I was tasked with a project at work in which I had to build a site that would be quite dynamic. The problem however was that I could not use a database to hold information. What I did (and something I would avoid if I could) was create a class that looks within a folder thats specified and builds an array off the files within the folder.

How it works

Reads a folder of files, breaks apart the file name by a specified “breaker”. It then creates a new array off the specified file name attributes

Demo

File setup:

include_once('FileDetail.class.php');
// a new object reference using an array for the parameter which specifies the file name attributes
// FileDetail(array(attributes));
$files = new FileDetail(array('id','movie','name','ext'));

// loadFiles(Folder, separator)
$files->loadFiles('test_files2','_');

// New variable to hold the file name array
$fileNames = $files->getFileNames();

// New Variable to hold the file details array
$fileDetails = $files->getFileDetails();

Testing the arrays:

// ========================================= EXAMPLE =========================================
echo '<h4>File Names Test 2</h4>';
echo '<pre>';
	print_r($fileNames);
echo '</pre>';

// ========================================= EXAMPLE =========================================
echo '<h4>File Details</h4>';
echo '<pre>';
	print_r($fileDetails);
echo '</pre>';

File Names

Array
(
    [0] => 01_wall-e_walle02.jpg
    [1] => 02_batman_joker02.jpg
    [2] => 02_wall-e_walle.jpg
    [3] => 04_batman_joker02.jpg
    [4] => 05_batman_joker.jpg
)

File Details

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [id] => 01
            [movie] => wall-e
            [name] => walle02
            [ext] => jpg
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [id] => 02
            [movie] => batman
            [name] => joker02
            [ext] => jpg
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [id] => 02
            [movie] => wall-e
            [name] => walle
            [ext] => jpg
        )

    [3] => Array
        (
            [id] => 04
            [movie] => batman
            [name] => joker02
            [ext] => jpg
        )

    [4] => Array
        (
            [id] => 05
            [movie] => batman
            [name] => joker
            [ext] => jpg
        )

)

Real World Example:

echo '<h4>Get files of a specific parameter</h4>';
echo '<h5> movie -> batman</h5>';
echo '<pre>';
	print_r($files->getFilesByKey('movie','batman'));
echo '</pre>';

Get files of a specific parameter (movies->batman)

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [id] => 02
            [movie] => batman
            [name] => joker02
            [ext] => jpg
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [id] => 04
            [movie] => batman
            [name] => joker02
            [ext] => jpg
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [id] => 05
            [movie] => batman
            [name] => joker
            [ext] => jpg
        )

)

Conclusion

The class can be used in many which ways whether it’s loading a gallery of images or building a website based off of the attributes of the images. The class and demo files can be downloaded here

• LIST ITEM

1. ORDER LIST ITEM

I tend to do a lot of work with database entry through PHP forums. Over time I've seen nemorous ways in which someone will enter their phone number.

The Problem

Because there are so many different ways to enter a phone number. How it's handled, processed and sent to the database becomes a challenge, and as a programmer you have to ask "what is the best way".

The Solution

The first solution would be to make your column in which will hold the phone number within your database a varchar(20). I suppose for something quick and dirty it will work, but in no means is this efficient.

The second solution would be to take a number:

• (555)555-5555
• 555.555.5555
• 555 555 5555
• 55 55 55 5555

and remove unneeded characters and insert it into the database as a int value of 5555555555

The class: