[SOLVED] Having strlen problems, any thoughts???

[nathanhornby]

Ok here's my code:

 

<?

mysql_connect(localhost,$username,$password);

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

$query="SELECT * FROM links ORDER BY linkid DESC";

$result=mysql_query($query);

 

$num=mysql_numrows($result);

 

$i=0;

while ($i < $num)

{

 

$linkurl=mysql_result($result,$i,"linkurl");

$linkurl='<a href="'.$linkurl.'">'.$linkurl.'</a>';

 

if (strlen($linkurl) >= 70)

{

$linkurl = substr($linkurl, 0, 70).'...';

}

echo '

<span class="maintext">

<br>- '.$linkurl.'<br>

</span>

';

$i++;

}

?>

 

The data is being called fine, and the link is displaying (as a link) and contains the full string so it can be selected, however when it comes to actuall shotening the length of the displayed link (with strlen) it seems to be doing some odd things; the read out looks a little like this:

 

-

 

- http://youtube.com/wa...

 

- http://ww...

 

- http://www.consolisearch.com

 

As you can see it's definately not shortening by the 70 character limit I set, it's not even affecting the correct data (as the 2nd and 3rd url are both less than 70 characters they shouldnt even be shortened) and the first link doesn't display at all.

 

Am I missing something really obvious, or could it be something in the database itself, perhaps I need to set the field up specificly for dealing with the characters you see in urls (/?:. etc) ?

 

Any help appreciated,

 

Thanks.

[themistral]

Hi nathanhornby!

 

It may not be anything to do with your problem but you have

$linkurl='<a href="'.$linkurl.'">'.$linkurl.'[/url]';

and the closing tag should be </a>

$linkurl='<a href="'.$linkurl.'">'.$linkurl.'</a>';

 

[nathanhornby]

Hi,

 

That's actually this forum that's changing that end tag, my end tag is < / a > (it really doesn't want me to write that)

 

Stupid forum

[themistral]

Well you shouldn't need to do anything else to the database.

 

It seems there might be 2 problems and the first one is the problem with the if statement.

Try echoing the strlen of the urls to see if the logic is working correctly.

[nathanhornby]

<span class="maintext">

'.$linkurl.'<br>
'.strlen($linkurl).'<br>

</span>

 

Ok the read out looks like this:

 

http://youtube.com/wa...

73

http://ww...

73

http://www.consolisearch.com

73

 

 

It's missing off the first URL completely, this is the only one that is actually longer than 70 characters.  None of those urls are 73 characters either :\.

 

 

[themistral]

Just seen the error (I hope!)

 

Change

$num=mysql_numrows($result);

to

$num=mysql_num_rows($result);

[nathanhornby]

Nicely spotted; I changed it but it hasn't made any difference, so i'm guessing that syntax was still valid.

 

btw the links in the post are cut off where the text is cut off, but in reality those links are actually intact, it's only the text itself that's cut off as required. i.e. it actually reads:

 

<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=vAkOti7pJJg">http://youtube.com/wa...<br>
73<br>

</span>

<span class="maintext">

<a href="http://www.fallingpixel.com/news/article.php?id=62">http://ww...<br>
73<br>

</span>

<span class="maintext">

<a href="http://www.consolisearch.com">http://www.consolisearch.com</a...<br>
73<br>

 

 

[themistral]

Ok, the other thing is that the variable $i is not being incremented so instead of

 

$i=0;
while ($i < $num) {

try

for ($i=0;$i<$num;$i++) {

[nathanhornby]

Ok changed that, but unfortunately it hasn't changed anything

[themistral]

Hiya!

 

It's because you set everything to $linkurl - when you test the if statement you a testing a long line of code beginning <a href.....

 

Set

$linkurl=mysql_result($result,$i,"linkurl");

to use a different variable name and call that in the logic.

[nathanhornby]

Ok I've changed it to the following (let me know if I misunderstood):

 

<?

mysql_connect(localhost,$username,$password);
@mysql_select_db($database) or die("Unable to select database");
$query="SELECT * FROM links ORDER BY linkid DESC";
$result=mysql_query($query);

$num=mysql_num_rows($result);

for ($i=0;$i<$num;$i++) {


$linkurl=mysql_result($result,$i,"linkurl");
$url='<a href="'.$linkurl.'">'.$linkurl.'</a>';

if (strlen($url) >= 70)
{
   $url = substr($url, 0, 70).'...';
}
echo '
<span class="maintext">

'.$url.'<br>
'.strlen($linkurl).'<br>

</span>
';

}
?>

 

The read out now looks like this:

 

http://youtube.com/wa...

38

http://ww...

50

http://www.consolisearch.com

28

 

So at least now it knows how many characters are there ... but it doesnt seem to be shortening correctly; and the first link still isn't displaying.

[nathanhornby]

Ah I think I might have it,

 

Changed

 

$linkurl=mysql_result($result,$i,"linkurl");
$url='<a href="'.$linkurl.'">'.$linkurl.'</a>';

if (strlen($url) >= 70)
{
   $linkurl = substr($linkurl, 0, 70).'...';
}echo '
<span class="maintext">

'.$url.'<br>
'.strlen($linkurl).'<br>

</span>

 

to

 

$linkurl=mysql_result($result,$i,"linkurl");
$url='<a href="'.$linkurl.'">'.$linkurl.'</a>';

if (strlen($url) >= 70)
{
   $url = substr($linkurl, 0, 70).'...';
}echo '
<span class="maintext">

'.$url.'<br>
'.strlen($linkurl).'<br>

</span>

 

Im guessing that was what you meant ... although now the '...' is coming up unconditionally, whether it has 70+ characters or not :\ but it is shortening effectively:

 

http://bp2.blogger.com/_ez9UzAGPSPU/Rhv0hLgdEXI/AAAAAAAAACo/IJrba0dnpr...

90

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vAkOti7pJJg...

38

http://www.fallingpixel.com/news/article.php?id=62...

50

http://www.consolisearch.com...

28

[kenrbnsn]

You really should change your style and use the mysql_fetch_assoc() function to retrieve your rows. It will make your code cleaner (IMHO). Here is my take on your code (I also fixed your problem)

<?php
mysql_connect(localhost,$username,$password);
@mysql_select_db($database) or die( "Unable to select database");
$query="SELECT * FROM links ORDER BY linkid DESC";
$result=mysql_query($query);

while ($rw = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
       $disp_url = (strlen($rw['linkurl']) > 70)?substr($rw['linkurl'],0,70) . '...':$rw['linkurl'];
       echo '
<span class="maintext">
<br>- <a href="'. $rw['linkurl'] . '">' . $disp_url . '</a><br>
</span>
';
       }
?>

 

Ken

[nathanhornby]

Ok The working code is:

 

<?

mysql_connect(localhost,$username,$password);
@mysql_select_db($database) or die("Unable to select database");
$query="SELECT * FROM links ORDER BY linkid DESC";
$result=mysql_query($query);

$num=mysql_num_rows($result);

for ($i=0;$i<$num;$i++) {


$linkurl=mysql_result($result,$i,"linkurl");
$url='<a href="'.$linkurl.'">'.$linkurl.'</a>';

if (strlen($linkurl) >= 70)
{
   $url = '<a href="'.$linkurl.'">'.substr($linkurl, 0, 70).'...'.'</a>';
}
echo '
<span class="maintext">

'.$url.'<br>
'.strlen($linkurl).'<br>

</span>
';

}
?>

 

That produces exactly what I was after, thanks themistral and thanks for the tip kenrbnsn, ill take a look at that now.

 

Nathan