simple way to display data in a .txt file on a web

Question

Working on a project, one of the webpages will display a list of people (specifically, a list of people from a graduation class that haven't been located yet). Instead of manually updating these lists in tables which is a boneheaded Web 1.0 way of doing it, I'd like to take the submitted list of names, convert them to a simple .txt list, and then display that list on the webpage.

So far, the easist way to do this is to use an iframe element... only thing is, I cannot (or don't know how to) apply any text styling to the contents of the iframe. I've published a sample of what I've been able to accomplish here: http://dongarber.com/test//helpus-iframetest.html

The default font is courier, and the client probably ain't gonna be too keen on it. Is there a better way to do this, that's doesn't require ASP.NET or a database?

#list  p {
    font: arial;
    font-size: 14px;
}

...


    <p>Help us locate all of our classmates from the High School class of 1961. If  you know&nbsp;where they live&nbsp;or their e-mail addresses contact the Reunion Committee.</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>
    <div id="list"><p><iframe src="missingmen.txt" width=200 height=400 frameborder=0 ></iframe></p></div>



  </div>

Answer 1

If you just want to throw the contents of the file onto the screen you can try using PHP.

<?php
    $myfilename = "mytextfile.txt";
    if(file_exists($myfilename)){
      echo file_get_contents($myfilename);
    }
?>

---

Answer 2

I find that if I try things that others say do not work, it's how I learn the most.

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>README.txt</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="list">
  <p><iframe src="README.txt" frameborder="0" height="400"
      width="95%"></iframe></p>
</div>

This worked for me. I used the yellow background-color that I set in the stylesheet.

#list  p {
    font: arial;
    font-size: 14px;
    background-color: yellow ;
}

Answer 3

In more recent browsers code like below may be enough.

<object data="https://www.w3.org/TR/PNG/iso_8859-1.txt" width="300" height="200">
Not supported
</object>

Answer 4

You cannot style a text file, it must be HTML

Answer 5

Easy way:

• Rename missingmen.txt to missingmen.html.
• Add a single line to the top of missingmen.html:
  <link href="txtstyle.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
• Create a file called txtstyle.css, and add to it a line like this:
  html, body {font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif}

Answer 6

That's the code I use:

<?php   
    $path="C:/foopath/";
    $file="foofile.txt";

    //read file contents
    $content="
        <h2>$file</h2>
            <code>
                <pre>".htmlspecialchars(file_get_contents("$path/$file"))."</pre>
            </code>";

    //display
    echo $content;
?>

Keep in mind that if the user can modify $path or $file (for example via $_GET or $_POST), he/she will be able to see all your source files (danger!)