Ok, as I've been trying to rewrite my entire system using OOP. I need a more complex layout and template system because at the moment I've just put html within my php code.

If I were to have templates, would I use preg and str replace or just build up variables (eg. $output .= 'Hello')? This is difficult...

Come on Brandon, you work for IPS, you give me some ideas

It needs to be a bit more complex than normal, and I want a challenge . I know IPB has a very complex sort of thing, and something like that, but maybe a little easier

Just give me ideas and I'll try my best.

Thanks all

-Mackins

you could try using SDK MOD over at invisionize to possibly make something

The way IPB does it, is all skin bits are stored in the skin files as functions. When I need to display something, I call that function (passing it variables if I need to, and the function returns the html I need).

This is all passed to a function in the output/display class which just appends the html to it's existing html.

Finally the html is output.

So, do you think I should have a go with making that or will I get screwed over with copyright?

Anyway, I've started it but I'm not too sure on how to actually output it as I've put it all into variables. How about this:
But then, when shall I output the output variable? at the end of the index page?
And another thing is that I'm not too sure on how to get the page title to change, but I figure the only way to do it is to load up the page into a variable before you ouput anything, which means the pages that have been loaded have the opportunity to change the title if they want.
A little help would be fine, cheers
-Mackins

This post has been edited by Mackins: Dec 31 2005, 09:13 PM

I've finished the system and things are really beginning to take shape (well, a better one than before). Now all I need to do is find out how that I can let the admin edit them. Any ideas?

The structure of each template is basically just like IPBs.Is there a way to select the function and rewrite over it? Or will I have to save the old version to a variable and then str_replace it?

I need to know how to stop sessions being created by web bots such as google. Or just add them as a session like in ipb.

One more thing. What does the @ do when put before a function eg. @mysql_db_select(db);

-Mackins

This post has been edited by Mackins: Jan 6 2006, 05:25 PM

Sorry it took so long to reply, but here are the answers to your questions.

You should output everything after all script execution is done. Not during shutdown (if you are using register_shutdown_func for anything) of course, but after everything else in your script is done.

Best bet I've found is to do this at the end of each of your source files like IPB. This allows you to process anything you need to process in your source files and then output it, or not output anything in the case of a redirection. You could put the output call in your index file if you wanted though, as it would essentially work the same.

Great thing is, it doesn't matter. As long as the name you set with
<<<NAME

is the same one you use with the

NAME;

call, it's fine. You can put anything you want, those two lines just have to match. The traditional usage though, is the letter o (stands for End of Function).



I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but if you mean pull content from one function, then overwrite that content rather than append it, what you should do is when this *could* happen, save the content of your output to a different variable temporarily, and then when you have decided you don't need to overwrite it, THEN assign it to your main output variable. Like this

$temp_output = $skin->templates['global']->whatever_func();

//you've decided to overwrite it here

$temp_output = $skin->templates['global']->diff_func();

// No more need to overwrite it

$func->output .= $temp_output;

You need to sniff for them to do this (for either solution). You have to match the user-agent against the ones bots use, and there are litterally like millions. Of course you could just limit this to the commone ones (like google, msn, slurp, yahoo, etc.).



All the @ symbol does is repress warnings. It doesn't repress fatal errors or anything like that, but it will stop a warning from displaying on the screen.

You're right, I didn't word it too well.

Say the admin wanted to change the layout of a certain skin, which means the template file would have to be edited. The editing of it would be pretty easy as you would just use a textarea but then how would you rewrite the template file with the data of the edited function (plus everything else in the file)?

After that, I'm not too sure what to do. I know how to write to files and everything, but how would I replace that data? str_replace(), should work with the $data_to_replace, but there must be a more advanced way of doing it.

And as an initial installation of the system I'm thinking about using xml to hold data so I can parse it and insert it into the database so I can have master skin sets, like ipb does. So I'll be researching on xml for the next year

One more thing. The same question about the @ (thanks by the way) but this time with an & after = and before variables. Thanks big B. lol

-Mackins

This post has been edited by Mackins: Jan 8 2006, 02:51 PM

Writing the template files you wouldn't want to do str_replace. What you'd do is store the new data in the db (since it sounds like you are using that method) and then pull all the functions for one skin file and write them to the flat file at once.

You wouldn't really be replacing a function in the skin file, but rather just generating a new file with the most up to date content.

XML with PHP is trickier than I thought originally, but once you get the hang of it it's not too bad.

The & symbol forces a reference of a variable, array, or object rather than copying it.

If you do

$test = $somevar;

then $somevar is copied over to test. This means changes to either one do not affect the other. If you do this instead

$test =& $somevar;
(or $test = &$somevar; - the & can be against the = sign or the variable or have a space between either)

then you are making $test a reference of $somevar. This uses less memory, however if you edit $test, it edits $somevar as well. This can be desirable at times. You want to use references when possible because it uses a LOT less memory to make a reference to something than to actually copy it over to a new variable. This is especially true for objects.

Haha, I just had an idea Now that I've merged my $func $skin and $info objects into one, and have converted everything using OOP, i can use this:Would that work for the class? As there is a variable inside the class being loaded into $run:

Will it be loaded into it and everything work OK?

Good idea about pulling stuff from the database. Appreciate it .
But its the tricky bit of getting xml to work first.
Any tips on writing my XML class will be greatly appreciated. I know the basics now and stuff about character data, I just need to know what kind of array my xml class should create.

Oooooooooooh, I hate difficult stuff

-Mackins

This post has been edited by Mackins: Jan 10 2006, 03:01 PM