Limiting Character Length

[ShoeLace1291]

I have a script that pulls latest forum posts with a mysql query.  When I display the list, how do I limit the name of the topics and follow them with "..." if they are too long?  For example, the two latest posts are Hello, everyone, I am new here.  That's sixteen characters.  How would I make that display as say "Hello, Everyone, I am..."

 

Thanks for any help.

[trq]

substr().

[ShoeLace1291]

Having a bit of trouble...

 

$postsubject = $post['subject'];

$postsubject = substr("$postsubject", 0, 10);

 

just displays as $postsubject

[trq]

The code you posted won't display anything. Post your actual code and a description of what you expect and what your actually receiving.

[ShoeLace1291]

It's kind a long... I'm modifiying the SMF SSI.

 

function ssi_recentTopics($num_recent = 8, $exclude_boards = null, $output_method = 'echo')
{

ob_start();
global $context, $settings, $scripturl, $txt, $db_prefix, $ID_MEMBER;
global $user_info, $modSettings, $func;

if ($exclude_boards === null && !empty($modSettings['recycle_enable']) && $modSettings['recycle_board'] > 0)
	$exclude_boards = array($modSettings['recycle_board']);
else
	$exclude_boards = empty($exclude_boards) ? array() : $exclude_boards;

$stable_icons = array('xx', 'thumbup', 'thumbdown', 'exclamation', 'question', 'lamp', 'smiley', 'angry', 'cheesy', 'grin', 'sad', 'wink', 'moved', 'recycled', 'wireless');
$icon_sources = array();
foreach ($stable_icons as $icon)
	$icon_sources[$icon] = 'images_url';

// Find all the posts in distinct topics.  Newer ones will have higher IDs.
$request = db_query("
	SELECT
		m.posterTime, ms.subject, m.ID_TOPIC, m.ID_MEMBER, m.ID_MSG, b.ID_BOARD, b.name AS bName,
		IFNULL(mem.realName, m.posterName) AS posterName, " . ($user_info['is_guest'] ? '1 AS isRead, 0 AS new_from' : '
		IFNULL(lt.ID_MSG, IFNULL(lmr.ID_MSG, 0)) >= m.ID_MSG_MODIFIED AS isRead,
		IFNULL(lt.ID_MSG, IFNULL(lmr.ID_MSG, -1)) + 1 AS new_from') . ", LEFT(m.body, 384) AS body, m.smileysEnabled, m.icon
	FROM ({$db_prefix}messages AS m, {$db_prefix}topics AS t, {$db_prefix}boards AS b, {$db_prefix}messages AS ms)
		LEFT JOIN {$db_prefix}members AS mem ON (mem.ID_MEMBER = m.ID_MEMBER)" . (!$user_info['is_guest'] ? "
		LEFT JOIN {$db_prefix}log_topics AS lt ON (lt.ID_TOPIC = t.ID_TOPIC AND lt.ID_MEMBER = $ID_MEMBER)
		LEFT JOIN {$db_prefix}log_mark_read AS lmr ON (lmr.ID_BOARD = b.ID_BOARD AND lmr.ID_MEMBER = $ID_MEMBER)" : '') . "
	WHERE t.ID_LAST_MSG >= " . ($modSettings['maxMsgID'] - 35 * min($num_recent, 5)) . "
		AND t.ID_LAST_MSG = m.ID_MSG
		AND b.ID_BOARD = t.ID_BOARD" . (empty($exclude_boards) ? '' : "
		AND b.ID_BOARD NOT IN (" . implode(', ', $exclude_boards) . ")") . "
		AND $user_info[query_see_board]
		AND ms.ID_MSG = t.ID_FIRST_MSG
	ORDER BY t.ID_LAST_MSG DESC
	LIMIT $num_recent", __FILE__, __LINE__);
$posts = array();
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($request))
{
	$row['body'] = strip_tags(strtr(parse_bbc($row['body'], $row['smileysEnabled'], $row['ID_MSG']), array('<br />' => '&#10;')));
	if ($func['strlen']($row['body']) > 128)
		$row['body'] = $func['substr']($row['body'], 0, 128) . '...';

	// Censor the subject.
	censorText($row['subject']);
	censorText($row['body']);

	if (empty($modSettings['messageIconChecks_disable']) && !isset($icon_sources[$row['icon']]))
		$icon_sources[$row['icon']] = file_exists($settings['theme_dir'] . '/images/post/' . $row['icon'] . '.gif') ? 'images_url' : 'default_images_url';

	// Build the array.
	$posts[] = array(
		'board' => array(
			'id' => $row['ID_BOARD'],
			'name' => $row['bName'],
			'href' => $scripturl . '?board=' . $row['ID_BOARD'] . '.0',
			'link' => '<a href="' . $scripturl . '?board=' . $row['ID_BOARD'] . '.0">' . $row['bName'] . '</a>'
		),
		'topic' => $row['ID_TOPIC'],
		'poster' => array(
			'id' => $row['ID_MEMBER'],
			'name' => $row['posterName'],
			'href' => empty($row['ID_MEMBER']) ? '' : $scripturl . '?action=profile;u=' . $row['ID_MEMBER'],
			'link' => empty($row['ID_MEMBER']) ? $row['posterName'] : '<a href="' . $scripturl . '?action=profile;u=' . $row['ID_MEMBER'] . '">' . $row['posterName'] . '</a>'
		),
		'subject' => $row['subject'],
		'short_subject' => shorten_subject($row['subject'], 25),
		'preview' => $row['body'],
		'time' => timeformat($row['posterTime']),
		'timestamp' => forum_time(true, $row['posterTime']),
		'href' => $scripturl . '?topic=' . $row['ID_TOPIC'] . '.msg' . $row['ID_MSG'] . ';topicseen#new',
		'link' => '<a href="' . $scripturl . '?topic=' . $row['ID_TOPIC'] . '.msg' . $row['ID_MSG'] . '#new">' . $row['subject'] . '</a>',
		'new' => !empty($row['isRead']),
		'new_from' => $row['new_from'],
		'icon' => '<img src="' . $settings[$icon_sources[$row['icon']]] . '/post/' . $row['icon'] . '.gif" align="middle" alt="' . $row['icon'] . '" border="0" />',
	);
}
mysql_free_result($request);

// Just return it.
if ($output_method != 'echo' || empty($posts))
	return $posts;

foreach ($posts as $post)
$postsubject = $post['subject'];
$postsubject = substr($postsubject, 0, -10);
	echo '

				&#187 <a href="', $post['href'], '">$postsubject</a>
				', $txt[525], ' ', $post['poster']['link'], '
				', $post['new'] ? '' : '<a href="' . $scripturl . '?topic=' . $post['topic'] . '.msg' . $post['new_from'] . ';topicseen#new"><img src="' . $settings['images_url'] . '/' . $context['user']['language'] . '/new.gif" alt="' . $txt[302] . '" border="0" /></a>', '<br>
			';
	$ret=ob_get_contents();
	ob_end_clean();
	return $ret;
}

[trq]

Seriously... the relevent code will do.

[ShoeLace1291]

That is my code... but to make it simpler, say this were my code:

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM smf_topics ORDER BY ID_TOPIC DESC LIMIT 10") or die("Error: ".mysql_error());

while($fetch=mysql_fetch_array($query)){

     $topicid=$fetch["ID_TOPIC"];
     $topicname=$fetch["topicName"];

     echo "$topicname<br>";

}

 

Say the last two topics were called "hello, I am new here" and "what the hell is going on".  instead of displaying as

 

hello, I am new here

what the hell is going on

 

how would i make substr display it as

 

hello, i am new ...

what the the he...

[rajivgonsalves]

try this for your echo statement

 

 

echo (strlen($topicname) >15) ? substr($topicname,0,15)."...<br>" : $topicname."<BR>";