**** Converting dynamic webpages into static HTML pages

From: Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 19:18:50 +0000
Subject: **** Converting dynamic webpages into static HTML pages
Groups: php.general 
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I have an interesting challenge. I have built an online product catalog that is driven entirely by the contents of the product database (MySQL). The entire catalog is implemented in a single PHP script (catalog.php). The dynamic nature of this implementation allows the catalog script to generate hundreds of product description pages. Now, my client has requested that I give him the ability to generate a static version of the catalog so that he can burn it onto a CD for distribution at trade shows. He wants the CD to be a snapshot of the catalog. Furthermore, he wants to be able to generate this "snapshot" frequently so that pricing info on the CD will be current. To accommodate this, the process for generating the snapshot must be easy and intuitive. My plan of attack is to generate static HTML files by running the catalog script once for each product in the database. Here is my quandary; instead of echoing the output to a buffer for Apache to send off to the client, I need the script to output to a file. I do not want to write a second version of catalog.php that writes everything to file. There must be an easier way to do this. Is there a way I can access the output buffer that Apache sends to the client? Any other ideas? Thanks, Ron

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