PHP Programming                                                     Spring 2015

                          Exercise: File IO

1.  Assign the pathname "slotcar.txt" to the variable $fName.


2.  Show how to issue an open for reading from the file $fName and assign 
    the return value to a file pointer named $fpR.  Include a clause to 
    print the message "File not found/opened" should there be an unsuccessful
    attempt to open.


3.  Open the file "slotcar.prn" for writing and and assign the return value to 
    $fpW.  Include a clause to print the message "File not found/opened" 
    should there be an unsuccessful attempt to open.

     
4.  Apply the fgets function to input a line of text from $fpR and assign 
    that string to $lineIn. Print (echo) $lineIn.


Given "slotcar.txt" has the following fixed-format layout: Id (an integer,
    in positions 0-3, and the key); Brand (string, 5-13); Model (string, 
    15-25); Cost (float, two dec places, 27-33), quantity, 34; plus "newline".  
5.  Use the function substr ($fullStringName, $nameStart, $nameLength) to
    extract the field components of $lineIn and assign to $id, $name, 
    $category, and $cost respectively.




 
6.  Show how to use the fread function to input individual field values and
    store in $id, $name, $category, $cost, and $quantity.  Also input the
    "newline" (two bytes on windows, one on unix/linux) to move the file 
    pointer to the start of the next line of data. Print (echo) $lineIn.




7.  For the slotcar file "slotcar.csv" (delimited with commas instead of fixed
    format) show how to use the fgetcsv function to input a line and store the 
    data in an array named $csvArray.  After input, assign field values to the
    array elements to $id, $name, etc (e.g. $id = $csvArray[0] ).





8.  Apply the sprintf function [i.e. sprintf(formatSpecifier(s), identifiers)]
    to format and assign the individual field values to a string named $linePrn.


9.  Use the fwrite function (fwrite($fp, $identifier) to output $linePrn to 
   "slotcar.prn".


10. Close the files.