Displaying user avatar or default avatar on search

Question

Im having a problem with my PHP search script. I'm building a social networking site where one can search for a user, an event or a club. I would like the search results to display a user avatar thumb or a default thumb if none has been uploaded. Im testing on localhost. User avatar's are stored in the User_Images (c:\\wamp\\www\\NNL\\User_Images) folder while the default avatar is stored in c:\\wamp\\www\\NNL\\Style\\Images\\default_avatar.png.

The following is my PHP code:

<?php
while ($row_user = mysql_fetch_assoc($user))
{
  echo "\n<table width='500' border='0'>";
  echo "\n\t<tr>";
  echo "<td width='50' height='50' align='center' valign='middle'><a href='user_view.php?user_id=".$row_user['user_id']."'>
  <img src=User_Images/$row_user[picture_thumb_url] !=''? $row_user[picture_thumb_url]: '../Style/Images/default_avatar.png'
  border='0' height='50' width='50'/></a></td>";
  echo "<td width='140' class='ordinary_text_12'>" .$row_user['user_first_name']. "</td>";
  echo "<td width='140' class='ordinary_text_12'>" .$row_user['user_last_name']. "</td>";
  echo "<td width='140' class='ordinary_text_12'>" .$row_user['username']. "</td>";
  echo "<td width='30'><a class='text_12_link_green' href='user_view.php?user_id=".$row_user['user_id']."'>View</a></td>";
  echo "\n\t</tr>";
  echo "\n</table>";
}
?>
<?php
while ($row_event = mysql_fetch_assoc($event))
{
  echo "\n<table width='500' border='0'>";
  echo "\n\t<tr>";
  echo "<td width='50' height='50' align='center' valign='middle'><a href='#table_index.php'>
  <img src='Images/$row_event[event_thumb_url]' border='0' height='50' width='50'/></a></td>";
  echo "<td width='140' class='ordinary_text_12'>" .$row_event['event_name']. "</td>";
  echo "<td width='140' class='ordinary_text_12'>" .$row_event['event_venue']. "</td>";
  echo "<td width='140' class='ordinary_text_12'>" .$row_event['event_date']. "</td>";
  echo "<td width='30'><a class='text_12_link_green' href='#user_view.php?user_id=".$row_user['username']."'>View</a></td>";
  echo "\n\t</tr>";
  echo "\n</table>";
}
?>
<?php
while ($row_establishment = mysql_fetch_assoc($establishment))
{
  echo "\n<table width='500' border='0'>";
  echo "\n\t<tr>";
  echo "<td width='50' height='50' align='center' valign='middle'><a href='#table_index.php'>
  <img src='Establishment_Images/$row_establishment[establishment_thumb_url]' border='0' height='50' width='50'/></a></td>";
  echo "<td width='140' class='ordinary_text_12'>" .$row_establishment['establishment_name']. "</td>";
  echo "<td width='140' class='ordinary_text_12'>" .$row_establishment['location_name']. "</td>";
  echo "<td width='140' class='ordinary_text_12'>" .$row_establishment['establishment_pricing']. "</td>";
  echo "<td width='30'><a class='text_12_link_green' href='#user_view.php?user_id=".$row_user['username']."'>View</a></td>";
  echo "\n\t</tr>";
  echo "\n</table>";
}
?>

The problem is in the $row_user while loop where im trying to echo $row_user thumb. Right now, if a user has an avatar, it displays the image, however it returns no image at all if a user has no avatar. Where am I going wrong?

Answer 1

You cannot put an 'if' statement into your 'echo'.

Go this way:

if($row_user[picture_thumb_url] !='')
   $thumb = $row_user[picture_thumb_url];
else
   $thumb = '../Style/Images/default_avatar.png';

And then:

echo "<img src=\"$thumb\">";

Answer 2

you can do this although it's not exactly readable.

echo "<td width='50' height='50' align='center' valign='middle'><a href='user_view.php?user_id=".$row_user['user_id']."'>
  <img src=User_Images/" . ( $row_user['picture_thumb_url'] != '' ? $row_user['picture_thumb_url'] : '../Style/Images/default_avatar.png' ) . " border='0' height='50' width='50'/></a></td>";

You're best of doing the conditional beforehand then echo the variable:

Updated:

$thumbnail = $row_user['picture_thumb_url'] != '' ? $row_user['picture_thumb_url'] : '../Style/Images/default_avatar.png';

echo "<td width='50' height='50' align='center' valign='middle'><a href='user_view.php?user_id=".$row_user['user_id']."'>
      <img src=User_Images/$thumbnail border='0' height='50' width='50'/></a></td>";