Profile Linking

[timcalvin]

I apologize if this has been asked. I did search the forum first. First off I'm new to PHP but I'm getting a hang on it I think.

I'm trying to create a way for users of my site (which is in the works) to be able to give links to their profiles to people like this

www.mysite.com/username

Kinda like myspace does. However I don't want to create a new directory for EVERY user because I'd still like them all to use

www.mysite.com/profile.php

instead of having to create a new one for everyone, because that obviously defeats the purpose of creating a data driven site anyway, right???

Anyone know how to do this?

Thanks
Tim

[jswany]

You could use the get method.

www.mysite.com/profile.php?user=jswany

then use the following to get thier data

PHP Code:

$user = mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['user']);

// then use sql to retreive thier data.
$sql = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE user='$user'";
$get_details = mysql_query($sql) or die (mysql_error()); 


just an idea

[timcalvin]

Hey jswanty,

Thanks for the tip. That's how I'm assuming I'm going to be doing it, I just thought it would be cool and look better if I could leave out everything except the username.

[jswany]

well you could do
www.mysite.com/?user=jswany

and the on the index page have

PHP Code:

if(isset($_GET['user'])) {
$user = mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['user']);
header("location:profile.php?user=$user");
exit;
} 


then use the same code as before on your profile page

PHP Code:

$user = mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['user']);

// then use sql to retreive thier data.
$sql = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE user='$user'";
$get_details = mysql_query($sql) or die (mysql_error()); 


but then that isn't much better

[Zangeel]

Just use mod rewrite.. In your .htaccess put something like

RewriteEngine On

RewriteRule ^([a-zA-z]+)$ profile.php?user=$1

Then site.com/username is the same as site.com/profile.php?user=username

[timcalvin]

Cool... I definitely like that better... it's a step in the right direction! Good idea.