I have this 3 file for small chat and it works without database.
But i was trying to connect to my database and use my users.

Index.php

function createForm(){
?>
      <form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>" method="post">
        <table align="center">
          <tr><td colspan="2">Please eneter a nickname to login!</td></tr>
          <tr><td>Your name: </td>
          <td><input class="text" type="text" name="name" /></td></tr>
          <tr><td colspan="2" align="center">
             <input class="text" type="submit" name="submitBtn" value="Login" />
          </td></tr>
        </table>
      </form>
<?php
}

if (isset($_GET['u'])){
   unset($_SESSION['nickname']);
}

// Process login info
if (isset($_POST['submitBtn'])){
      $name    = isset($_POST['name']) ? $_POST['name'] : "Unnamed";
      $_SESSION['nickname'] = $name;
}

$nickname = isset($_SESSION['nickname']) ? $_SESSION['nickname'] : "Hidden";   
?>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html>
<head>
   <title>Micro Chat</title>
   <link href="style/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
    <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
    <!--
      var httpObject = null;
      var link = "";
      var timerID = 0;
      var nickName = "<?php echo $nickname; ?>";

      // Get the HTTP Object
      function getHTTPObject(){
         if (window.ActiveXObject) return new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
         else if (window.XMLHttpRequest) return new XMLHttpRequest();
         else {
            alert("Your browser does not support AJAX.");
            return null;
         }
      }   

      // Change the value of the outputText field
      function setOutput(){
         if(httpObject.readyState == 4){
            var response = httpObject.responseText;
            var objDiv = document.getElementById("result");
            objDiv.innerHTML += response;
            objDiv.scrollTop = objDiv.scrollHeight;
            var inpObj = document.getElementById("msg");
            inpObj.value = "";
            inpObj.focus();
         }
      }

      // Change the value of the outputText field
      function setAll(){
         if(httpObject.readyState == 4){
            var response = httpObject.responseText;
            var objDiv = document.getElementById("result");
            objDiv.innerHTML = response;
            objDiv.scrollTop = objDiv.scrollHeight;
         }
      }

      // Implement business logic    
      function doWork(){    
         httpObject = getHTTPObject();
         if (httpObject != null) {
            link = "message.php?nick="+nickName+"&msg="+document.getElementById('msg').value;
            httpObject.open("GET", link , true);
            httpObject.onreadystatechange = setOutput;
            httpObject.send(null);
         }
      }

      // Implement business logic    
      function doReload(){    
         httpObject = getHTTPObject();
         var randomnumber=Math.floor(Math.random()*10000);
         if (httpObject != null) {
            link = "message.php?all=1&rnd="+randomnumber;
            httpObject.open("GET", link , true);
            httpObject.onreadystatechange = setAll;
            httpObject.send(null);
         }
      }

      function UpdateTimer() {
         doReload();   
         timerID = setTimeout("UpdateTimer()", 5000);
      }
    
    
      function keypressed(e){
         if(e.keyCode=='13'){
            doWork();
         }
      }
    //-->
    </script>   
</head>
<body onload="UpdateTimer();">
    <div id="main">
      <div id="caption">Micro Chat</div>
      <div id="icon">&nbsp;</div>
<?php 

if (!isset($_SESSION['nickname']) ){ 
    createForm();
} else  { 
      $name    = isset($_POST['name']) ? $_POST['name'] : "Unnamed";
      $_SESSION['nickname'] = $name;
    ?>
      
     <div id="result">
     <?php 
        $data = file("msg.html");
        foreach ($data as $line) {
        	echo $line;
        }
     ?>
      </div>
      <div id="sender" onkeyup="keypressed(event);">
         Your message: <input type="text" name="msg" size="30" id="msg" />
         <button onclick="doWork();">Send</button>
      </div>   
<?php            
    }

?>
    </div>
</body>

message.php

<?php 
	if (isset($_GET['msg'])){
		if (file_exists('msg.html')) {
		   $f = fopen('msg.html',"a+");
		} else {
		   $f = fopen('msg.html',"w+");
		}
      $nick = isset($_GET['nick']) ? $_GET['nick'] : "Hidden";
      $msg  = isset($_GET['msg']) ? htmlspecialchars($_GET['msg']) : ".";
      $line = "<p><span class=\"name\">$nick: </span><span class=\"txt\">$msg</span></p>";
		fwrite($f,$line."\r\n");
		fclose($f);
		
		echo $line;
		
	} else if (isset($_GET['all'])) {
	   $flag = file('msg.html');
	   $content = "";
	   foreach ($flag as $value) {
	   	$content .= $value;
	   }
	   echo $content;

	}
?>

msg.html (in msg.html are stored my messages)

<p><span class="name">test: </span><span class="txt">ksjdčfla</span></p>
<p><span class="name">test: </span><span class="txt">šdsčpf</span></p>
<p><span class="name">test: </span><span class="txt">dsfg</span></p>

Anyone?

What exactly are you wanting?

This is off topic but can you do simple tutorial on chat with PHP (No ajax for a while)? Or just point/recommend good tutorial? I wish I could help but I'm not good PHPer enough to conquer your problem

@web3 what exactly is your question?

@evstevemd it's very hard to do a PHP chat app without AJAX. the page will keep reloading and you won't get the messages as they are received. Real chat systems (like Google and Facebook) use separate services for this effect. If you want a simple PHP+AJAX chat, this tutorial is helpful - http://css-tricks.com/jquery-php-chat/

Thanks Jomanlk,
It seems that I must learn Ajax :)

Member Avatar for diafol

@evstevemd
Using Ajax for chat is fine, but Comet may be better (push technology). There are quite a few Comet techniques that may help.

@web3
Like KK asked, what do you want to do?
Use your DB to store msgs, use the DB to authenticate users or log them in automatically?

@evstevemd
Using Ajax for chat is fine, but Comet may be better (push technology). There are quite a few Comet techniques that may help.

Ah! That is new jargon to me. I'll talk to google and see what it will say back :)

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