WordPress.org

1. chiptape
   Member
   Posted 3 years ago #
   

   Howdy.

   I installed WordPress and promptly got lost.

   Here's one of my pages that I'd like to WordPress:
   http://www.chiptape.com/chiptape/games.htm

   I've no idea how.

   It's a pain when I add games. I hafta code everything in.

   Can I make a database of files, game titles, game developers' links, descriptions, screenshots? And mebbe automate displaying filenames and filesizes?

   I didn't look into themes or layout or whatever yet. I assume I'll be able to figure that out. I'm more concerned about how to dynamically generate a page from a database.

   The only thing I found that sounded like what I wanted was at http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Features

   "Dynamic page generation
   No rebuilding of all your pages each time you update your weblog, or any aspect of it. All pages are generated using the database and the templates each time a page from your weblog is requested by a viewer. This means that updating your weblog, or its design is as fast as possible, and required server storage space usage is minimal."

   Thanks!

2. vtxyzzy
   Member
   Posted 3 years ago #
   

   I am not sure I really understand your question, but here goes.

   WP uses a database to store Pages and Posts (among other things). I think what you want is to create a Post for each game, with the image, links, description, etc. Then the theme will display multiple posts on a page. To add a game, you would just create a new Post.

   You can assign Categories and Tags to posts to allow searching for specific posts. WP has built-in methods for providing these searches.

   The 'Dynamic page generation' mentioned above refers to the use of the posts in the database to create the display. You do not have to change any display logic, only add posts.

   If this does not answer your question, please explain further what you want.

3. chiptape
   Member
   Posted 3 years ago #
   

   Ok, thanks.

   Ok, I'd have a database with a line like this for each game:

   Screenshot - pac-mam.jpg
   Title - PAC-MAN
   File - pac-man.exe
   Filename - pac-man.exe
   Filesize - 234 KB
   Game developer URL - "http://www.pacman.com"
   Description - Eat dots.

   But, the database wouldn't just be text. Like for File, it would contain the actual file. I don't know how to do this. The databases I've worked with have all just contained text.

   My current page displays almost the same info for each game. So I just want a php, javascript or something (I don't really know how to use php or javascript) like this:

   10 Read database line one

   20 left side of page:
   40 <screenshot>

   50 right side of page:
   60 <game title>
   70 <filename> <link to file>
   80 <filesize>
   90 <game developer URL>
   100 <description>

   110 Read next database line
   120 Goto 20 until end of database

   In other words, the code would be pretty short. It would just loop until the database lines were all read.

   I'm trying to avoid adding code each time I add a game. I just want to upload files, screenshots, URLs, descriptions, whatever to the database, and the php or whatever generates the page by reading the database.

   Sounds like adding a post would be about the same as I'm doing now. Does the "Dynamic page generation" just refer to the look or style of the post and not refer to the content?

   Thanks!

4. vtxyzzy
   Member
   Posted 3 years ago #
   

   The content is pulled from the database for each post. You would not add code for each game, only a post. The theme template would format the post and display it.

   If you want to keep each data item in a separate field in the database, you can use Custom Fields. For a new game, you would add a new post and fill in its Custom Fields - no coding involved.

Topic Closed

This topic has been closed to new replies.