Links with mySQL?

[Mark Hewitt]

Inspired by vBulletin and seeing what you can do with PHP and mySQL combined I'm thinking of writing my own system to run a links directory for my site
(see http://www.worldmotorsport.com/)

Bascially what I am thinking a want it to do is for each particular category page have it go to the database and say get me all the links for this particular category and then display them on the screen.

Currenly its all done in plain HTML files but you can't do searches on these, and you can't make it give the number of links in each category etc.

What I need to know first is how should I organise the tables for it, would it be okay just to put all the links for the entire site into one big table?, would it slow down too much if I ask for all the links in a particular category, what about calculating how many links are present in every sub cateogory?. As you see its mainly performance issues I'm concerned about.

(PS This would be for my own personal use, writing it so other people could use it too would take far too much time)

[stv]

heeh..

Just a thought.... gossamer threads makes a wonderful program called links SQL that basically creates a mini search engine with a MySQL back end..

http://gossamer-threads.com/scripts/links-sql/index.htm

[Edited by stv on 05-28-2000 at 12:02 PM]

[Mark Hewitt]

Yep I know all about LinksSQL but it isn't suitable for me.

I want something in PHP not Perl. I want something that is very simple and will not take over control of my entire site. I want something which is specifically written for my site. I don't want to spend £280 on something I don't really need when I can do it myself and have it for free.

[RobRJ]

Can't you store a URL (link) in a MySQL database field and then when it is echo'd or printed through a PHP script have it place the URL field within the A HREF or IMG SRC tags???

I am working on a separate database that I want to include images in (URL's of) the output where it would give the info about each person, then display the image as specified in the database.

If someone has an easy answer, I'm willing to listen. Otherwise, I think I'll be able to post the PHP code to output the image/link URL from a MySQL database soon (after partaking in some mandatory family-related Memorial Day activities).

Still haven't bought a PHP book, but was thinking about Core PHP Programming. Anyone have it or recommend it?

[Moonwolf]

Core PHP Programming isn't bad, but it's more of a Command Reference than a "How To" book. If you're looking for the latter, I'd recommend:

• Professional PHP Programming
  A good introduction to PHP programming. It touches briefly on database functions, and is orientated towards a more "real world" approach, with the code and techniques it describes.
  
• PHP3 - Programming Browser Based Applications
  A good supplement to the P.PHP.P. book above, with tricks and hints on getting the front end just right.

You should be able to store a URL inside a database field without too much trouble, just make sure to addslashes() before entering it and stripslashes() when retrieving it to avoid it making things go wierd

Katherine

Originally posted by RobRJ
Can't you store a URL (link) in a MySQL database field and then when it is echo'd or printed through a PHP script have it place the URL field within the A HREF or IMG SRC tags???

I am working on a separate database that I want to include images in (URL's of) the output where it would give the info about each person, then display the image as specified in the database.

If someone has an easy answer, I'm willing to listen. Otherwise, I think I'll be able to post the PHP code to output the image/link URL from a MySQL database soon (after partaking in some mandatory family-related Memorial Day activities).

Still haven't bought a PHP book, but was thinking about Core PHP Programming. Anyone have it or recommend it?

[Brian]

http://www.dirtdobber.net try their Dirt Search!

[emke]

There is already a PHP script that does the same thing as Gossamer Threads perl Links. It uses MySQL. I've used it for a couple of days now and found it very interesting. It's open source but because it was released recently it still got a long way to go. But already now it's a great script.
It's open source so everybody are encouraged to help. I don't really know who developed the script but here is the URL: http://phplinks.destiney.com/.

I hope this helped you and good luck.
emke

[Mark Hewitt]

Thanks I'll take a look at that. But at this stage I have so many ideas of what I can do with PHP and mySQL databases that are very specific to my site, I think only a personally written system is going to do this job.

Can't hurt to look at some of the other stuff though - see how it's done

[Mark Hewitt]

Actually its suprisingly easy to do, 10 minutes and I've already got a working test version

[emke]

I told you it was good.
What I like with PHP is that it's so easy, I'm now programming some additional features like visitor ratings, possibility to mail all listed in the directory. I think that it could easily be better than even Gossamer Threads Perl Links, becuse PHP is so much faster and doesn't take up as much bandwith as Perl scripts do.
Well the best thing to do is to spread the word about this script becuase the more people using it the better it will get.
Emir.

[Mark Hewitt]

to emke

Well I was actually talking about a version which I've implemented myself.

I'm sure that script is good too though.

[emke]

Sorry, my mistake