Infinite loop

[kosmokramer]

I am trying to pull news stories from the CNN website, and display them on my webpage (giving them credit for the stories of course). I have gotten it all to work except for one minor detail. The links are relative to my site rather than the CNN website. So, I have been trying to parse the information to add in the full link and have been running into problems. Here's my code:

<?php

  function writeInfoToString()
  {
    $someContent = implode('', file(&quot;[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.cnn.com/index.html&quot;));[/URL]
    readAndSearchTheString($someContent);
  }
  function readAndSearchTheString($someContent)
  {
    $storyCounter = 0;
    $cnnString = 'cnnMainNewT2';
    $divDivider = '</div>';
    $linkDivider = '<a href=&quot;';
    $endLocation = 0;
    $newsStories = array();
    $location1 = 0;


    while($storyCounter<4 && $someContent)
    {
       $location1 = (strpos($someContent,$cnnString, $endLocation))+14;
       $endLocation = strpos($someContent, $divDivider, $location1);
       $tempSubstring = trim(substr($someContent,$location1,($endLocation-$location1)));
       $dividerPos = 0;
       while($dividerPos < strlen($tempSubstring))
       {
           $hrefLocation = strpos($tempSubstring, $linkDivider, $dividerPos);
           $dividerPos = strpos($tempSubstring,'/',$hrefLocation);
           $newTempSubstring = substr_replace($tempSubstring,'[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.cnn.com',$dividerPos,0);[/URL]
       }
       $newsStories[$storyCounter] = $newTempSubstring;
       $storyCounter++;
    }
    for($i = 0;$i<$storyCounter;$i++)
    {
       echo(&quot;<br>$newsStories[$i]<br>&quot;);
    }
  }
?>

when I run the code, the news stories come out in a string similar to this:

• <a href=&quot;/2003/ALLPOLITICS/12/08/elec04.medicare/index.html&quot;>Medicare bill becomes law</a>
| <a href=&quot;javascript:CNN_openPopup('/interactive/allpolitics/0311/medicare.plans/frameset.exclude.html','620x430','toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,width=620,height=430')&quot;>Interactive</a>
| <img src=&quot;[URL unfurl="true"]http://i.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/1.0/misc/premium.gif&quot;[/URL] alt=&quot;premium content&quot; width=&quot;9&quot; height=&quot;11&quot; hspace=&quot;0&quot; vspace=&quot;0&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; align=&quot;absmiddle&quot;> <a href=&quot;javascript:LaunchVideo('/politics/2003/12/08/lok.medicare.bill.cnn.','300k');&quot;>Video</a><br>

I can get the first link to work (without the use of a loop to go through the news story), but when I try to use a loop to search for all other links in the story, it gives me an infinite loop. Any ideas?

 

[kosmokramer]

Any responses?

 

[MikeBronner]

Do this:

<?php

  function writeInfoToString()
  {
    $someContent = implode('', file(&quot;[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.cnn.com/index.html&quot;));[/URL]
    readAndSearchTheString($someContent);
  }
  function readAndSearchTheString($someContent)
  {
    $storyCounter = 0;
    $cnnString = 'cnnMainNewT2';
    $divDivider = '</div>';
    $linkDivider = '<a href=&quot;';
    $endLocation = 0;
    $newsStories = array();
    $location1 = 0;


    while($storyCounter<4 && $someContent)
    {
       $location1 = (strpos($someContent,$cnnString, $endLocation))+14;
       $endLocation = strpos($someContent, $divDivider, $location1);
       $tempSubstring = trim(substr($someContent,$location1,($endLocation-$location1)));
       $dividerPos = 0;
       while($dividerPos + 1 < strrpos($tempSubstring, '/'))
       {	
           $dividerPos = strpos($tempSubstring,'/',$dividerPos + 1);
           $newTempSubstring = substr_replace($tempSubstring,'[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.cnn.com',$dividerPos,0);[/URL]
       }
       $newsStories[$storyCounter] = $newTempSubstring;
       $storyCounter++;
    }
    for($i = 0;$i<$storyCounter;$i++)
    {
       echo(&quot;<br>$newsStories[$i]<br>&quot;);
    }
  }
?>

Hope that helps

Take Care,
Mike

 

[kosmokramer]

Thanks for your help. Unfortunately, your method only corrects the first link. I need to search through the whole story for any instance of a link so it can be changed. If you look at the example story listed in my first post, there are three links that have to be corrected. So, what I need to do is loop through the length of the string and insert

http://www.cnn.com

before the relative link ("

http://www.cnn.com/something

goes here.htm" instead of "/something goes here.htm&quot. If I leave it as is, the link resolves to my domain instead of CNN which will result in a dead link!!

 

[MikeBronner]

Here's the code with the wording link

<?php

  function writeInfoToString()
  {
    $someContent = implode('', file(&quot;[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.cnn.com/index.html&quot;));[/URL]
    readAndSearchTheString($someContent);
  }
  function readAndSearchTheString($someContent)
  {
    $storyCounter = 0;
    $cnnString = 'cnnMainNewT2';
    $divDivider = '</div>';
    $linkDivider = '<a href=&quot;';
    $endLocation = 0;
    $newsStories = array();
    $location1 = 0;


    while($storyCounter<4 && $someContent)
    {
       $location1 = (strpos($someContent,$cnnString, $endLocation))+14;
       $endLocation = strpos($someContent, $divDivider, $location1);
       $tempSubstring = trim(substr($someContent,$location1,($endLocation-$location1)));
       $dividerPos = 0;
       while($dividerPos + 1 < strrpos($tempSubstring, '/'))
       {    
           $dividerPos = strpos($tempSubstring,'/',$dividerPos + 1);
           $newTempSubstring = substr_replace($tempSubstring,'[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.cnn.com',$dividerPos,0);[/URL]
       }
       $newsStories[$storyCounter] = str_replace('href=&quot;','href=&quot;[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.cnn.com',[/URL] $newTempSubstring);
       $storyCounter++;
    }
    for($i = 0;$i<$storyCounter;$i++)
    {
       echo(&quot;<br>$newsStories[$i]<br>&quot;);
    }
  }
?>

Take Care,
Mike

 

[kosmokramer]

Hey. Thanks again, but I just figured it out a day or so ago. It isn't quite as elegant as yours, but hey, who needs an elegant solution as long as it works!

Paul