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rpotterjr

I just wanted to see if by posting this, I could get a response that actually fixes the listed issues with using Switch/Case.

Problems

1. How does one take these very unattractive URLs that are outputted by switch/case and make them display clean (seo friendly)?

Update: Problem Number 1 Fixed. Much thanks to CrocoDillon.

2. Once accomplished, how does one change the active Navigation link to remain highlighted?

Update: Problem Number 2 Fixed. Much thanks to CrocoDillon and BenWalker.

Part 1.) I have always practiced the use of switch/case (php) with my websites. Back in the not too distant past it wasn't such a problem to have this, but in today's modern expectations, not only by the search engine crawlers, but giving out a specific link to your colleague is very frustrating when having to provide them with something such as http://www.mysite.com/index.php?page=mypage.

Of course I am talking about the following:

<?php
  
    if (!isset($_GET['page']))
      $_GET['page'] = null;
    
    switch ($_GET['page']) {
  
      case "home":
    include('mydir/home.php');
    break;
    
      case "about":
    include('mydir/about.php');
    break;
  
      case "contact":
    include('mydir/contact.php');
    break;
  
    // Default Page
      default:
    include('mydir/home.php');
    break;
  }
  
  ?>

The use of switch/case will output the links as follows:

http://www.mysite.com/index.php?page=home

http://www.mysite.com/index.php?page=about

http://www.mysite.com/index.php?page=contact

So, I understand that this can be cleaned up through the use of the .htaccess file, however, I have tried many ways and still no luck. So the question I have is this:

How do I get this link:

http://www.mysite.com/index.php?page=home

to turn into

http://www.mysite.com/home

Part 2.) Once this has been accomplished, how does one get the main navigation to display the currently active link/page as highlighted?

Example: Say I go to the about page by clicking on the about navigation link, while on the about page that link should show an active state. Any thoughts?

Note: I have seen a few things on this site, by Chris that explain this, but what I have found is mostly for WordPress and I am not using WordPress. Also, I want to ensure that the 'home' navigation link is highlighted as active upon going to the website initially.

If I could get some help with this/these nightmare(s) it would be greatly appreciated... Thanks in advance!

CrocoDillon

Part 1: Not a star on rewrite rules but this should work...

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?$1 [NC,L]

Basically rewrites /home to /index.php?home if the requested url is not a file (-f) or directory (-d). [NC,L] means it's case insensitive and the last rule to apply. You can get the value home from $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']. You can probably use this value to highlight your currently active link too.

rpotterjr

Yeah that's what I currently have, but for some reason that takes me to my "WampServer Configuration Page"... :/

CrocoDillon

What does your full url look like when you develop locally?

rpotterjr

For the links I have: http://pastebin.com/gB2uHSDH

CrocoDillon

I mean in the browser bar, http:// and then?

rpotterjr

With case and switch I have:

http://127.0.0.1/rpotterjr/index.php?page=about

With Mod Rewrite:

http://127.0.0.1/rpotterjr/about

CrocoDillon

I think that's the issue... it redirects to the root which is http://127.0.0.1, so http://127.0.0.1/index.php?home. Set up a vhost like http://rpotterjr/ or http://rpotterjr.dev/ or something so your site is at root level.

CrocoDillon

In C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts add 127.0.0.1 rpotterjr.dev

In C:\Program Files\wamp\bin\apache\apache2.2.22\conf\extra\httpd-vhosts.conf add

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot "C:\path\to\your\public\folder"
    ServerName rpotterjr.dev
    ErrorLog "logs/rpotterjr-error.log"
    CustomLog "logs/rpotterjr-access.log" common
    <Directory "C:\path\to\your\public\folder">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride all
        Order Deny,Allow
        Deny from all
        Allow from 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 ::1/128
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Then restart all services from the wampserver menu.

rpotterjr

For some reason when I use http://rpotterjr.dev it takes me to the "WampServer Configuration Page"... Did both of what you said to do...

CrocoDillon

Hmmm I had the same issue once, but forgot how I fixed it. I'll look into it.

CrocoDillon

Can't seem to find it :( Try Google how to set up virtual hosts on Apache because it will definitely fix the .htaccess Rewrite issue.

rpotterjr

Ok, nevermind. I setup the Virtual Host and now it is redirecting me to my home page. The address in the address bar is changing, but the page content is NOT.

rpotterjr

In other words, the address changes through:

rpotterjr.dev/about

and

rpotterjr.dev/contact

However, the content stays stuck on the home page's content.

rpotterjr

If I revert back to not having the rewrite, I can navigate from page to page changing the content, but the address displays as http://rpotterjr.dev/index.php?page=about

CrocoDillon

Change switch ($_GET['page']) { to switch ($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) {

If that doesn't work try var_dump($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) and see what you get.

rpotterjr

No change...

CrocoDillon

So, what did var_dump get you?

rpotterjr

Nothing different. I tried restarting the server and clearing browser cache...

No change..

rpotterjr

I was at this stage before without the Virtual Server by specifying the root in php, but couldn't ever get past this problem...

CrocoDillon

Put var_dump($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) in you index.php file (before the switch), and show me what it gives with and without the .htaccess file.

Argeaux

Maybe you have to enable mod_rewrite in your apache install.

rpotterjr

I have mod_rewrite enabled. As for the var_dump($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']), nothing is different. Just back at square one again...

CrocoDillon

Nothing is different doesn't give me much info to work with.

rpotterjr

I can make the var_dump($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'])

before the switch/case in a separate statement, but all that does is display a count of the character length of each link clicked.

rpotterjr

The address changes through:

rpotterjr.dev/about

and

rpotterjr.dev/contact

However, the content stays stuck on the home page's content.

If I revert back to not having the rewrite, I can navigate from page to page changing the content, but the address displays as http://rpotterjr.dev/index.php?page=about. This is with or without var_dump($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'])

rpotterjr

So here is my code currently:

.htaccess RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?$1 [NC,L]

rpotterjr

PHP case/switch

<?php
  
    if (!isset($_GET['page']))
      $_GET['page'] = null;
    
    switch ($_GET['page']) {
    
      case "portfolio":
    include('theme/default/pages/portfolio.php');
    break;
    
    case "resume":
    include('theme/default/pages/resume.php');
    break;
    
    case "about":
    include('theme/default/pages/about.php');
    break;
    
    case "contact":
    include('theme/default/pages/contact.php');
    break;
    // Default Page
      default:
    include('theme/default/pages/home.php');
    break;
  }
  
  ?>

rpotterjr

Navigation

CrocoDillon

The I guess QUERY_STRING just reads the URL instead of using the internal rewriting. Try var_dump($_GET) (with .htaccess) to see if the 'page' key (it won't be called page unless you change the .htaccess file) is in there. If it is, you can use something like if (isset($_GET['about'])) {...} etc.

CrocoDillon

Maybe try

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?page=$1 [NC,L]

rpotterjr

Ok, can you write that into what I posted, because I have a feeling I'm missing something...

rpotterjr

Actually, ya know what that last change you made to the mod_rewrite fixed it...

rpotterjr

You Rock CrocoDillon! lol Thanks soo much! Now, I just need to figure out the active navigation link part...

CrocoDillon

You're welcome, glad it finally works :)

Something like:

 <li><a href="portfolio"<?php if ($_GET['page'] == 'portfolio') echo ' class="active"'; ?>>Portfolio</a></li>

could work.

rpotterjr

That throws off a crap load of parsing errors... :(

BenWalker

<?php
      if (!isset($_GET['page']))
        $page = 'home';
      else
        $page = $_GET['page'];
      switch ($page) {
      
        case "portfolio":
      include('theme/default/pages/portfolio.php');
      break;
      
      case "resume":
      include('theme/default/pages/resume.php');
      break;
      
      case "about":
      include('theme/default/pages/about.php');
      break;
      
      case "contact":
      include('theme/default/pages/contact.php');
      break;
  
      case "home":
        include('theme/default/pages/home.php');
        break;

      // Default Page
        default:
      include('theme/default/pages/home.php');
      break;
    }
    
    ?>

You have access to the "$page" variable to test for which page is active in your nav menu. Of course, you could just use "$_GET['page']" each time, but it's less tidy.

rpotterjr

Should be able to use jQuery to set Active Navigation, but so far everything I try is only highlighting the 'home' link.

BenWalker

Could you post your code?

CrocoDillon

For the parse errors I'd need to see the whole file where you create the menu.

Nice catch about the $page variable Ben :)

rpotterjr

I have tried what is shown here:

http://css-tricks.com/snippets/jquery/add-active-navigation-class-based-on-url/

However, in my case it is not working...

rpotterjr

The menu is simply this in html:

http://pastebin.com/gB2uHSDH

rpotterjr

Chris used to have something on here showing a way to do this with jQuery by link id, but I can't find the shit.

CrocoDillon

Because you don't have the / that's in the jQuery selector. I'd prefer a php solution over a js one though.

rpotterjr

I found his version before and modified it and it worked, but I lost all my files due to a electrical crash of my backup server...

CrocoDillon

The menu can't be simple html, else you wouldn't get parse errors.

rpotterjr

Yeah. I tried the above php method, but it didn't do anything. It just cause some php perrors. I can try it again...

BenWalker

By the way, I'm surprised this hasn't come up already...

I assume you will have a root variable for your site's root directory (I'll call it "$root"):

<?php
      if( !isset( $_GET['page'] ) )
        $page = 'home';
      else
        $page = $_GET['page'];
      if( file_exists( $root . 'theme/default/pages/' . $page . '.php' ) )
          include( 'theme/default/pages/' . $page . '.php' );
      else
          include( 'theme/default/pages/404.php' );

rpotterjr

Oh, I see the problem... I need to specify that the default index page uses home.php

rpotterjr

Ok, so my default page is 'home', so how would this be written? The above code you gave didn't change anything.

rpotterjr

When going directly to http://rpotterjr.dev I get errors. If I go to http://rpotterjr.dev/home I no longer have any errors. Any suggestions?

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[Solved] PHP Switch/Case and the Dreaded Unclean URLs