Validating a link

[tcorbeil]

and yet another..

 

You guys are awesome BTW!!

 

If I have a customer input in a string: $String = "oilers.com";

 

What I'm doing is storing the links but I want to vaildate it first..

 

How would I verify the $String is a valid link?

 

T.

[per1os]

cURL would work or file_get_contents would also work.

 

I think cURL may have more options that will suit your needs.

 

http://us3.php.net/cURL

[tcorbeil]

Hey Frost.

 

Thanks for your response..

 

Is there not a way to ping a link in a simple way?

[per1os]

If you have PEAR than there is this:

 

http://pear.php.net/manual/en/package.networking.net-ping.ping.php

 

http://us3.php.net/manual/en/function.checkdnsrr.php

 

See what happens with those.

[Hell Toupee]

Very simplistic but ye get the basic idea:

 

if (!file_get_contents($string){

echo("Url isn't valid.");

}

 

On other hand, if you're looking for a ridiculously indepth pinging class:

 

http://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/scripts/ShowCode.asp?lngWId=8&txtCodeId=1786

[tcorbeil]

I'll try that script Hell Toupee, thanks..

 

All i need is a basic, ping or check to see if the url is there, return result..

 

I'll let you know.

 

T.

[tcorbeil]

Frost, i checked with the server info regarding PHP version installed and didn't see anything along the lines of PEAR..

 

I do know that CURL is installed... i hope i can avoid a bunch of script but if i need to, i'll look into it.., Thank you.

 

T.

[per1os]

Try toupee's, I didn't realize file_get_contents returned false if it was not successful.

[tcorbeil]

The code isn't working.. keep getting errors..

 

Because I'm new to PHP, on a quick observation, I see on '(' at the start of the if but none at the end..  I added one at the end of the expression but still got an error.. then I took both out completly..  still no go..

 

Any advise?

 

T

[Hell Toupee]

Sorry i forgot the second parameter bracket for the file_get_contents(function)

 

It should be:

 

if (!file_get_contents($string)){

echo("Url isn't valid.");

}

 

When you run this, what error do you receive?

 

EDIT:

 

If it's the case that your php version doesn't support file_get_contents, then you could equally try file() which predates it, the only difference being that it doesn't put the entire contents into a string but an array, but that shouldn't matter. I'd suggest after you test that it's working you get rid of the "file not found errors" in the event that an invalid url is entered, just by using an @.

 

 

 

<?php

if (!@file($_REQUEST)){

echo("Invalid URL.");

$error=1;

}

 

if ($error!=1){

// store data

}

?>

[tcorbeil]

Ok..

 

When the link is valid, it works...  when the link is invalid, i get :

 

Warning: file_get_contents() [function.file-get-contents]: php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known in /home/tcorbeil/public_html/Global/posting.php on line 12

 

Warning: file_get_contents(http://www.mlbxxx.com) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: Success in /home/tcorbeil/public_html/Global/posting.php on line 12

Url isn't valid.

 

Posting.php is the file that holds the script you gave me..

 

tried it wil mlb.com and then mlbxxx.com..

[Hell Toupee]

Sorry didn't see your reply there before I edited, make it !@file_get_contents($string).

[tcorbeil]

Hey again Hell Toupee..  that worked! Thank you.. lastly, if the link is invalid, instead of continuing on with the script, can i redirect back to the page such as?:

 

 

if (!file_get_contents($weblink)){

@header("Location: ".$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']);

}

 

i tried it but i just stays at a blank page... doesn't seem to redirect..

 

I have that same redirect command at the end of the script if the URL is valid and I know it works..

 

Any advise?

 

Thanks.

[Hell Toupee]

Can you post the full script so I can see the context the working redirection works in?

[tcorbeil]

Sure. WHat is odd is that it always redirects now.. but it is always the last redirect command doing it..  so if the link is bad, it still adds it to my database..

 

<?

 

$username="xxxxx";

$password="xxxxx";

$database="tcorbeil_Links";

$name=$_POST['name'];

$weblink=$_POST['weblink'];

$email=$_POST['email'];

$rss=$_POST['rss'];

$Page = $_POST['Page'];

 

if (!@file_get_contents($weblink)){

@header("Location: ".$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']); // do not proceed any further if link is bad....

}

 

mysql_connect(localhost,$username,$password);

@mysql_select_db($database) or die( "Unable to select database");

 

$query = "INSERT INTO Entertainment VALUES ('','$Page','$weblink','$rss', '$name', '$email')";

mysql_query($query);

 

mysql_close();

 

@header("Location: ".$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']); // go back to main page after link is stored in database...

 

?>

[Hell Toupee]

Hmm It works for me, take out all the @'s and see if you get any error messages.

 

Change the first redirect line to to "exit;" just to test that if the url isn't valid that the script is still picking up on it.

[tcorbeil]

Ok. I tried putting in the exit; instead of first redirect.. it works.. program stops..

 

I took the @symbol off of (I'm assuming you meant  just the redirect commands so thats what I did) and it still was redirecting from the last redirect..  very odd... 

[tcorbeil]

Hell Toupee, i tried this just in case it was anything to do with my main page..

 

if (!@file_get_contents($weblink)){

// exit;

header("Location: "."http://www.google.ca");

}

 

and it still didn't work...

[Hell Toupee]

There's obviously some problem about including header twice in a page, even if it is within a conditional statement the other header must be included as the contrary to that if statement. Basically you need to include the actual adding of the database after an else or elseif.

 

This should work:

 

<?

$username="xxxxx";
$password="xxxxx";
$database="tcorbeil_Links";
$name=$_POST['name'];
$weblink=$_POST['weblink'];
$email=$_POST['email'];
$rss=$_POST['rss'];
$Page = $_POST['Page'];

if (!@file_get_contents($weblink)){
@header("Location: ".$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']); // do not proceed any further if link is bad....
}
else{

mysql_connect(localhost,$username,$password);
@mysql_select_db($database) or die( "Unable to select database");

$query = "INSERT INTO Entertainment VALUES ('','$Page','$weblink','$rss', '$name', '$email')";
mysql_query($query);

mysql_close();

@header("Location: ".$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']); // go back to main page after link is stored in database...
}

?>

[per1os]

Why did you add the @ sign? try this:

 

$file = file_get_contents("http://www.google.com");

print $file;

 

If you get the function not defined error thy using this function:

 

$file = file_get_contents2("http://www.google.com");

print $file;

function file_get_contents2($url){
$url_parsed = parse_url($url);
$fd = fsockopen($url_parsed[host], 80);
$data = ''; $header = false;
fputs($fd,"GET ".$url_parsed[path]." HTTP/1.0\r\n");
fputs($fd,"Host: ".$url_parsed[host]."\r\n");
fputs($fd,"Connection: close\r\n\r\n");
while($line = fgets($fd)) {
if($header) $data .= $line;
if(strlen($line) <= 2) $header = true;
}
fclose($fd);
return $data;
}

 

 

[Hell Toupee]

The problem isn't the file_get_contents function not working, frost, its that the header redirection afterwards which stops the stuff still being added to the database wasn't working. But I think i fixed that now.

 

The @ was added because if the file isn't found (an invalid url) messy php warnings show up.

 

 

[tcorbeil]

Hey again fellas.

 

you were right Hell Toupee, i had to include the else for the remainder of the code and it works great, my hat's off to you Sir!

 

Frost, I have kept your code under close advisement for future use.. as my understanding of PHP improves, it will serve me I'm sure, thank you!

 

T.