Author Topic: Help With Narrowing My PHP Studies  (Read 3627 times)

KeithC

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Help With Narrowing My PHP Studies
« on: June 08, 2013, 03:00:50 PM »
Hello fellow WeatherCat folks.

Because I'm just beginning to learn PHP, I'm wondering how I can narrow my studies to the area I am most immediately concerned with.

If I tell you my primary goal, would someone be so kind as to tell me what specific thing(s) I need to search for and learn in PHP in order to accomplish my goal?

First let me say that only AFTER I spent time learning JavaScript did I learn that it cannot make permanent changes to the DOM. I understand that PHP is capable of permanent DOM changes, so now I'm learning PHP. Here's what I want to accomplish:

I want to have WC upload a single web page and then be able to grab innerHTML values from that page and place those values on other web pages, permanently if I so choose. Here's just one example:

If I want to keep a running rain diary web page, I'll need to grab the value of STAT$RAIN:TOTAL:YESTERDAY$ from my main web page and append that value to the running list of rainy day dates and their corresponding rain amounts --- permanently. I can do that with JavaScript, but it's not permanent, per se.

Where should I focus my PHP studies?

Thanks ahead of time!

Keith


saratogaWX

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Re: Help With Narrowing My PHP Studies
« Reply #1 on: June 08, 2013, 04:06:34 PM »
Hi Keith,

I think you may have a misconception about how web services and scripting work.  When a browser makes a request to a web server using http://.... it begins a transaction that completes when the browser has finished loading the requested item (and any parts also described by the embedded HTML markup). Once the loading is complete, the connection between browser and web server is terminated, and there is no 'memory' involved.

What the browser requests using http://... is usually a file that contains HTML markup which may instruct the browser to do additional requests to obtain scripts (both JavaScript and CSS styling) and images to make the page render in the browser.
The initial page requested may also have been constructed (by the web server) using PHP to produce the HTML on the page.
The JavaScript referenced by the page will execute only on the browser (not on the webserver), and the PHP is processed only on the webserver (not in the browser).  The DOM you refer to only exists in the browser and so can be modified by JavaScript, but not by PHP (which can only create HTML markup or in-page JavaScript to be executed by the browser).

So.. what you are asking for is not really feasible since the whole web thing is a transaction, not a 'state', so there is no permanency involved in the basic protocol.  The 'memory' would have to be provided using a database of some kind and PHP scripting on the webserver.

For your example to have a running list of rainy day dates+amounts, that sounds much like the NOAA-style climate report (which I think is not a current feature of WeatherCat) but looks like this
                  MONTHLY CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY for JUN. 2013

NAME: KCASARAT1   CITY: Saratoga   STATE: CA
ELEV:   375 ft  LAT:  37? 16' 28" N  LONG: 122? 01' 23" W

                   TEMPERATURE (?F), RAIN  (in), WIND SPEED (mph)

                                      HEAT  COOL        AVG
    MEAN                              DEG   DEG         WIND                 DOM
DAY TEMP  HIGH   TIME   LOW    TIME   DAYS  DAYS  RAIN  SPEED HIGH   TIME    DIR
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  72.8  94.7   2:55p  52.8   5:55a   3.2  10.9  0.00   0.9  14.0   4:00p   NNW
 2  67.0  85.9   1:35p  53.5   6:25a   3.6   5.6  0.00   0.7  11.0   1:55p     N
 3  65.1  83.4   1:35p  49.4   5:50a   5.2   5.3  0.00   0.8  11.0   3:25p    NE
 4  64.2  77.7   1:45p  53.6   5:10a   4.3   3.5  0.00   1.1  13.0   4:40p   NNW
 5  64.0  74.6   1:35p  56.5   4:20a   3.9   2.9  0.00   1.1  13.0   1:40p     N
 6  66.2  81.4   4:50p  55.9   6:10a   3.8   4.9  0.00   0.8  12.0   3:40p     N
 7  73.5  93.6   4:15p  56.5   6:30a   2.5  11.0  0.00   0.5  10.0   1:45p     N
 8  62.4  68.9  12:05a  58.9   6:15a   1.0   0.1  0.00   0.0   1.0   7:10a   NNW
 9
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    66.9  94.7     1    49.4     3    27.5  44.2  0.00   0.7  14.0     1       N
(example produced by WeatherLink).
You can also use the STMONTHLY$ tag to generate a complete set of month-to-date statistics that can be parsed by PHP, values selected and displayed on your page.  To be functional, you would need to have WeatherCat process and upload a template page with the STMONTHLY$ tag in it, and write a PHP script to slice/dice the output as you desire.

Hope this helps...

Best regards,
Ken
Ken True/Saratoga, CA, USA main site: saratoga-weather.org
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KeithC

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Re: Help With Narrowing My PHP Studies
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2013, 04:49:40 PM »
Thanks for that ultra-thorough explanation, Ken!

Your final sentence is really what I was asking (in my in my own little world  [lol]). I apologize for not articulating that, but I actually don't have the misconception that a web page has some sort of 'memory', and I am aware that JS works in the browser only. I do admit, however, that I'm not completely clear on how PHP will do what I want done, and thus my question. Here's your final sentence again to better articulate my question:

"To be functional, you would need to have WeatherCat process and upload a template page with the STMONTHLY$ tag in it, and write a PHP script to slice/dice the output as you desire."

Where should I focus my fledgling studies of PHP in order to be able to write a script that slices and dices from a WC template page with the output I desire?


Thanks!

Keith

saratogaWX

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Re: Help With Narrowing My PHP Studies
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2013, 11:05:40 PM »
Well, that's kinda a tall order since I don't know how much PHP you're already familiar with.  How about we approach "To be functional, you would need to have WeatherCat process and upload a template page with the STMONTHLY$ tag in it, and write a PHP script to slice/dice the output as you desire."
with some code examples on how the problem might be solved (I find I learn best by seeing the code :)

The basic structure for solving a 'get some data and present it' problem with PHP can be divided into three basic parts:
1) get some raw-data from somewhere
2) parse the data into PHP variables -- this can be the tricky part
3) use PHP echo/print statements with HTML to display the desired data on the page.

Remember that a PHP page is just an HTML page with some embedded PHP code in it, and everything between a starting <?php and the next ending ?> is treated as PHP code by the interpreter and is output as a 'null'/non-existent in the resulting HTML (unless the PHP code uses print/echo statements to cause output to appear).

For (1), 'get some raw-data', here's where the webtags for WeatherCat come in.  A simple statement like
Code: [Select]
<?php $rawdata 'STMONTHLY$';
?>
should (when the page is processed and uploaded to your website), cause $rawdata to have contents like
Saratoga-weather.org

Day      TempHi   TempLo   TempAv   HeatHi   HeatLo   HeatAv   ChillHi   ChillLo   ChillAv   DewPHi   DewPLo   DewPAv   HumHi   HumLo   HumAv   PresHi   PresLo   PresAv   R/hHi   R/hLo   R/hAv   Rain   AvWsHi   AvWsLo   AvWsAv   GustHi   GustLo   GustAv   WDir   WRun   SolHi   SolLo   SolAv   UVHi   UVLo   UVAv
1      94.7   52.8   72.8   91.6   52.8   72.6   94.7   52.8   72.8   56.3   45.2   51.5   86   20   54   29.94   29.78   29.85   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   6   0   1   14   0   2   221   22.4   948   0   336   10.5   0.0   2.7
2      85.9   53.5   66.9   84.6   53.5   67.2   85.9   53.5   66.9   57.7   48.6   53.2   89   35   64   29.79   29.68   29.74   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   4   0   1   11   0   2   128   18.0   933   0   326   9.7   0.0   2.5
3      83.4   49.4   65.2   82.5   49.4   65.9   83.4   49.4   65.2   58.4   46.0   52.5   91   37   67   29.86   29.72   29.78   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   4   0   1   11   0   2   88   20.1   922   0   321   8.9   0.0   2.3
4      77.7   53.6   64.3   79.0   53.6   65.2   77.7   53.6   64.3   58.2   50.0   53.8   91   48   71   29.97   29.85   29.90   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   5   0   1   13   0   3   129   26.8   897   0   309   9.1   0.0   2.4
5      74.6   56.5   63.9   77.5   56.5   65.3   74.6   56.5   63.9   57.0   51.4   53.6   85   51   71   29.99   29.92   29.96   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   4   0   1   13   0   3   108   27.2   908   0   310   9.8   0.0   2.6
6      81.4   55.9   66.2   81.6   55.9   66.8   81.4   55.9   66.2   58.9   50.8   54.4   85   44   68   29.96   29.85   29.91   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   4   0   1   12   0   3   121   19.9   906   0   297   10.3   0.0   2.6
7      93.6   56.5   73.7   94.3   56.5   74.1   93.6   56.5   73.7   62.5   52.4   57.1   87   33   60   29.89   29.73   29.81   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   3   0   0   10   0   2   184   11.5   926   0   325   10.3   0.0   2.7
8      76.7   58.9   65.1   78.5   58.9   65.6   76.7   58.9   65.1   60.2   50.3   54.9   84   55   70   29.75   29.71   29.73   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   0   0   0   3   0   0   295   0.0   560   0   157   3.4   0.0   0.7

Monthly High   94.7   58.9   73.7   94.3   58.9   74.1   94.7   58.9   73.7   62.5   52.4   57.1   91   55   71   29.99   29.92   29.96   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   6   0   1   14   0   3   -   27.2   948   0   336   10.5   0.0   2.7
Monthly Low    74.6   49.4   63.9   77.5   49.4   65.2   74.6   49.4   63.9   56.3   45.2   51.5   84   20   54   29.75   29.68   29.73   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   0   0   0   3   0   0   -   0.0   560   0   157   3.4   0.0   0.7
Monthly Average   83.5   54.6   67.3   83.7   54.6   67.8   83.5   54.6   67.3   58.7   49.3   53.9   87   40   66   29.89   29.78   29.83   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   4   0   1   11   0   2   159   18.2   875   0   298   9.0   0.0   2.3
Monthly Total   
which is ripe for parsing.

(2) Let's slice and dice that data into convenient arrays by using something like
Code: [Select]
<?php $datalines explode("\n",$rawdata); ?> which puts those lines into an array $datalines based on the new-line character.
Then a
Code: [Select]
<?php
foreach ($datalines as $i => $line) { ... } ?>
can walk through each separate $line and some processing can be done like
Code: [Select]
<?php
 $Rain 
= array(); // blank storage area for rain values

 
foreach ($datalines as $i =>$line ) {
   
preg_split("|\s+|",$line,$vals);  // carve up the lines into values by splitting on whitespace
  
if(isset($vals[0]) and preg_match('|^\d+$|',$vals[0]) ) {
    
// got one of the value lines we're looking for -- save it away in the $Rain array
    
$Rain[$vals[0]] = $vals[22]; // the rain total field is number 22 (counting from 0) in the record
  
}
}
// now the $Rain[] array is ordered by day with the value of rain for that day as the contents of that array entry.
?>
What we did above was walk through each line (with the foreach), use preg_split to put the individual values on that line into an array $vals, see if the first $vals is numeric (meaning a day-of-the-month) and if so, collecting the data we wanted for later use.

Now in part 3 (present the data) you can do something simple like
Code: [Select]
<?php
foreach ($Rain as $day => $amount) {
  print 
"Day: $day had $amount of rain.<br/>\n";
}
?>
to print the list.

Hopefully this will give you enough fodder to start your PHP exploration.  Pretty much all of my 'get-data-and-format' scripts follow this general structure so using my scripts as examples is also recommended as ways of doing stuff with PHP.

Best regards,
Ken
Ken True/Saratoga, CA, USA main site: saratoga-weather.org
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KeithC

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Re: Help With Narrowing My PHP Studies
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2013, 11:22:32 PM »
EXACTLY what I was looking for!!!!!!!!! You are the Titan of all Titans!!!

Thanks so much, Ken!

Tailspin45

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Re: Help With Narrowing My PHP Studies
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2013, 02:24:05 AM »
Wow! That's was great Ken! I learned a lot too!
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