Zen Internet Support Forum

Hello,

I have been editing a basic HTML site for some time now and am now trying to add some PHP.

In my HTML page I have a line similar to this one:

<!--#include virtual="/myfile.php" -->

Thinking that when the interpreter gets to this line, it will invoke the PHP code contained in myfile.php which is sitting on the server.

However, I don't think that this is happening. My PHP script isn't mine - it is one which I have downloaded from a website. (Want to make sure I know the mechanisms for getting a correct script to work before I go into programming myself). Do I have to set up any directives to enable the ZEN servers to parse my HTML files? I have played about with the .htaccess file but draws a blank.

I have also tried creating a file carrying the "Hello World" PHP script found on this forum with the same result.

Any help on how to get started will be very gratefully received.

Thank you,

Alan

I'm no expert on this but it appears you're using an ASP include command to load a PHP script, you should try a PHP include command like the one documented on this article:

http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_includes.asp 

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David Nelson
Team Leader
Business Support Unit
Zen Internet

David,

Thank you for your quick reply but I am afraid that this makes little difference. I think that the code which I have used in the HTML page is correct - Dreamweaver puts a little "PHP" marker in the preview page and I have seen this include line elsewhere.

I think that I need to direct the server to parse the included file but am unsure of how this is achieved. I have read that it could be to do with the .htaccess file but don't know what lines to add - the ones I have tried don't seem to work!

 Alan

Where are you hosting the html file? On some servers, Zen's free web hosting server for example, have SSI disabled so this would have this effect.

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David Nelson
Team Leader
Business Support Unit
Zen Internet

Bronze service - not free.

I have CPANEL access. Reading which I have done suggests that I can amend the APACHE settings but not a clue how to do this from my CPANEL screen!

 Alan

Hi,

 Are you putting this include in a .html file or a .shtml file?

By default SSI will only work in a .shtml file on cPanel - rename the file to test if this works.

You can make Apache do SSI on .html files - to do this you will have to put 2 lines in your .htacess file...

AddType text/html .html
AddHandler server-parsed .html

 Hope this helps

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Paul Stead
Technical Support

Thank Paul,

I am trying very hard - honest but not making progress.

First of all the SHTML tip - I get an error similar to this one

URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /data01/myZenUsername/public_html/MyDirectoryi/myfile.php on line 2

Does this make sense and point to a config setting which I am missing?

I am trying to add an RSS feed to my site which does not rely on JScript. The URL which I have been getting the code from is here: http://rssfeedreader.com

 As for .htaccess - tried a few settings with this file but started to get confused as I seemed to have multiple .htaccess files floating around my various folders. This may be because I have taken over as Webmeister for my club and these files were left by the previous incumbent -  I have left his files where they were and have been putting my files in a "NEW" folder - linking to these from the root folder where my INDEX.HTM file is placed.

 

Alan

Hi Alan,

Sorry for taking a while to get back to you.

It sounds like you're trying to include a file that's not on your server. This being the case you should really use cURL rather than an include - some security issues can come with includes. Info on cURL can be found here: http://uk.php.net/curl

.htaccess applies to the folder it is in and every folder below it. So a .htaccess file in public_html will apply to public_html and every sub dir below it, unless you put a .htaccess in that sub dir which overwrites the settings in the original .htaccess.

If in doubt, clear em out! and start your structure again. Having a good file structure will help later on when you come back to edit the site - speaking from experience!
 

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Paul Stead
Technical Support

Thanks for the idea and link Paul - will have a read and a play.

I last did C programming some 10 years or so ago and things are gradually coming back to me - just want to get up to speed with the way t'internet has developed as the last time I was seriously into Website programming 'n' stuff, Java and Javascript was just a baby.

Thanks again, no doubt ...."I'll be back!"

 Alan

I don't get this thread.  Surely if you are trying to include php and have it parsed, you just need to change the file extension of the file you are including it into to a .php, then do a php include like so:

 

<?php

include 'myincludedfile.php';

?>

 

Simple!