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[Tutorial] Create a simple forum

Discussion in 'Programming Help & Discussion' started by Webmaster24, Aug 3, 2012.

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  1. Webmaster24 New Member

    Sometimes when you want to create a forum, you don't know how those forum software work, so here is a tutorial or a walk trough on how to create a SIMPLE forum:

    Step 1 Database
    In php my admin create a database, and call it "test" (because we are testing :))
    Go to the SQL and create 2 tables:

    Table forum_question
    Code:
    CREATE TABLE `forum_question` (
`id` int(4) NOT NULL auto_increment,
`topic` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
`detail` longtext NOT NULL,
`name` varchar(65) NOT NULL default '',
`email` varchar(65) NOT NULL default '',
`datetime` varchar(25) NOT NULL default '',
`view` int(4) NOT NULL default '0',
`reply` int(4) NOT NULL default '0',
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) TYPE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=1 ;
    Table forum_answer
    Code:
    CREATE TABLE `forum_answer` (
`question_id` int(4) NOT NULL default '0',
`a_id` int(4) NOT NULL default '0',
`a_name` varchar(65) NOT NULL default '',
`a_email` varchar(65) NOT NULL default '',
`a_answer` longtext NOT NULL,
`a_datetime` varchar(25) NOT NULL default '',
KEY `a_id` (`a_id`)
) TYPE=MyISAM;
    Step 2 File create new topic
    Then create a php file and call it create_topic.php, thats gonna be our creating topic form:
    PHP:
    <table width="400" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">
    <    tr>
    <    form id="form1" name="form1" method="post" action="add_topic.php">
    <    td>
    <    table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
    <    tr>
    <    td colspan="3" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><strong>Create New Topic</strong> </td>
    </    tr>
    <    tr>
    <    td width="14%"><strong>Topic</strong></td>
    <    td width="2%">:</td>
    <    td width="84%"><input name="topic" type="text" id="topic" size="50" /></td>
    </    tr>
    <    tr>
    <    td valign="top"><strong>Detail</strong></td>
    <    td valign="top">:</td>
    <    td><textarea name="detail" cols="50" rows="3" id="detail"></textarea></td>
    </    tr>
    <    tr>
    <    td><strong>Name</strong></td>
    <    td>:</td>
    <    td><input name="name" type="text" id="name" size="50" /></td>
    </    tr>
    <    tr>
    <    td><strong>Email</strong></td>
    <    td>:</td>
    <    td><input name="email" type="text" id="email" size="50" /></td>
    </    tr>
    <    tr>
    <    td>&nbsp;</td>
    <    td>&nbsp;</td>
    <    td><input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit" /> <input type="reset" name="Submit2" value="Reset" /></td>
    </    tr>
    </    table>
    </    td>
    </    form>
    </    tr>
    </    table>


    Step 2 The adding topic function
    Now we have to make that when someone posts a topic, it will be added to the database, create a php file with the name of add_topic.php:
    PHP:
    <?php
     
    $host    ="localhost"; // Host name
    $username=""; // Mysql username
    $password=""; // Mysql password
    $db_name="test"; // Database name
    $tbl_name="forum_question"; // Table name
     
    // Connect to server and select database.
    mysql_connect("$host", "$username", "$password")or die("cannot connect");
    mysql_select_db("$db_name")or die("cannot select DB");
     
    // get data that sent from form
    $topic=$_POST['topic'];
    $detail=$_POST['detail'];
    $name=$_POST['name'];
    $email=$_POST['email'];
     
    $datetime=date("d/m/y h:i:s"); //create date time
     
    $sql="INSERT INTO $tbl_name(topic, detail, name, email, datetime)VALUES('$topic', '$detail', '$name', '$email', '$datetime')";
    $result=mysql_query($sql);
     
    if(    $result){
    echo     "Successful<BR>";
    echo     "<a href=main_forum.php>View your topic</a>";
    }
    else {
    echo     "ERROR";
    }
    mysql_close();
    ?>
    Step 4 Main forum list of topics
    Here we must create a page that will display all the threads with its information, so create a php file and name it main_forum.php, here is the content:
    PHP:
    <?php
     
    $host    ="localhost"; // Host name
    $username=""; // Mysql username
    $password=""; // Mysql password
    $db_name="test"; // Database name
    $tbl_name="forum_question"; // Table name
     
    // Connect to server and select databse.
    mysql_connect("$host", "$username", "$password")or die("cannot connect");
    mysql_select_db("$db_name")or die("cannot select DB");
    $sql="SELECT * FROM $tbl_name ORDER BY id DESC";
    // OREDER BY id DESC is order result by descending
     
    $result=mysql_query($sql);
    ?>
     
    <table width="90%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">
    <tr>
    <td width="6%" align="center" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><strong>#</strong></td>
    <td width="53%" align="center" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><strong>Topic</strong></td>
    <td width="15%" align="center" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><strong>Views</strong></td>
    <td width="13%" align="center" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><strong>Replies</strong></td>
    <td width="13%" align="center" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><strong>Date/Time</strong></td>
    </tr>
     
    <?php
     
    // Start looping table row
    while($rows=mysql_fetch_array($result)){
    ?>
    <tr>
    <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><? echo $rows['id']; ?></td>
    <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><a href="view_topic.php?id=<? echo $rows['id']; ?>"><? echo $rows['topic']; ?></a><BR></td>
    <td align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><? echo $rows['view']; ?></td>
    <td align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><? echo $rows['reply']; ?></td>
    <td align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><? echo $rows['datetime']; ?></td>
    </tr>
     
    <?php
    // Exit looping and close connection
    }
    mysql_close();
    ?>
     
    <tr>
    <td colspan="5" align="right" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><a href="create_topic.php"><strong>Create New Topic</strong> </a></td>
    </tr>
    </table>
    Step 5 Viewing a topic
    Create a file view_topic.php so we can view a topic:
    PHP:
    <?php
     
    $host    ="localhost"; // Host name
    $username=""; // Mysql username
    $password=""; // Mysql password
    $db_name="test"; // Database name
    $tbl_name="forum_question"; // Table name
     
    // Connect to server and select databse.
    mysql_connect("$host", "$username", "$password")or die("cannot connect");
    mysql_select_db("$db_name")or die("cannot select DB");
     
    // get value of id that sent from address bar
    $id=$_GET['id'];
    $sql="SELECT * FROM $tbl_name WHERE id='$id'";
    $result=mysql_query($sql);
    $rows=mysql_fetch_array($result);
    ?>
     
    <table width="400" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">
    <tr>
    <td><table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" bordercolor="1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
    <tr>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><strong><? echo $rows['topic']; ?></strong></td>
    </tr>
     
    <tr>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><? echo $rows['detail']; ?></td>
    </tr>
     
    <tr>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><strong>By :</strong> <? echo $rows['name']; ?> <strong>Email : </strong><? echo $rows['email'];?></td>
    </tr>
     
    <tr>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><strong>Date/time : </strong><? echo $rows['datetime']; ?></td>
    </tr>
    </table></td>
    </tr>
    </table>
    <BR>
     
    <?php
     
    $tbl_name2    ="forum_answer"; // Switch to table "forum_answer"
    $sql2="SELECT * FROM $tbl_name2 WHERE question_id='$id'";
    $result2=mysql_query($sql2);
    while(    $rows=mysql_fetch_array($result2)){
    ?>
     
    <table width="400" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">
    <tr>
    <td><table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
    <tr>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><strong>ID</strong></td>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1">:</td>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><? echo $rows['a_id']; ?></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
    <td width="18%" bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><strong>Name</strong></td>
    <td width="5%" bgcolor="#F8F7F1">:</td>
    <td width="77%" bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><? echo $rows['a_name']; ?></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><strong>Email</strong></td>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1">:</td>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><? echo $rows['a_email']; ?></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><strong>Answer</strong></td>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1">:</td>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><? echo $rows['a_answer']; ?></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><strong>Date/Time</strong></td>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1">:</td>
    <td bgcolor="#F8F7F1"><? echo $rows['a_datetime']; ?></td>
    </tr>
    </table></td>
    </tr>
    </table><br>
     
    <?php
    }
     
    $sql3="SELECT view FROM $tbl_name WHERE id='$id'";
    $result3=mysql_query($sql3);
    $rows=mysql_fetch_array($result3);
    $view=$rows['view'];
     
    // if have no counter value set counter = 1
    if(empty($view)){
    $view=1;
    $sql4="INSERT INTO $tbl_name(view) VALUES('$view') WHERE id='$id'";
    $result4=mysql_query($sql4);
    }
     
    // count more value
    $addview=$view+1;
    $sql5="update $tbl_name set view='$addview' WHERE id='$id'";
    $result5=mysql_query($sql5);
    mysql_close();
    ?>
     
    <BR>
    <table width="400" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">
    <tr>
    <form name="form1" method="post" action="add_answer.php">
    <td>
    <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
    <tr>
    <td width="18%"><strong>Name</strong></td>
    <td width="3%">:</td>
    <td width="79%"><input name="a_name" type="text" id="a_name" size="45"></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
    <td><strong>Email</strong></td>
    <td>:</td>
    <td><input name="a_email" type="text" id="a_email" size="45"></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
    <td valign="top"><strong>Answer</strong></td>
    <td valign="top">:</td>
    <td><textarea name="a_answer" cols="45" rows="3" id="a_answer"></textarea></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td><input name="id" type="hidden" value="<? echo $id; ?>"></td>
    <td><input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit"> <input type="reset" name="Submit2" value="Reset"></td>
    </tr>
    </table>
    </td>
    </form>
    </tr>
    </table>
    Step 6 Reply function
    The last part is a function that allows a user to reply a topic, name of the file add_answer.php:
    PHP:
    <?php
     
    $host    ="localhost"; // Host name
    $username=""; // Mysql username
    $password=""; // Mysql password
    $db_name="test"; // Database name
    $tbl_name="forum_answer"; // Table name
     
    // Connect to server and select databse.
    mysql_connect("$host", "$username", "$password")or die("cannot connect");
    mysql_select_db("$db_name")or die("cannot select DB");
     
    // Get value of id that sent from hidden field
    $id=$_POST['id'];
     
    // Find highest answer number.
    $sql="SELECT MAX(a_id) AS Maxa_id FROM $tbl_name WHERE question_id='$id'";
    $result=mysql_query($sql);
    $rows=mysql_fetch_array($result);
     
    // add + 1 to highest answer number and keep it in variable name "$Max_id". if there no answer yet set it = 1
    if ($rows) {
    $Max_id = $rows['Maxa_id']+1;
    }
    else {
    $Max_id = 1;
    }
     
    // get values that sent from form
    $a_name=$_POST['a_name'];
    $a_email=$_POST['a_email'];
    $a_answer=$_POST['a_answer'];
     
    $datetime=date("d/m/y H:i:s"); // create date and time
     
    // Insert answer
    $sql2="INSERT INTO $tbl_name(question_id, a_id, a_name, a_email, a_answer, a_datetime)VALUES('$id', '$Max_id', '$a_name', '$a_email', '$a_answer', '$datetime')";
    $result2=mysql_query($sql2);
     
    if(    $result2){
    echo     "Successful<BR>";
    echo     "<a href='view_topic.php?id=".$id."'>View your answer</a>";
     
    // If added new answer, add value +1 in reply column
    $tbl_name2="forum_question";
    $sql3="UPDATE $tbl_name2 SET reply='$Max_id' WHERE id='$id'";
    $result3=mysql_query($sql3);
    }
    else {
    echo     "ERROR";
    }
     
    // Close connection
    mysql_close();
    ?>
    Regards
    Webmaster24
    PD: If you have any questions, post 'em here!
    Webmaster24, Aug 3, 2012
    #1

  2. vortex Member

    Unless I am missing something, there is no need to do:
    PHP:
    // Find highest answer number.
    $sql="SELECT MAX(a_id) AS Maxa_id FROM $tbl_name WHERE question_id='$id'";
    $result=mysql_query($sql);
    $rows=mysql_fetch_array($result);
     
    // add + 1 to highest answer number and keep it in variable name "$Max_id". if there no answer yet set it = 1
    if ($rows) {
    $Max_id = $rows['Maxa_id']+1;
    }
    else {
    $Max_id = 1;
    }
    When you can just set a_id to autoincrement and change the query like so:
    PHP:

    $sql2    ="INSERT INTO $tbl_name(question_id, a_name, a_email, a_answer, a_datetime)VALUES('$id', '$a_name', '$a_email', '$a_answer', '$datetime')";
    Also, inputs should be sanitised, and to increment a table value you can just use (pseudocode):
    PHP:

    UPDATE table SET column     = column + 1 WHERE id = $num
    I hope I'm not being offensive, but imagine someone using this tutorial, and having stuff not working due to the use of short tags (which are deprecated!) and the lack of any sanitising.
    vortex, Aug 4, 2012
    #2
    • Like Like x 1
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  3. thomasr Member

    You should make use of mysql_real_escape_string() to protect from SQL injection and htmlspecialchars() so the user can't use HTML and put a redirect or something.
    thomasr, Aug 5, 2012
    #3
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