questions & answers

[PaulGrimshaw]

I have a variable that I want to put questions and answers into. There maybe one Q&A or lots.

Can anyone think of how I could parse the variable using php so I can format it nicely? e.g.

from:
(q)question text(q)(a)answer text(a)

to:
<div class="qa">
<div class="q">question text</div>
<div class="a">answer text</div>
</div>

or would it be easier just to add this all ot the variable at the time of entry so no parsing is required... or, something else entirely...?

Thanks,
Paul.

[NormanRouxel]

I'd recommend using

(q)question text(a)answer text(q)question text(a)answer text

as this assumes that an answer follows a question so there's no need for extra (q) or (a) aty the end of the items.

Try (untested)

// format
// (q)question(a)answer(q)question(a)answer.....

$qtext = '<actinic:variable name="Questions" encoding="perl" selectable="false" />';
if ( $qtext != '' ) 
	{
	$qtext = preg_replace('/\(q\)/', '<div class="q">', $qtext, 1);// first (q) doesn't end previous item
	$qtext = str_replace('(q)', '</div><div class="q">', $qtext);	// subsequent (q) end previous (a)
	$qtext = str_replace('(a)', '</div><div class="a">', $qtext);	// each (a) ends prior (q) 
	$qtext .= '</div>';						// end final (a)
	echo '<div class="qa">' . $qtext . '</div>';
	}

[PaulGrimshaw]

excellent! I got it working perfectly for what I need! I did have to change the str_ireplace to str_replace to get it to work, don't know what the difference is, but its all working fine now.

Thanks,
paul.

[NormanRouxel]

Ahah - str_ireplace is case insensitive but needs PHP5. The Actinic inbuilt PHP is 4.12. Using str_replace is fine but you'll have to remember to type (q) and (a) in lower-case.

I've amended my post above in case others use it.