Randomness

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 5:33 pm (21 years, 1 month ago)

I need a script that will place 3 banners with links onto a page from a list at random, i have found some but i cannot think how to make it choose 3 random ones instead of just one, any ideas?

Team Member Joined: 06 Jan 2002 Posts: 2564

It would be easy if you didn't care if there are duplicates, but I take it the three banners have to be different? Also, how many banners do you have in total (roughly)?

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 7:49 pm (21 years, 1 month ago)

I have around 30 banners, i do not want duplicates either lol,i've tried to make a code and failed lol

Team Member Joined: 06 Jan 2002 Posts: 2564

I'm thinking it might be easier to put them all into a table, and then SELECT * FROM banners ORDER BY RAND(). Then you wouldn't have any duplicates and they would be randomly ordered. What do you think? Smile

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2003 4:20 pm (21 years, 1 month ago)

Would that select 3? If yes go ahead! Sorry, i don't have much PHP knowledge Confused

Team Member Joined: 06 Jan 2002 Posts: 2564

OK, create the following database:

Code:

CREATE TABLE banners (
id int(2),
banner_src varchar(255) NOT NULL,
banner_url varchar(255) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (id)
);

Then access it using:

Code:

$server = "localhost";
$db_user = "...";
$db_pass = "...";
$database = "...";

$db = mysql_connect($server, $db_user,$db_pass);
mysql_select_db($database,$db);

$query = "SELECT * FROM banners ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 3";
$query = mysql_query($query, $db);

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($query, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
print('Banner URL: '.$row['banner_url'].' Banner SRC: '.$row['banner_src']);
}

You'll have to change the printed code of course to something like <a href="url"><img src="src" /></a>.

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2003 5:38 pm (21 years, 1 month ago)

where do i put in the banners?
how would i make a link to go with each link?
this is an affilates list btw Smile

Team Member Joined: 06 Jan 2002 Posts: 2564

To add a banner, add a row to the table: leave the ID row blank, put the URL in banner_url, and put the image URL in banner_src. Oh, one thing I forgot: change the id column to auto increment.

Quote:

how would i make a link to go with each link?

What do you mean?

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2003 5:51 pm (21 years, 1 month ago)

How would i make it so that banner one goes to link 1 and banner 2 to link 2 ?

Team Member Joined: 06 Jan 2002 Posts: 2564

The script I made already does that. Just change

Code:

print('Banner URL: '.$row['banner_url'].' Banner SRC: '.$row['banner_src']);

to

Code:

print('<a href="'.$row['banner_url'].'"><img src="'.$row['banner_src'].'" border="0" /></a>');

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2003 6:52 pm (21 years, 1 month ago)

Ahh ok, still stuck...i add the banner urls to the table in the MySQL database? can you give me an example?

Team Member Joined: 06 Jan 2002 Posts: 2564

Code:

INSERT INTO banners SET banner_url = 'http://www.site.com/', banner_src = 'http://www.site.com/image.gif'

Have you managed to change the id column to auto increment?

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2003 8:04 pm (21 years, 1 month ago)

It came up with this error :

All parts of a PRIMARY KEY must be NOT NULL; If you need NULL in a key, use UNIQUE instead

Team Member Joined: 06 Jan 2002 Posts: 2564

OK, delete the banners table and recreate it with the following code:

Code:

CREATE TABLE banners (
id int(2) auto_increment,
banner_src varchar(255) NOT NULL,
banner_url varchar(255) NOT NULL
);

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2003 7:42 pm (21 years, 1 month ago)

Daniel wrote:

SELECT * FROM banners ORDER BY RAND()

This doesn't appear to be very 'random'. I tried using it and it pulls out the same record much more often than any others.