PHP Nub

[duc]

Yes, im a newb to php. What I need is pretty simple...i think.

i have this page here

It doesn't really do anything right now. What I was wondering is how can I have whatever they type in the box, be sent to a text file on my server when they click send.

[kows]

you can do something like:

<?
  //check if the form has been submitted
  if(!empty($_POST['textfield'])){
    /************************
     * this WILL replace anything in the file "file.txt", if you want
     * it to just add on to the file, replace "w+" with just "w"
     ************************/
    //open the file for writing purposes
    $open = fopen("file.txt", "w+");
    //write to the file
    fwrite($open, $_POST['textfield']);
    fclose($open);
    echo "successfully written to!\n";
    echo "<br><br>\n";
    echo "<pre>\n$_POST[textfield]\n</pre>\n";
  }else{
?>
<form method="post" action="fwrite.php">
  <textarea name="textfield" cols="77" rows="16">insert duelie script here</textarea><br><br>
  <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="send to muffinator">
</form>
<?
  }
?>

I changed your form because it wouldn't work how you originally set it up.. your <textarea> wasn't in a form, and so it wasn't being properly submitted.

[duc]

Hey that worked great thanks alot man. Is there a way I could have it sent to me in an email? Oh and one other thing. I tried changing the w+ to just w but it still erases the previous contents of the txt file instead of adding on to it.

-duc

[kows]

ooh, I mixed some of it up.. "w" is for writing only; "w+" is for reading and writing, so use "a" instead, which will append to the current file, and "a+" if you also want to read it. The script I gave you doesn't read anything, so you just need to use "a".

I'm not used to using fopen() anymore..

Also, for sending yourself an email, check out PHP's built-in mail() function.. I don't have any experience with it, so I can't really help you out there.. Link's here: http://ca2.php.net/manual/en/ref.mail.php

[duc]

Thanks that worked great. If I wanted to make a simple little news system on my website, would it be safe to use the PHP writing to a text file like I just did? I would just post what I want in the text file, and have the textfile displayed in the news section. I know its not top notch secure but do you think its safe enough as long as know one knows the link to the actual fwrite.php [which i will change]

-duc

[mendhak]

It'd be better to work with a database for the news system, but yeah, you could work with text files.

[kows]

Like mendhak said, yes you can. Even though databases are more efficient, text files work, and they are a simple way of working with news.

You can use the exact script you are using right now for it, or you can slightly modify it so that you are required to enter in a password, and even a username, if you want.

I took my original script and tweaked it a bit to get this effect for you..

<? 
  $password = "password";
  //check if the form has been submitted
  if(!empty($_POST['textfield'], $_POST['pass']) && $_POST['pass'] == $password){ 
    /************************ 
     * this WILL replace anything in the file "file.txt", if you want 
     * it to just add on to the file, replace "w+" with just "w" 
     ************************/ 
    //open the file for writing purposes 
    $open = fopen("file.txt", "w+"); 
    //write to the file 
    fwrite($open, $_POST['textfield']); 
    fclose($open); 
    echo "successfully written to!\n"; 
    echo "<br><br>\n"; 
    echo "<pre>\n$_POST[textfield]\n</pre>\n"; 
  }else{ 
?> 
<form method="post" action="fwrite.php"> 
  password: <input type="text" name="pass" maxlength="15"><br><br>
  <textarea name="textfield" cols="77" rows="16">insert duelie script here</textarea><br><br> 
  <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="send to muffinator"> 
</form> 
<? 
  } 
?>

That should work.. you just have to change the value of $password.

[duc]

thanks alot man. just what i wanted.