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PHP to place page-generated title into <head>

Answer 1

+1 A:

Ummm.....

<?php 
$pageTitle = "Test";
include('header.php');
?>

EDIT

Then in your header.php

<head>
    <title><?php echo $pageTitle; ?> </title>
</head>

Brad F Jacobs 2010-09-16 18:32:46

I should have clarified, the header.php file contains neccesary functions to generate the page (connecting to database, etc.). So for example, when we have a story, we have to load the header.php file first in order to make the connection and pull the story details. Then I'd like to have the title be the news entry title. That's more specific to the problem.

scatteredbomb 2010-09-16 18:36:26

Yes, using a global page title variable will work and you just have to make sure as in answer you declare its value before using it in the header. You can also have a default value and this way in your header.php do: if(empty($pageTitle)){//set title to default value//}else{//set title to $pageTitle}

Chris 2010-09-16 18:37:19

@scatteredbomb well you just have a bad design and have to rebuild it. Divide your header into 2 parts.

Col. Shrapnel 2010-09-16 18:46:31

Answer 2

A:

Your PHP page starts would be:

<?php
$title="My custom title...";

require("header.php");
// ...
?>

And your header.php would be:

<?php
//...
echo "<head>
<title>".$title."</title>";
//...
?>

You could even default to a title in header.php:

<?php
//...
echo "<head>
<title>".($title==""?"Default title":$title)."</title>";
//...
?>

Rudu 2010-09-16 18:35:04

Answer 3

+1 A:

It looks like you want a dynamic title on some pages?

<?php
$defaultPageTitle='Default Title'; //Default title
include('header.php');
?>

<?php
/* You would define $newPageTitle here if necessary
 (i.e. use $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] to get the URL
 and check a database for the $newPageTitle */
?>
<head>
<?php
if(isset($newPageTitle)){echo '<title>'.$newPageTitle.'</title>';}
else{echo '<title>'.$defaultPageTitle.'</title>';}
?>
</head>

Matt 2010-09-16 18:39:43

The problem being that we already use the head tags in header.php. We have to setup meta tags, stylesheets, etc. and that is done in that header. These stylesheets and other includes are used to style the actual header (tabs/links) so we can't wait to define them later in the page after we've pulled out the necessary data to create the title.

scatteredbomb 2010-09-16 18:49:57

@scatteredbomb Yes, you aimed the problem exactly! There should be no output before you pull out all the necessary data to create the whole page!

Col. Shrapnel 2010-09-16 18:58:14

Oops, I missed that part when I first read the question! :)

Matt 2010-09-16 20:04:15

Answer 4

+3 A:

Actually it should be this way

news.php:

<?
include "config.php"; //connect to database HERE.
$data = getdbdata("SELECT * FROM news where id = %d",$_GET['id']);
$page_title = $data['title'];
$body = nl2br($data['body']);

$tpl_file = "tpl.news.php";
include "template.php";
?>

template.php:

<html>
<head>
<title><?=$page_title?></title>
</head>
<body>
<? include $tpl_file ?>
</body>

tpl.news.php

<h1><?=$page_title?></h1>
<?=$body?>

plain and simple

Col. Shrapnel 2010-09-16 18:51:37

Everything you always wanted to know including the database schema! And converting new lines in the body! You rock!

zaf 2010-09-16 19:00:46

hehe I love such comments. Though the idea of using templates is not that obvious.

Col. Shrapnel 2010-09-16 19:15:55

Thanks for the reply and the comments. I guess I did just have bad design that leads to part of the page being pulled before the rest. I'll have to figure out how to implement your basic idea into our site. Thanks again.

scatteredbomb 2010-09-16 19:31:54

Answer 5

A:

The way I see it, you can still do all this work in your header:

<?php
include(...your config/connect file...);
mysql_query(... get page variables ...);
$pageTitle = stripslashes($titlefromDB);
?>
<html><head><title><?php echo $pageTitle; ?></head>

Thus concludes you header.php. Now include this on every page you want to use it, and follow with your <body></body></html>.

Just one idea, but anyway you go around this, you're going to have to connect to your DB first, check if page exists, if so set title as variable, then begin constructing html.

Bryan 2010-09-16 19:20:48

it cannot be included into every page. just because every page needs **different** variables. It's template should be included into main page, not contrary

Col. Shrapnel 2010-09-16 19:23:03

How so? I currently get my dynamic requests from the url ($_GET['id']) and plug them right into my mysql_query (with some sanitization...). Now every page on my site has different needs, so each folder has an index with different header php, and I include the meta.php in each.

Bryan 2010-09-16 19:31:51

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PHP to place page-generated title into <head>

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