need some guidence about a poster

[dougvcd]

i have a web site for lost and found pets in plymouth
you fill out a form with the details etc and this then gets put in a database but what i want to do is from the form use the details in a poster as well that they can print off if they want to at the same time
if you see what i mean
and i havnt got a clue where to start
cheers
Doug

[AnthonySterling]

Morning Doug,

You could use many of the PHP PDF libraries to create a poster.

Take a look at FPDF and TCPDF.

[dougvcd]

thanks bullet
that looks complicated to me will have to study it a bit more
but cheers
Doug

[Cups]

If that looks like too much work then consider this.

Manipulate your html output slightly so that you have a div inside your page that contains, the heading, the photo, some text.

Make a css file called print.css and in that hide everything except that div, you can set the font size and image orientation so that it will print onto a single page from most printers.

Otherwise, hide everything and just reveal the items in your DOM that you want printed, and tell the print stylesheet to do the rest.

You could have a large H1 that is hidden from the webpage view that only appears in the print view saying "L O S T" at the top.

<h1>Your normal header</h1>
<h1 class="print">L O S T</h1>
<img src = "dog23.jpg" />

your normal css would have a rule like;

.print {display: none ;}

I am sure a couple of us will test it on our kit at home too for you if you wanted to be reassured it printed on a number of OS/Browser/Printer combinations.

More here:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=print+only+css

The PDF would probably look much nicer though.

[dougvcd]

ok i have a div on form called pager
this is the code

<div id="pager">
		<div class="innerpage">
			<h3>Report</h3>
				<p>Here you can Report Lost or Found Pets</p>
				<form action="add1.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
   <table width="604" border="0" cellspacing="5">
    <tr>
      <td><span class="style2">Name: <span class="style3">not shown</span></span></td>
      <td>
        <div class="style2">
          <input name="name" type="text" id="name" size="30" />
        </div></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><span class="style2">Email:</span> not shown</td>
      <td><input name="email" type="text" id="email" size="30" /></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><span class="style2">Tel:</span></td>
      <td><input name="tel" type="text" id="tel" size="15" /></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><span class="style2">Lost/Found:</span></td>
      <td><select name="state">
          <option value="lost">LOST</option>
          <option value="found">FOUND</option>
        </select>
          <br /></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><span class="style2">Dog/Cat:</span></td>
      <td><select name="type">
          <option value="dog">Dog</option>
          <option value="cat">Cat</option>
        </select>
          <br /></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><span class="style2">Area: Found or Lost</span></td>
      <td><input name="area" type="text" id="area" size="30" /></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td valign="top"><span class="style2">Description:</span></td>
      <td><textarea name="desc" cols="30" rows="6" id="desc"></textarea></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Photo:</td>
      <td><input type="file" name="pic" /></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Anti-Spam Question. How many legs on a Dog ?</td>
      <td><input name="leg" type="text" id="leg" size="3" /></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><input name="send" type="submit" id="send" onclick="MM_validateForm('name','','R','email','','NisEmail','tel','','RisNum','area','','R','desc','','R');return document.MM_returnValue" value="Send" /></td>
    </tr>
  </table>
</form>

where do i go from here
with the css.print to start with
cheers
Doug

[Cups]

I would have thought you make another page which retrieves the record of a single lost pet. You then put the div tags where you like.

How do you get the records out for review at the moment then?

[dougvcd]

i wanted the poster to be available when peeps are reporting lost or found
so they fill the above report out then i say put a button on bottom to say some thing like preview poster before the info goes to database
if you see what i mean
this may not be poss i dont know
cheers
Doug

[Cups]

I had assumed you would save the data, then allow them to view/print a poster.

This would be easier to implement if, as I had assumed - perhaps wrongly, that they were submitting you an image of the lost pet.

If this is not the scenario perhaps you'd better explain a little more.

[dougvcd]

thanks for reply Cups
i did have one thought and that was to make a web page filled out with details as a sample then let them edit it as nes
i am presuming if i made it an editable web page that would be a lot simpler
please let me know what you think
cheers
Doug

[Cups]

If you mean have a form that does not submit any data, just creates a poster, I dont see how that would work without a lot of JS jiggery-pokery.

When someone reports a lost pet, do you store the details at the moment? If so, how?

[dougvcd]

at the moment when the form is filled out it sends it to a database
cheers
Doug

[Cups]

So why not just create a page which retrieves a single record i.e. name, tel, photo etc into a page which is optimised for printing using the methods I linked to and call it "create a poster"?

[dougvcd]

ok buddy i think i see what you mean
so i would need a page to login with there name
then another page with all the details
got it in theory now to try in practice he he he
cheers
one question
in mysql select where name = ?
how do i use a variable for the name
cheers
Doug

//Retrieves data from MySQL

 $data = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM register where name =?") or die(mysql_error());

//Puts it into an array 
while($info = mysql_fetch_array( $data )) 
{ 
//Outputs the image and other data
Echo "<b>ID:</b> ".$info['id'] . " <br>";
Echo "<b>Type:</b> ".$info['type'] . " <br>";
Echo "<b>State:</b> ".$info['state'] . " <br>";
Echo "<b>Area:</b> ".$info['area'] . " <br>";
Echo "<b>Description:</b> ".$info['desc'] . " <br>";
Echo "<b>Name:</b> ".$info['name'] . " <br>";
Echo "<b>Email:</b> ".$info['email'] . " <br>";
Echo "<b>Tel:</b> ".$info['tel'] . " <br>";
Echo "<b>Date of listing:</b> ".$info['date'] . " <br>";

Echo "<hr>";
} 
mysql_close();

?> 

[Cups]

You are using the ? as if you are using the PDO or Mysqli extensions, called a placeholder. You need to make sure they are installed before you can use them (check your phpinfo() readout)

If, as your sample suggests, you are using the straight mysql_* functions then you need to pass it the name from the previous form.

$_GET['name'] = "Snowy" ;

like so:

'SELECT
*
FROM register
where name = "' . mysql_real_escape_string( $_GET['name'] ) .'"';

HTH

[dougvcd]

ok cupps have got a bit further now
have the page displayed on screen would you have a look and see what you think
now the next step is the printing
ok the web site is
djbcaravanhire.co.uk
choose poster maker
and name Doug
cheers
Doug
this is my testing site

[Cups]

Seems fine to me, though the print button appears on the print preview and on hard copy, which you probably wouldn't want. (tested on win/FF3/laserjet 4000)

The url appearing on the page can only be removed by the user changing their browser settings locally, but you could use it to create a url straight to the correct record.

www .yoursite/lost-pet/doug

You just need to continue to tailor the output to suit something which would appear in a shop window, because presumably the posters will go up around where the pet was lost.

You could go on and use SBs idea, and create a pdf from the information.

[dougvcd]

cheers for that how do i stop the buttons from printing as just added another for home
i did look at pdf but could not understand how to use it
i did see on the net a html to pdf converter not sure if that would do
but a BIG thanks for your help
Doug

[Cups]

Thats just a matter of creating an @print rule containing;

input {display:none;}

e.g. change the css to this, and print preview, the buttons have gone.

<style type="text/css" media="screen">
.style1 {
	text-align: center;
	font-size: xx-large;
}
.style2 {
	text-align: center;
}
 
</style>
 
<style type="text/css" media="print">
.style1 {
	text-align: center;
	font-size: xx-large;
}
.style2 {
	text-align: center;
}
 
input {display: none; }
 
</style>

HTH

Do you see how you could potentially make any page which contain the record of a lost pet into a print-friendly poster just by juggling the elements on the page and having appropriate css settings?

[dougvcd]

sorry Cups have made a mistake and cant find what i have done wrong
using your code all was ok then i took your code and put it in a css page
now it dont work if you could have a quick look
cheer
Doug
ok here is print.css

<style type="text/css" media="screen">
.style1 {
       text-align: center;
       font-size: xx-large;
       color:blue;
}
.style2 {
       text-align: center;
       font-size:x-large;
       font-weight:bold;
       color:black;
}
.style3 {
       text-align: center;
       font-size:xx-large;
       font-weight:bolder;
       color:maroon;
}

</style>

<style type="text/css" media="print">
.style1 {
       text-align: center;
       font-size: xx-large;
}
.style2 {
       text-align: center;
}

input {display: none; }

</style> 

and here is what i put on select.php page

<title>Select</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="print.css" type="text/css" />
</head>

[Cups]

You need to read the info on those sites that google found with that search higher up.

<style> tags are not stored in a css file, just the rules.

You have to link to the css file with the correct media attribute.

<link rel="stylesheet"
   type="text/css"
   media="print" href="print.css" />

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/goingtoprint/