Part 1

Continuing from where we left off, we'll be inputting the data from the submitted form into the database now.
In Part 1, we cleansed the post that was submitted with the following:


$post=mysql_real_escape_string(htmlspecialchars(strip_tags(trim($_POST[postContents])))); // clean the data


Now, to input this into the database:


$time=time();
if(!@mysql_query("INSERT INTO feed(username,time_posted,post_text) VALUES('$user','$time','$post'"){
echo "There was an error in submitting your post. Contact an Administrator if this issue continues.";
}
else{
header("location:feed.php";
// to prevent refresh spam
}



Okay, so here we go. =3
We simply insert the data into the database by matching things up. If you look in the query, you'll notice that in the first set of parenthesis, username is the first field and in the second set of parenthesis, the variable $user is first. You match up the data with the field that data is supposed to go into.
<(^o^)>
I used the PHP time() function as the post's time, which will be relevant later on.
I put the mysql_query() function into the if() statement so that we could generate our own error message, rather than let users see the error message that the server would generate. You could also simply add the "@" sign in front of your query instead. Of course, the best thing to do is to set it up so that only Moderators and Admins can see the error messages, since those messages tell you when something had crapped up with your code. xD

Now, to output this data on the page, we again use the mysql_query() function, but instead we'll be SELECT-ing data from it instead of INSERT-ing:


$r=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM feed ORDER BY post_id DESC LIMIT 15";


The ORDER BY clause will sort the data by the id of the post, and DESC will make it so that the most recent posts appear on top. The LIMIT clause will only show the 15 most recent posts. Since I don't feel like getting into pagination, that's all you're getting from me. X3

To output the data in that query, we need to use a loop. I prefer to use the while() loop in cases like this:


<?php

while($arg=mysql_fetch_array($r)){
$user=$arg['username'];
$post=nl2br(stripslashes($arg['post_text']));
$time=ago($arg[time]);

echo "
<div class='post'>
$user | $time<br />
$post
</div>
";
}
?>


The while() loop will...loop through the query until its end (15 posts). If you noticed, I used a custom function called "time_ago()" on the time posted. It converts the seconds from the time() function into a readable time, such as what is done on the tWiiter site (ex: Posted 2 minutes ago).
Here's the function:


function ago($tm,$rcs = 0) {
$cur_tm = time(); $dif = $cur_tm-$tm;
$pds = array('second','minute','hour','day','week','month','year','decade';
$lngh = array(1,60,3600,86400,604800,2630880,31570560,315705600);
for($v = sizeof($lngh)-1; ($v >= 0)&&(($no = $dif/$lngh[$v])<=1); $v--); if($v < 0) $v = 0; $_tm = $cur_tm-($dif%$lngh[$v]);

$no = floor($no); if($no <> 1) $pds[$v] .='s'; $x=sprintf("%d %s ",$no,$pds[$v]);
if(($rcs == 1)&&($v >= 1)&&(($cur_tm-$_tm) > 0)) $x .= time_ago($_tm);
return $x." ago";
}



And that should output the proper time ago!

Well, that's it y'all. Tell me what you think. There are definite improvements, but this was more for those who don't know much in the way of PHP and MySQL.

Oh and you're welcome Channishy.

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Always remember that you are unique, just like everyone else...

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