Trying to add PHP to my forums

[visitangeles]

I am trying to add this simple PHP code to scrape the latest currency to my forums. What is the best and easiest way? thanks,

<?php
$today = date('Y-m-d');
$con = mysql_connect('localhost', 'user', 'passwd'); # please put appropriate values here
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("currency", $con); # please replace 'mydb' with your database name.
$query = "SELECT cur_rate FROM currency WHERE cur_date = '$today' AND cur_code = 'PHP'";
$result = mysql_query($query)
or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_array( $result );
$php = $row['cur_rate'];

echo $php;

?>

i tried to write a plugin and used global_start as the hook and it worked one time and then went away and never came back. PLEASE HELP!

also, while i am at it, how would one format the number that it outputs so it is only 2 decimal places?

thanks in advance

[Dismounted]

Method 1 Including External Files (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/templates_externalfiles)

Method 2 Place the code inside a plugin (no PHP start/end tags), and grab the information into a variable. Do not echo it, just use that variable in a template.

[visitangeles]

Method 1 Including External Files (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/templates_externalfiles)

Method 2 Place the code inside a plugin (no PHP start/end tags), and grab the information into a variable. Do not echo it, just use that variable in a template.

i did that in method B. it worked just the one time. i used global_start as the hook.

is there a better hook or how would you create a better hook?

i would imagine that if i used global start, it just does it the one time - showing the currency.

any ideas?

thanks.

[Cip]

Plugins don't just disappear. Make sure that you didn't add the plugin in a product that you later uninstalled. Other than that I would recommend Method B, echoing has a tendency not to show up because the template system overwrites all your previous output.

For bugtesting I would make a plugin in global_start (in product vBulletin) that looked something like this:
if (isset($_REQUEST['testing'])){
//Fetch latest Coke prices from coke.com
getLatestCurrencyCode();

//350 litres gives you 2 gold coins.
echo $CokeToGoldRatio;

//Make sure that we don't let vBulletin continue
//(to prevent the template from writing over your echo)
exit;
}

[Lynne]

What do you mean that it worked just one time? You mean only the first time you hit the site? First time you hit that page? I don't understand what you mean.

[visitangeles]

What do you mean that it worked just one time? You mean only the first time you hit the site? First time you hit that page? I don't understand what you mean.

yes. i finally got it to work. it showed the currency. i refreshed and it was gone! :(

so i thought it was the hook - global_start - like it will deal with global commands but just on the start or one time. it is my first plugin attempt.

not sure what i am doing.

could someone walk me through the whole thing? that wud be even better. maybe there is a better vbulletin hook to use than global_start? not sure.

thanks.

[Lynne]

Post your exact plugin code, please, and your template edit (a few lines above and below and tell us what template it is).

[visitangeles]

Post your exact plugin code, please, and your template edit (a few lines above and below and tell us what template it is).

original code is this:

<?php
$today = date('Y-m-d');
$con = mysql_connect('localhost', 'username', 'passwd1'); # please put appropriate values here
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("dbname_currency", $con); # please replace 'mydb' with your database name.
$query = "SELECT cur_rate FROM currency WHERE cur_date = '$today' AND cur_code = 'PHP'";
$result = mysql_query($query)
or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_array( $result );
$php = $row['cur_rate'];

echo "<p style=\"font-size:70%;\"><b>1 USD = PHP $php</b></p>";?>

//end orignal code

i set up a plugin called currency using vbulletin and global_start and did this:

$today = date('Y-m-d');
$con = mysql_connect('localhost', 'username', 'passwd1');
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("dbname_currency", $con);
$query = "SELECT cur_rate FROM currency WHERE cur_date = '$today' AND cur_code = 'PHP'";
$result = mysql_query($query)
or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
$php = $row['cur_rate'];

then i save this as currency (plugin)

and then go to the header to insert the information i wanted:

echo "<p style=\"font-size:70%;\"><b>1 USD = PHP $php</b></p>";

what am i doing wrong?

thanks.

[Lynne]

Please use the html/php tags. It is very difficult to read code when you don't use those.

Don't use echo. Put the variable into the template or use a template_hook. Also, it is probably not a good idea to use a variable named $php.

[visitangeles]

Please use the html/php tags. It is very difficult to read code when you don't use those.

Don't use echo. Put the variable into the template or use a template_hook. Also, it is probably not a good idea to use a variable named $php.


ok.

original code:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>

<body>
<?php
$today = date('Y-m-d');
$con = mysql_connect('localhost', 'username', 'passwd1'); # please put appropriate values here
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("dbname_currency", $con); # please replace 'mydb' with your database name.
$query = "SELECT cur_rate FROM currency WHERE cur_date = '$today' AND cur_code = 'PHP'";
$result = mysql_query($query)
or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_array( $result );
$php = $row['cur_rate'];

echo "<p style=\"font-size:70%;\"><b>1 USD = PHP $php</b></p>";?>
</body>
</html>

and then the plugin using vbulletin and global_start


$today = date('Y-m-d');
$con = mysql_connect('localhost', 'username', 'passwd1'); # please put appropriate values here
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("dbname_currency", $con); # please replace 'mydb' with your database name.
$query = "SELECT cur_rate FROM currency WHERE cur_date = '$today' AND cur_code = 'PHP'";
$result = mysql_query($query)
or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_array( $result );
$php = $row['cur_rate'];


then in the header:
echo "<p style=\"font-size:70%;\"><b>1 USD = PHP $php</b></p>

$php is scraping philippine peso and is standard at yahoo for that currency so i cannot change it unfortunately.

is this what you wanted?

can you help me now?

[Lynne]

I'll repeat... Please use the html/php tags. It is very difficult to read code when you don't use those. They are right here in the Quick Reply box - very easy to use. I don't care about your original code, I just want to see the code in your plugin. And, again, I'll repeat that you should be putting the *variable* name into a template. You CANNOT use php in a template, which means you CANNOT do an echo statement. You need to simply put the variable in there - and I would NOT name it php (I don't know that that variable named is reserved, but it sounds like it should be).

[visitangeles]

I'll repeat... Please use the html/php tags. It is very difficult to read code when you don't use those. They are right here in the Quick Reply box - very easy to use. I don't care about your original code, I just want to see the code in your plugin. And, again, I'll repeat that you should be putting the *variable* name into a template. You CANNOT use php in a template, which means you CANNOT do an echo statement. You need to simply put the variable in there - and I would NOT name it php (I don't know that that variable named is reserved, but it sounds like it should be).

i dont understand. i dont use any html or php tags in the plugin. $php is taken from the yahoo site that i scrape the financial data.

i thought you were not suppose to use php or html in the plugins?. again, i simply use vb 3.8.1 and set up a plugin called currency using vbulletin and global_start as the hook i guess and inserted this code below only:

$today = date('Y-m-d');
$con = mysql_connect('localhost', 'username', 'passwd1');
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("dbname_currency", $con);
$query = "SELECT cur_rate FROM currency WHERE cur_date = '$today' AND cur_code = 'PHP'";
$result = mysql_query($query)
or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
$php = $row['cur_rate'];

then in the header template, i used the variable


<td align="$stylevar[right]" id="header_right_cell">
<if condition="$ad_location['ad_header_logo']">$ad_location[ad_header_logo]<else />&nbsp;</if>
</td>
<td>

<center>

1 USD = PHP $php

</center>

</tr>
</table>
</fieldset>



to produce the philippine peso rate to show on the page. it worked, but then after you refresh the page, it goes away. i just thought it was because of using global_start as the hook and maybe there is a better hook to use? or what is the problem? is this the info u needed?

--------------- Added 1242104548 at 1242104548 ---------------

its working now. lol. not sure what was wrong before but in the future, is there a better hook to use than global_start or does it matter?

or should you create your own hook? how hard is that?

[Lynne]

When I was talking about the php/html tags, I'm talking about the tags on this site (that you used to surround your code in your last post). Thank you - it's much easier to read.

This is the line I think you may want to rename your variable in:
$php = $row['cur_rate'];

And then this is going to cause problems because it is invalid html:
<td>

<center>

1 USD = PHP $php

</center>

</tr>
</table>
You need an </td> in there before the </tr>.

Are you only trying to show this on the forumhome (index.php) page? I would pick a plugin that is just on that page, if so - forumhome_start maybe.

[Cryo]

You should rename $php to something like $currency_php or similar. As Lynne suggested, $php is confusing because PHP is also the language you're coding in.

As far as hook location goes, I'd go with forumhome_start (as Lynne also suggested) or if you need it on every page, global_complete.