ACP Mod - Where should generated text files be stored?

microUgly · Post by **microUgly** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:17 am

I have an ACP module that needs to generate some text files. The url for the text files will then be loaded by flash object in the ACP. The files will be constantly overwritten.

Where is the best place to write these files to? I was thinking the cache, since it's the only folder I know of that will have write access, but web access is forbidden (the flash object needs a URL).

I could make the text files php files, but that would require having to duplicate a lot of code, implement security, etc ,etc. And I would still need to store it somewhere. If they are just plain text files I don't need to be concerned about people prodding them if they find them.

I'm aiming to make the mod easily distributable.

Post by **Brf** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:27 pm

Why dont you just create a new folder?

microUgly · Post by **microUgly** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:15 pm

Brf wrote:Why dont you just create a new folder?

I didn't want to create unneccessary extra steps if an appropriate area already exists. I'm thinking I might need to step back and look at the problem again. Writing a text file isn't going to be a good solution in a multi-user system.

th23 · Post by **th23** » Thu May 01, 2008 8:22 am

Maybe think about storing the value in the $config array and pass the value on to the flash as a param value...just came across my mind, can't tell you how to handle this in Flash

JRSweets · Post by **JRSweets** » Thu May 01, 2008 1:35 pm

microUgly wrote:I have an ACP module that needs to generate some text files. The url for the text files will then be loaded by flash object in the ACP. The files will be constantly overwritten.

Where is the best place to write these files to? I was thinking the cache, since it's the only folder I know of that will have write access, but web access is forbidden (the flash object needs a URL).

I could make the text files php files, but that would require having to duplicate a lot of code, implement security, etc ,etc. And I would still need to store it somewhere. If they are just plain text files I don't need to be concerned about people prodding them if they find them.

I'm aiming to make the mod easily distributable.

What about the /store folder? It should be writable...

microUgly · Post by **microUgly** » Fri May 02, 2008 1:18 am

Nah, store is forbidden also.

I've started a new thread that looks at the overall problem - http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 1&t=930335

igorw · Post by **igorw** » Fri May 02, 2008 10:51 am

I don't see why you are generating text files anyway. Why don't you just generate them in the ACP module? You just add a new "text" mode and have the swf call that. No need to write to any files at all.

microUgly · Post by **microUgly** » Mon May 05, 2008 11:16 pm

eviL<3 wrote:I don't see why you are generating text files anyway. Why don't you just generate them in the ACP module? You just add a new "text" mode and have the swf call that. No need to write to any files at all.

This is the kind of suggestion I was looking for

But I don't quite get how it would work. When you say "text mode" you do mean a mode of a module (where a module can have several modes). How do you create a plain text mode--one that doesn't use the ACP template?

microUgly · Post by **microUgly** » Tue May 06, 2008 12:44 am

Don't answer that. I really should have looked at how modules worked before asking.

What i've done is create an acp style that doesn't include any files and uses only one template variable to create the plain text mode. The plain text template file is loaded only for that mode, otherwise all other modes load the normal template file.

I also wasn't sure about how to properly write the URL for the mode because of the session id, but I think append_sid gets around that.

I really like how modules work in phpBB3.

igorw · Post by **igorw** » Tue May 06, 2008 2:14 pm

In fact, for this you don't even have to use the template system.

Code: Select all

<?php

header('Content-type: text/plain; charset=utf-8');

echo 'I am a text file.';

exit;

?>

microUgly · Post by **microUgly** » Wed May 07, 2008 12:01 am

Won't this upset the module? I found that the mode needed a template file to be loaded otherwise phpBB reported an error.

I probably need to use the header code anyway--but I think I have to still specify a template file.

microUgly · Post by **microUgly** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:33 am

Unfortunately, I can't set the header content type. I think the template code must override it.

If I don't define $this->tpl_name I get the error:

General Error
template->_tpl_load_file(): File ./style/.html does not exist or is empty

Is there a trick to get around this? It doesn't really matter if I use a template or not, but I think it would be best to set the content type to plain text. Thanks.

igorw · Post by **igorw** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:19 pm

It seems you forgot the exit;, if that's missing then it tries to load a template file.

microUgly · Post by **microUgly** » Wed May 07, 2008 11:58 pm

Ah, thankyou. This has worked charm. Thanks for your guidance. I would never have thought to use a mode to generate the text file.

igorw · Post by **igorw** » Thu May 08, 2008 3:19 pm

No problem, glad to help

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