Displaying dynamic content

6 posts by 2 authors in: Forums > CMS Builder
Last Post: March 21, 2013   (RSS)

By CommonSenseDesign - March 18, 2013 - edited: March 18, 2013

I've set up CMSB so that my client can add a series of promotional insets, such as the four seen near the bottom of this homepage: http://kathiejordandesign.com.previewdns.com/index.php (Window Treatments, etc). These are stored in a table in the database called "inset-panels", which has a field called "title".

Is there a way that I can set up other pages in CMSB so the client can choose one inset panel from a drop down menu, and have their selection appear on other live pages? Here's a hard coded example of how I'd like that to look: http://kathiejordandesign.com.previewdns.com/services.php.

I've set up the CMSB for the Services page so that the user can choose which record in "inset-tables" they want to use (see attached), but how do I get the corresponding panel to actually appear on the page? I.e. if they choose, say, "Antiques" from the drop down menu, the corresponding Antiques panel appears on the page.

Attachments:

cmsb_002.jpg 69K

By CommonSenseDesign - March 19, 2013 - edited: March 19, 2013

Thanks for your advice, Greg.

I've attached one of the sample pages where I would like the inset panel to appear, like a "dynamic" include, as it were. This is how it should look: http://kathiejordandesign.com.previewdns.com/services.php

In CMSB, I've changed the corresponding list field to num, as you suggested. The code I'm using to retrieve the relevant table is as follows:

  list($insets_panelsRecords, $insets_panelsMetaData) = getRecords(array(
    'tableName'   => 'insets-panels',
    'loadUploads' => true,
    'allowSearch' => false,
  ));

You advised changing this to:

  //Use getRecords to retrieve your pages data
  list($pages, $pagesMetaData) = getRecords(array(
    'tableName'   => 'pages',
    'where'       => whereRecordNumberInUrl(0),
    'loadUploads' => true,
    'allowSearch' => false,
    'limit'       => '1',
  ));
  $pages= @$pages[0]; // get first record
  if (!$pages) { dieWith404("Record not found!"); } // show error message if no record found


  $inset = mysql_get('inset-panels', $pages['name_of_list_field']);

Sorry, but I'm not sure which values I should be changing in your version, and what should remain untouched?

Also, should I be placing

<?php echo $inset['title']; ?>

where I want the panel to appear on the page?

Thanks again.

Attachments:

services_004.php 7K

Hi Nigel, 

Sorry, I didn't make that very clear. You don't need to add the $pages getRecords functions to your code, that was just an example of how the code could be implemented into a site. 

If your trying to implement this into the services.php page, then your the code that at the top of the page should probably look like this:

 <?php header('Content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8'); ?>
<?php
  /* STEP 1: LOAD RECORDS - Copy this PHP code block near the TOP of your page */
  
  // load viewer library
  $libraryPath = 'cmsAdmin/lib/viewer_functions.php';
  $dirsToCheck = array('/home/content/63/10722363/html/','','../','../../','../../../');
  foreach ($dirsToCheck as $dir) { if (@include_once("$dir$libraryPath")) { break; }}
  if (!function_exists('getRecords')) { die("Couldn't load viewer library, check filepath in sourcecode."); }

  // load record from 'homepage'
  list($homepageRecords, $homepageMetaData) = getRecords(array(
    'tableName'   => 'homepage',
    'where'       => '', // load first record
    'loadUploads' => true,
    'allowSearch' => false,
    'limit'       => '1',
  ));
  $homepageRecord = @$homepageRecords[0]; // get first record
  if (!$homepageRecord) { dieWith404("Record not found!"); } // show error message if no record found

  list($footer_contentRecords, $footer_contentMetaData) = getRecords(array(
    'tableName'   => 'footer-content',
    'where'       => '', // load first record
    'loadUploads' => true,
    'allowSearch' => false,
    'limit'       => '1',
  ));
  $footer_contentRecord = @$footer_contentRecords[0]; // get first record
  if (!$footer_contentRecord) { dieWith404("Record not found!"); } // show error message if no record found


  list($servicesRecords, $servicesMetaData) = getRecords(array(
    'tableName'   => 'services',
    'where'       => '', // load first record
    'loadUploads' => true,
    'allowSearch' => false,
    'limit'       => '1',
  ));
  $servicesRecord = @$servicesRecords[0]; // get first record
  if (!$servicesRecord) { dieWith404("Record not found!"); } // show error message if no record found


  // load record from 'insets-panels' uses the selected panel from the services section.
  list($insets_panelsRecords, $insets_panelsMetaData) = getRecords(array(
    'tableName'   => 'insets-panels',
    'where'       => 'num = '.$servicesRecord['name_of_list_field'],
    'loadUploads' => true,
    'allowSearch' => false,
    'limit'       => '1',
  ));
  $insets_panel = @$insets_panelsRecords[0]; // get first record
  if (!$insets_panel) { dieWith404("Record not found!"); } // show error message if no record found

?>

You will need to change the name_of_list_field variable to the name of the field that contains the list that stores the inset-panels section num variable.

I think the html to display the inset panel record should look like this:

<link href="styles.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
        <table width="100" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
          <tr>
          
  <?php foreach ($insets_panel['image'] as $index => $upload): ?>
<td width="<?php echo $upload['width'] ?>" height="<?php echo $upload['height'] ?>" valign="baseline" background="<?php echo $upload['urlPath'] ?>" id="tdHomeInset245">
<a href="<?php echo htmlencode($insets_panel['link']) ?>">
<img src="images/single-pixel.gif" width="245" height="198" border="0">
</a>
</td>
<?php endforeach ?> 
            </tr>
          <tr>
            <td><img src="images/single-pixel.gif" width="253" height="10" /></td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td><h2><a href="<?php echo htmlencode($insets_panel['link']) ?>"><?php echo htmlencode($insets_panel['title']) ?></a></h2>
<?php echo $insets_panelsRecord['content']; ?>
              <p> <strong><a href="<?php echo htmlencode($insets_panel['link']) ?>">More »</a></strong></p></td>
            </tr>
      </table>

I copied this from insetDetail.php page and changed the name of the variables to use the $insets_panel instead. You can use whatever html layout you want to use. So just copy these variables where you want the inset panel to appear.

Hopefully I'm a bit clearer this time, let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Greg

Greg Thomas







PHP Programmer - interactivetools.com

Perfect! The panel on the right of this page is selected from the panels that were input via the Insets section I set up in CSMB: http://kathiejordandesign.com.previewdns.com/services.php. Exactly how I needed this to work.

Thanks so much for your patience and advice.