A self-updating sidebar

General PHP Help
#1

I have created a sidebar on my website. I want it to be displaying the titles of 6 of the latest stories from members much like a news update. When the member clicks a title, it loads the story allowing him to comment. At the bottom of the sidebar should be an “older stories” link. The stories and title are stored in a mysql database. Anyone who knows how I can achieve that with php and mysql? Sample codes would help. Thanks in advance.

#2

well it is the same as any other mysql php updater

you have your database

which consist of usually an id,storyname,story,user,date right of your tablename called stories maybe ?
do you have your database

and you would want to connect to the database

here is a basic connection
[php]

<?php $db_host = "localhost"; $db_username = "dbuser"; $db_pass = "dbpass"; $db_name = "dbname"; // Run the connection here $con = mysql_connect("$db_host","$db_username","$db_pass")or die ("Couldn't connect to server."); if (!$con){ die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error()); } mysql_select_db($db_name, $con); ?>

[/php]

then you would want to all the function that you need to get the data from the tables

[php]

<? $sql = "select * from stories order by date ASC limit 0,3";//limit will give you the 3 latest stories $result = mysql_query($sql1); while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) { echo " {$row[storyname]}
" . " {$row[story]}
" . "User: {$row[user]}
" ; } ?>

[/php]

that will do it for a basic updater you will have to implement that into your sidebar

not tested so let me know

#3

Thanks Cabalsdemon for the help. Here are other problems I would like to solve.

HELP! HELP!

I have created a mysql database which contains the following tables: “stories” and “comments.” The “stories” table has 5 columns among them the “title” and “story” columns. There is a page on my website that has a form whose data is inserted into “stories” table.

I want to achieve the following tasks:

  1. I want the sidebar to show the titles of 5 latest stories in hyperlink form. When a member clicks the hyperlink on the sidebar, a page loads showing the story and the author and date it was posted plus all its associated comments. At the bottom is a form which allows another comment to be inserted.

The problems I am having are:

  1. Establishing a relationship between the “stories” and “comments” tables such that each story is linked to its comments.
  2. Creating a sidebar showing the titles of five latest stories in hyperlink form.
  3. Loading a story and its associated comments.
  4. Allowing a member to insert comment.

ANY HELP WILL BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED. THANKS IN ADVANCE.

#4

[php]

<? $sql = "select * from stories order by date ASC limit 0,5"; //limit will give you the 5 latest stories $result = mysql_query($sql1); while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) { echo " {$row[title]}
" ; } ?>

[/php]

try that for your sidebar

then make a file called stories.php

i have to get to work but i will help you with that page when i get home it is too much for this morning that i can get done

#5

Thanks Cabalsdemon. I look forward to your help. Again thanks.

#6

I did it. Thanks Cabalsdemon for your willingness to help.

#7

your welcome

#8

I know this is an older post, but I was hoping I could crash it because I am looking for something similar, except the side bar aspect doesn’t really matter, I am just trying to have the latest updated documents linked to on the search screen for quicker access. Thanks for the help in advance!

P.S. here is my code
[php]




table { border-collapse: collapse; border: solid 1px black; } td { padding: 2px 6px; border: solid 1px black; } ' method='post'>

Account Code or Company name:

Advanced Search

<?php if(isset($_POST['search'])) { $connx = mysql_connect('localhost', '*****', '*****') or die("connx"); $db = mysql_select_db('*****_*****') or die(mysql_error()); # convert to upper case, trim it, and replace spaces with "|": $search = (ini_get('magic_quotes_gpc')) ? stripslashes($_POST['search']) : $_POST['search']; $search = mysql_real_escape_string($search); $search = strtoupper(preg_replace('/[^a-zA-Z0-9-&\s]/', ' ', trim($_POST['search']))); # create a MySQL REGEXP for the search: $regexp = "REGEXP '[[:<:]]($search)[[:alpha:]]*[[:>:]]'"; $query = "SELECT document_name, description FROM `documents` WHERE UPPER(`document_name`) $regexp OR ". "`document_name` $regexp"; $result = mysql_query($query) or die($query . " - " . mysql_error()); echo "\n"; while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) { echo ""; echo ''; echo "\n"; } } ?> [/php]

the view-document.php is below:
[php]


table { border-collapse: collapse; border: solid 1px black; } td { padding: 2px 6px; border: solid 1px black; } ' method='post'>

Search for:

Back to Account Code Search

<?php if(isset($_POST['search'])) { $connx = mysql_connect('localhost', '*****', '*****') or die("connx"); $db = mysql_select_db('*****_*****') or die(mysql_error()); # convert to upper case, trim it, and replace spaces with "|": $search = (ini_get('magic_quotes_gpc')) ? stripslashes($_POST['search']) : $_POST['search']; $search = mysql_real_escape_string($search); $search = strtoupper(preg_replace('/[^a-zA-Z0-9-&\s]/', ' ', trim($_POST['search']))); # create a MySQL REGEXP for the search: $regexp = "REGEXP '[[:<:]]($search)[[:alpha:]]*[[:>:]]'"; $query = "SELECT document_name, description FROM `documents` WHERE UPPER(`description`) $regexp OR ". "`document_name` $regexp"; $result = mysql_query($query) or die($query . " - " . mysql_error()); 
 echo "<table>\n";

while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
echo “

”;
echo ‘’;
echo “\n”;
}
}
?> <? $hostname = "localhost"; // $username = "*****"; // $password = "*****"; // $usertable = "*****"; // $dbName = "*****_*****"; // MYSQL_CONNECT($hostname, $username, $password) OR DIE("DB connection unavailable"); @mysql_select_db( "$dbName") or die( "Unable to select database"); ?> <?php if(isset($_GET['docname'])) { // Connect to MySQL // Check docname $docname = mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['docname']); $query = mysql_query("SELECT document_name, description FROM `documents` WHERE `document_name`='" . $docname . "'"); if(mysql_num_rows($query) == 1) { $doc = mysql_fetch_array($query); echo nl2br ($doc['description']); } else { echo 'Document not found!'; } } ?>[/php]
', $row['document_name'], '
’, $row[‘document_name’], ‘
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