Re: Storing (html and php) Content in MySQL - help

Allen McCabe wrote:

I have been trying to wrap my mind around how to accomplish this for a few days, and done estensive searching on Google. I know there are free CMS systems available for download, but I want to write my own code so I can maintain it and extend it, I need it to be customizable. So far what I have worked up is this: The mysql row contains a page_id field, title field, content field, and sidebar content field. in index.php: include("module.php") $username = findLoggedinUsername() eval ($content) in module.php: $result = mysqlquery("select * from content where page_id = get['id']") $row = fetcharray9$result) $content = $row['content'] $title = $row['title'] etc. The content mysql field contains: $ct = <<<END <p>Welcome $username, to the interweb</p> END; echo $ct In the heredoc, I can use variables like $username, but not like $row['username']. So far this method works just fine, however I want to be able to edit the content through the website itself. Am I on the right track or is this awkward? I am implementing a new, login system (mine isn't secure enough) and I want to implement it correctly. How should I go about storing content (which may or may not include php) into a page content field?

You are definitely trying to reinvent the wheel. But, having done that myself, I can tell you very generally how I did it. My content table allowed for multiple rows for each page. Each row had a label and value (e.g. body:Hello World, sidebar:Goodbye World). To allow for php code, I added a "type" to each row. (e.g. body:text:Hello World, sidebar:eval:echo 'Goodbye World';). A template then would have a function call at the appropriate places to parse the expected content elements. As things go, it got a little more complex than that, and then a little more complex than that, etc. It's been working fine for me for five or six years and is still reasonably elegant. I've thought of open sourcing it, but I have a hunch there are several hundred systems like that already. Good luck and have fun. John