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Controlling PHP Output
I'm working on a web page that has a div that contains a slide show. The source of the page is a database record on the server that contains the type of slide show, pointers to the images that will be displayed, and perhaps a half dozen other slide show parameters that the user will set through their browser by interacting with a JavaScript dialog. The idea is that the slide show parameters will be Ajaxed up to the server, the server will build the new HTML for the player div, and the new innerHTL for the player div will be Ajaxed back down.
What I'm not seeing clearly is how I can get PHP to build up the player div HTML without outputting anything automatoca;;u to the client. That is, normally when a browser requests a PHP page, the PHP runs and whatever is left automatically shows up in the client' browser. I don't want that. I just want what the innHTML for one div to show up and this only because we return it in a Ajax request.
Thanks for any thought.
Steve
What I'm not seeing clearly is how I can get PHP to build up the player div HTML without outputting anything automatoca;;u to the client. That is, normally when a browser requests a PHP page, the PHP runs and whatever is left automatically shows up in the client' browser. I don't want that. I just want what the innHTML for one div to show up and this only because we return it in a Ajax request.
Thanks for any thought.
Steve
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This is the sort of thing we can do with jQuery. Have you got any code base yet? Please show us what you have tried, or what learning resources you've pursued.
Possibly useful:
http://www.amazon.com/Learning-jQuery-Interaction-Development-JavaScript/dp/1847192505
Possibly useful:
http://www.amazon.com/Learning-jQuery-Interaction-Development-JavaScript/dp/1847192505
This is also going to be more than one page or file of code. You need the initial file that displays the main page. You need a PHP page that responds to the AJAX requests and you need another page that records the user settings in the database.
Hi Ray,
There's no code yet. I'm still walking through the whole thing in my mind.
Regarding jQuery resources, on my bookshelf I have:
Learning jQuery 1.3 - Swedberg
jQuery Cookbook - Various Experts
jQuery in Action - Bibeault & Katz
Head First jQuery - Benedetti
jQuery Enlightmenment - Lindley
Pro jQuery - Freeman
But my question doesn't seem to be about jQuery. The question is how to make PHP construct just a piece of the page - the slide show div - and return that innereHTML in an Ajax response, without causing anything to display on the client's browser. What does that PHP script look like? I'll have no problem getting jQuery on the client page to put that innerHTML in the right place.
Steve
There's no code yet. I'm still walking through the whole thing in my mind.
Regarding jQuery resources, on my bookshelf I have:
Learning jQuery 1.3 - Swedberg
jQuery Cookbook - Various Experts
jQuery in Action - Bibeault & Katz
Head First jQuery - Benedetti
jQuery Enlightmenment - Lindley
Pro jQuery - Freeman
But my question doesn't seem to be about jQuery. The question is how to make PHP construct just a piece of the page - the slide show div - and return that innereHTML in an Ajax response, without causing anything to display on the client's browser. What does that PHP script look like? I'll have no problem getting jQuery on the client page to put that innerHTML in the right place.
Steve
Dave,
Agreed. The question now is what will the PHP script look like that responds to the Ajax request that is passing up the new slide show parameters. How do I get that script to build the new slide show div and respond to the Ajax request with the new innerHTML, without displaying anything on the client's browser?
Steve
This is also going to be more than one page or file of code. You need the initial file that displays the main page. You need a PHP page that responds to the AJAX requests and you need another page that records the user settings in the database.
Agreed. The question now is what will the PHP script look like that responds to the Ajax request that is passing up the new slide show parameters. How do I get that script to build the new slide show div and respond to the Ajax request with the new innerHTML, without displaying anything on the client's browser?
Steve
Or maybe the best solution is to build the div with jQuery at the client, rather than bothering PHP, and then upload the new div innerHTML to the server later, to keep it in the loop. Maybe this is what Ray was suggesting, but I missed it.
... return that innereHTML in an Ajax response, without causing anything to display...Why would you want to return something that causes nothing to display? I am not getting this concept yet, I think.
It will display when the jQuery in the client sticks the Ajax response into the DOM. I just wanted to avoid doing something in PHP that caused the whole page to go down and get displayed, since that's what normally happens when you request a php page. That is, you request a php page, php runs, and bang! - the whole thing in your browser. But I'm not issuing a browser request for a php page here, so maybe I'm worrying about nothing.
Plus, as I suggested in my last post, the better solution is probably to have jQuery process the new slide show parameters at the client and put the results directly into the div, instead of getting involved with the server at this point.
Plus, as I suggested in my last post, the better solution is probably to have jQuery process the new slide show parameters at the client and put the results directly into the div, instead of getting involved with the server at this point.
Thanks. I probably wasn't very clear about what I was trying to do, but in my own mind I'm past the block I had, and I credit the dialog here for getting me past that. Sometimes you just need to talk to someone.
Thanks
Thanks
Sounds like you're on the right track. Usually jQuery can be used to just reload a part of the browser viewport, not the whole web page.
I too only wanted to load a part, but that part was the entire innerHTML of a div and I didn't know how to do that without triggering a download of the whole page. Since I started this post I've decided I probably don't need to have the server send me a div's html, but if I do return to that approach I discovered phpquery, that I'd never heard of before yesterday. It apparently will build a DOM on the server for a page and pull out any part of it you want - just what I was looking for.
Anyway, thanks for your interest.
Steve
Anyway, thanks for your interest.
Steve
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