PHP for Table Layout (was: PHP ahhhhhhhhhhh)

I don't know the answer I'm afraid as I have been putting off learning php! I just wanted to say well done. I have to start in the next month or so. I'll be coming to you for tips on where to start

What are you trying to do? PHP can only write what you tell it to write, so like Perl or JavaScript, or ASP, or or or, you would have to tell it to write out things.

But yes, it will create a table for you if you tell it to.

Ideally, I find writing the table FIRST, then using that code and wrapping PHP instructions around various pieces, works best.

As for tutorials, I don't know of any, hopefully someone else does.

For the ones I use, I set a column and/or row variable, a way to display empty cells, and then have a data file or database that gets the information. The script then builds the table based on the information in the data file or database.

I use a perl version here --> zerocattle.com/examples/gallery.html . The cells for the images is written in Perl. In this case, there is no limit on the number of columns because I wanted it to scroll horizontally. I have another script kicking around somewhere that does rows and columns.

Anyway, my point is that this is a good project for learning PHP. Reason it out and try to do it yourself and you'll learn a lot. That's how I started learning Perl.

Suzanne

Hey Webmistress! This is where I started, once I figured this out, I had it! PHP Tut Thanks for the compliment...I just had to sit down and take the time to learn it. I don't think I am well versed enough to help you, but I will tell you what doesn't work! HAHA!

Suzanne, remember the page that I was asking y'all to look at a few days ago? The pages loaded up fine for you in Opera, but I had a cache retaining problem on 2 links?

Well, in PHP~It's a table page with "menu.html" on the left and "main.html" on the right. I cannot get it to call up the pages correctly. I can have the "menu.html" page and pull in another page, but the main page is a picture of Greg and I and it will not center, it goes way down below the menu links. I don't know how to make the tables do what I want them to! None of the pages look correct.

I have a top menu java script I'm totally thinking about using for right now as I slowly learn all about PHP and SSI.

Any tuts on SSI? I finally have the brain power to tackle these things. HA! Took forever!

Thanks,

Sara

http://www.phpwizard.net/resources/tutorials
and
http://www.worldzone.net/computers/kjkoruth/contents.php3

are a couple I've used, heaps of PHP tuts out there, just do a search for PHP on your favorite search engine, then once you feel confortable with the language start looking through the manual, if you go straight to the manuel you'll get lost for sure.

I hunted around for a while trying to find intermediate tuts for PHP but seems most are for beginners: print "hello world". Tech books here are $200+ so isnt an option, so if you or anyone else knows of or finds any other PHP tuts I'd be interested too.

**best way to learn is from your mistakes**

Busy, I have heaps of wisdom then! *LOL*
Thanks for the links.

Sara

Trial & Error..
Head under the Hood...

Become very acquanted with http://php.net. Tuts only go so far, then the rest of your learning comes from hands on, and the manual. ...and of course, TWF!

Good Luck,

Quote: Suzanne, remember the page that I was asking y'all to look at a few days ago? The pages loaded up fine for you in Opera, but I had a cache retaining problem on 2 links?

Well, in PHP~It's a table page with "menu.html" on the left and "main.html" on the right. I cannot get it to call up the pages correctly. I can have the "menu.html" page and pull in another page, but the main page is a picture of Greg and I and it will not center, it goes way down below the menu links. I don't know how to make the tables do what I want them to! None of the pages look correct.

Okay, here's what you do. Open a new thread for this, of course. Save your files that are .php files as .phps files ( same file, new extension). Upload the .phps files so we can see both what it looks like through the browser and what the coding looks like that gets parsed.

That will help people find where things are going wrong.

Suzanne

P.S. php.net is very helpful, but having someone show you where you're going wrong can leap frog you along.

If it is a design problem, then it is HTML not PHP. Now the PHP is being parsed into the HTML incorrectly causing the layout problems. I usually write the site in HTML and test it, then go ahead and cut it into pieces with includes and database inserts. If you are still having problems, view the problem page in your browser and then view the source, copy the source into your HTML editor and try to see what is going wrong.

As far as learning PHP, I would have to agree with Mark on this one. Getting your hands down into the code is the only way to learn. The tutorial sites along with PHPBuilder.com, Zend, Devshed and WeberDev are great but have you noticed how many different ways people write code. Some are quite sloppy and inconcise. Here is an example. Say I want to test a variable called X and if that variable is true I want to print out a table containing an error message. Well here is how most would do so:

Now when you use all those echos, it is kind of hard to write and you get parsing errors if you forget to escape a " or close the line with a ;.

So the easier way to do it is:

The key is using the { . The first one makes all of the HTML after it still conditional but without the echos. The second one } closes the conditional til the another conditional picks it up. Cleans up the code a bit.