Chris Curtis dot Org

Sometimes it is useful to be able to retrieve information from the currently logged-in member’s profile in Machine:.  This could be used for something as simple as displaying the user’s “Screen Name” to a situation where you might use the information as input data in a new function.  In the standard pMachine distribution there is no simple way to do this.

Here is a simple function add-on that you can use to retrieve this data.

"Installing” and using this add-on should be simple:

1. Create a new file in your pm/scripts/ directory. Call it something like “member_info.php”.

2. Paste this code into the file. Make sure there’s no space at the end after the closing ”?>”:

<?php

function current_member_field($field="", $type="") {

// If you're running a PHP version prior to v4.1 then you'll need
// to edit these lines and replace "$_COOKIE" with
// "$HTTP_COOKIE_VARS"
global $db_members;

$member_code = $_COOKIE['member_code'];
$member_name = $_COOKIE['member_name'];

// If the field isn't set, the function fails
if ($field == "") return false;

// If the current member has the cookies set then
// query the member table for the specified field
if ( isset($member_name) && isset($member_code) ) {
$db = new DB();
$query = new DB_query($db, "SELECT $field FROM $db_members WHERE username = '$member_name'");
$query->db_fetch_object();
$field_data = $query->obj->$field;
}

// If the cookies aren't set then the function fails
else {
return false;
}

// Data can either be 'return'ed or 'echo'ed
// If $type is set to "0" (zero) the data will be returned so that it can
// be used in other PHP functions
// If $type is set to "1" or not specified the data will be echoed to the
// browser.  This is usually the expected behavior
if ($type == "0") {
return $field_data;
}
else {
echo $field_data;
}

}

?>

3. To use the new tag, simply do so like this:

<?php current_member_field("fieldnamegoeshere", 1); ?>

Parameters

There are two parameters available in the function.

Field: The first parameter is required and is the name of the field for which you want to retrieve the information.  Any of the fields in the “pm_members” table are available for use.

Common fields you might want use use include: username, signature, email, location, url, occupation, interests, bio, icq, aol_im, yahoo_im, msn_im, numentries, and numcomments.  This is not an exhaustive list of the possible values.

Type: This second parameter is optional.  If you leave this parameter blank (or use a “1") then the function will simply echo the data to the screen, similar to most pMachine functions.  This is the functionality most people will expect.

If you place a zero ("0") as the second parameter, the function will return the data instead of echo it.  This is useful if you want to assign the data to a PHP variable or use it inside a PHP function.

Posted Monday January 12, 2004 in pMachine / ExpressionEngine by Chris Curtis

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