profile site

[runnerjp]

hey guys.... wunderd if someone could point me in right direction.... im making a profile site so each person has there on profile page

 

what would be the best way to have the users have there own page if that makes sense?

 

so my profile page would be www.mywebpage.com/admin

 

 

[chigley]

I'd use .htaccess mod_rewriting to rewrite /username to /profile.php?user=username for a start.

 

Then I'd put together the profile selecting the info from the database

[runnerjp]

I'd use .htaccess mod_rewriting to rewrite /username to /profile.php?user=username for a start.

 

 

this is the part im intrested in...this is new to me...what does it do and how do i do it

[cmgmyr]

in your .htaccess

RewriteEngine  on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([^/\.]+)/?$ profile.php?username=$1 [L]

 

in your profile.php

$username = $_GET['username'];
//query DB for the username and get the user id

 

this should get you started

[chigley]

.htaccess

 

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^([^/\.]+) profile.php?user=$1 [nc]

 

profile.php

 

<?php

echo $_GET['user'];

?>

[runnerjp]

which 1 do i follow lol

 

where do i add the .htaccess file and what is it doing/stopping???

[cmgmyr]

you put your .htaccess file in your web root. You also have profile.php there.

 

The .htaccess is saying take www.mywebpage.com/admin and make it like www.mywebpage.com/profile.php?username=admin

 

get it?

[runnerjp]

yes but wat does changing it do??

[cmgmyr]

not sure I quite understand your question...

 

it allows you to use www.mywebpage.com/admin like www.mywebpage.com/profile.php?username=admin and vice versa

[runnerjp]

but why would i want to use it as www.mywebpage.com/profile.php?username=admin  ????

[chigley]

Because then that's where your profile page is generated from.

[marf]

Bookmarked myself this useful page. Shows 3 possible solutions

 

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/search-engine-friendly-urls

[cmgmyr]

but why would i want to use it as www.mywebpage.com/profile.php?username=admin  ????

 

you don't need to use it...it's just how it works, the .htaccess converts it to that without you actually seeing it...but thats how the php reads it.

[runnerjp]

then again tbh what i first need to know his how to create unique pages for the users to use as there profiles lol

[chigley]

Why not just use something like this?

 

profile.php

 

<?php

$username = $_GET["username"];

$q = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = '$username'");
$r = mysql_fetch_assoc($q);

echo "Welcome to ".$username."'s profile page.";

?>

 

Very basic but it will work

[runnerjp]

yes but this would not create a new profile page for the user

[chigley]

If you used the .htaccess then somebody can type /username and get taken to the page though. What exactly are you trying to achieve?

[runnerjp]

what about when a users signs up ...is there away that i can take the username and make a page for them with it??

 

 

 

[cmgmyr]

do you mean like making admin.html, user1.html, etc.?

[chigley]

But the solution I've already given you makes it work with new accounts without doing anything. They type "/username" and get taken to their page which is (secretly) found at /profile.php?user=username.

 

It's foolproof and means you don't physically make them a page.

[cmgmyr]

...correct

 

You don't want to have 50,000 pages if you have 50,000 users if you can just handle 50,000 profiles with 1 file

[runnerjp]

.htaccess

 

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^([^/\.]+) profile.php?user=$1 [nc]

 

profile.php

 

<?php

echo $_GET['user'];

?>

 

 

ok so would i put this in a new file called profiles or something to keep it seperate yes

[chigley]

Just put it in the root of the folder where your files are stored and test it by typing www.domain.com/username ~ the output should be username

[cmgmyr]

yes, you have 2 files ".htaccess" and "profile.php"