100%; font-size:12px;
	border:1px solid #ccc;
}
th{ background-color:#003366; color:#FFF; padding:2px; border:1px solid #ccc; }
td{ padding:2px; border-bottom:1px solid #ccc; border-right:1px solid #ccc; border-left:1px solid #ccc; border-top:1px solid #ccc; }
body p {
	font-size: 50%;
	color: #000;
}
a:link {
	color: #000;
}
a:visited {
	color: #000;
}
</style>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="actb.js"></script>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="tablefilter.js"></script>
</head>
<body>


<form align="center" action="password.php" method="POST">
<b>Username:</b> <input type="text" name="username">
<b>Password:</b> <input type="text" name="password">
<input type="submit">
</form>
<?php
$dbhost = '';
$dbuser = '';
$dbpass = '';
$conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
if(! $conn )
{
  die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db('e_industries');
$sql = 'SELECT `Name`, `Color`, `Type`, `Subtype`, `Power`, `Toughness`, `Manacost`, `Rarity`, `Expansion`, `Foil`, `Stock` FROM `Osiris`';


$retval = mysql_query( $sql, $conn );
if(! $retval )
	{
	die('Could not get data: ' . mysql_error());
	}
	echo '<table align="center" id="mytable" cellspacing="0" class="table" >';
	echo "<tr><th >Name</th><th >Color</th><th >Type</th><th >Sub Type</th><th >Power</th><th >Toughness</th><th >Converted mana cost</th><th >Rarity</th><th >Expansion</th><th >Foil</th><th >Stock</th></tr>";
	while($row = mysql_fetch_array($retval, MYSQL_ASSOC))
	$cardname = $row['Name'];
	$url = "http://mtgimage.com/card/$cardname.jpg";
		{
			echo "<tr><td>";
			echo "<a href=$url>$cardname</a>";
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Color'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Type'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Subtype'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Power'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Toughness'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Manacost'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Rarity'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Expansion'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Foil'];
			echo "</td><td>";
			echo $row['Stock'];
			echo "</td></tr>";
		}
		echo "</table>";
mysql_close($conn);
?>

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
	var table2_Props = 	{
							col_1: "select",
							col_2: "select",
							col_3: "select",
							col_7: "select",
							col_8: "select", 
							col_9: "select",
							col_10: "none",
							display_all_text: " [ Show all ] ",
							sort_select: true 
						};
	setFilterGrid( "mytable",table2_Props );
//]]>
</script>
</body>
</html>

QuickOldCar · October 5, 2014

change this

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($retval, MYSQL_ASSOC))
$cardname = $row['Name'];
$url = "http://mtgimage.com/card/$cardname.jpg";
  {

to this

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($retval, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
$cardname = $row['Name'];
$url = "http://mtgimage.com/card/$cardname.jpg";

ginerjm · October 5, 2014

And while you are changing things, you really should change your db interface to be mysqlI or PDO instead of the DEPRECATED MYSQL

Edited October 5, 2014 by ginerjm

OsirisElKeleni · October 5, 2014

Thanks QuickOldCar,

How ever i have one more question..

It seems that when i use spaces in the card names that the variable doesn't coppy it in the HREF link.

Is there an easy fix for it? Or should i use _ instead of spaces?

Thanks for all the help Guys!

QuickOldCar · October 5, 2014

It would be better and simpler to use _ in them.

Otherwise can use urlencode() and urldecode() on them back and forth.

Or a str_replace

$encodedcardname = str_replace(" ","%20",trim($cardname));

OsirisElKeleni · October 5, 2014

Thanks alot! it works like a charm! just need to figure out how i can input ' into names cuz i cant store them into my database and its as good as done!

Really helpfull forum!

ginerjm · October 5, 2014

If you switched to either mysqlI or pdo you would be able to fix the problem of unescaped input (contining quote marks) by using prepared queries.

You really need to read up on the dangers of running queries against your db with unsanitized inputs - probably from malicious users!

OsirisElKeleni · October 5, 2014

I will do that, its just i'm still a beginner at this and now that i (kinda) understand this code its really not that easy to jump and change everything around

But as you bring up the malicious users, i will try and convert it into MySQLI

Thanks alot guys!

Edited October 5, 2014 by OsirisElKeleni

ginerjm · October 5, 2014

pdo is a better choice. At least that's what most people say here. I find it pretty easy to use. Just make sure you read Jacques1 writeup on how to use it properly and how to make your standard connection logic do it correctly.

Sign In

PHP variables in a link

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Join the conversation

Important Information