Executing PHP code in a database

Hi, I have a table that stores all the "boxes" that my website will display on the sides. So far the content is simply stored in a text field and then substituted for the box body. However this way I can't have any php code in the boxes... What I thought I could do is have another field that will contain any php code that I want for that box and then execute that after I read it from the database. So I have two questions basically. 1. How would I go about executing php code in a string? Say I have $code = "md5('blah');" how would I execute the code in the string? 2. If I instead include a file would it have access tio the local variables? Ie. In a class I have this: $strContent = "blah, this is the content I got from the database"; include("includefilefromdatabase.php"); Is the $strContent variable then available from the include file? Thanks, Leo