Carrying variables over to another .php

Anon

I set a variable on my web page file '1.php3' :

$HELP="phpbuilder"

OK...simple

Now, I use a <FORM ACTION="POST" ... command within the same page.

When someone preses 'submit' it opens a file called 'thanku.php3'

Within 'thanku.php3' - I want it to remember the $HELP variable. (each web page of mine has different $HELP variables, so 'thanku.php3' must know what the variable was set from the previous page).

How do I get it to do that?

THANKS VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE!

Anon

You should put it in an input field inside the form field. eg:

This will make the variable $help have the old value of $help on the next page.

Hope this helps 😉

littleelmo

Or you can use sessions. by registering this variable to a session_variable you don't have to worry about hidden fields.

The choice is up to you...6 of one, half a dozen of the other.

Anon

Tried what you said....It didn't work:

$help="phpbuilder"

echo "<FORM METHOD=\"POST\" ACTION=\"/php/SC/forms/bnbform.cgi\">
....
// (blah blah blah of the form with a SUBMIT )...
...
<INPUT TYPE=\"HIDDEN\" NAME=\"help\" VALUE=\"$help\">
....
<INPUT TYPE=\"HIDDEN\" NAME=\"ok_url\" VALUE=\"http://www.$email/thanku.php3\"> // This is the file it then goes to
....
</FORM>";

The 'thanku.php3' file opens but does NOT keep the $help variable from the previous page.

So , what do I do now? THANKS.

littleelmo

You don't need that extra hidden field for the link.
You have a "submit" button, yes? And the beginning of that form field should have the action flag set to the page you want to go to when the submit button is pressed, yes?

So that being said, when the submit button is pressed, then that hidden element will get passed to what ever page you have set for the action="goto page whatever"

I hope that makes sense. Let me know....

Anon

Thanks... The FORM ACTION command makes it run a CGI script call BNB. That sends an e-mail and processes the form.

Then it goes to thanku.php3 -

SO in essence what you may be telling me is that the $help string is being erased because a CGI file is where it goes to first, then it goes to thanku.php3 ???

jconner

Yeah, that might happen but its difficult to know for sure since we don't have the source to the cgi script. If the cgi script is simply piping all of the data through to the thanku.php3 page, then its not the cgi script causing a problem. Otherwise it is.

littleelmo

Marc,

If you are bouncing around among files a bit and you need to save state with variables, I would suggest using sessions. I am doing the same type of thing as you, and was having a dickens of a time keeping the intregtrety of the form data. Using sessions is much easier, the variables just follow you around where ever you go and you can call them up at any time (as long as each page starts with as session_start(); command.

Anon

If you could assist me with an example of how to use session_start() I would appreciate it

So in file 1.php

I will have session_start () .... ?

then it will go to the file thanku.php3

where I say what? session_end?

Anon

Correct ... the CGI file is a 16K file that the FORM Action goes to. - Its basicly processing the form command, making sure the e-mail is a valid e-mail address, then sending it off to the thanku.php3 file

Somehow in the process the $help variable is not remembered in the thanku.php3 file

Anon

file 1.php:

session_start();

$session_help = 'php help' ;

session_register("session_help") ;

file thanku.php3

session_start();

echo $session_help ;

You shouldn't have to use session_end() at all

littleelmo

First, you need to have session_start();
at the beginning of every file in which you will be using these variables. You also need to have this call before any headers are sent or you will get errors.

Next, register the session variable:
session_register( "help" );

now, whenever this $help variable is changed, it's state will be changed as well and move around with you from file to file.

So it's simply two lines of code at the beginning of your file:

session_start();
session_register( "help" );

I hope this helps you. What I do is save ALL my form variables as an array into a session array variable. This way I don't have to have a name space problem and accessing them is much clearer. So for example:

session_start();
session_register( "session" );
$session_$form; //assign the form post data into the session variable

and $form is an array of values from all my form postings. so if I had something like this:

Now, if I jump around to different files, but I need those values in the form, they are registered in the $session array variable. It works out well for me.

Hope that helps.

Anon

Try this as a possibility

$help="phpbuilder"

echo "<FORM METHOD=\"POST\" ACTION=\"/php/SC/forms/bnbform.cgi\">
....
// (blah blah blah of the form with a SUBMIT )...
...
<INPUT TYPE=\"HIDDEN\" NAME=\"ok_url\" VALUE=\"http://www.$email/thanku.php3?help=$help\"> // This is the file it then goes to
....
</FORM>";

This way the variable $help gets passed through the url that the CGI program is sending it to. This should preserve the value of $help not matter what the CGI does. When you get the thanku.php3 page

echo "$help";

should output

phpbuilder

Hope this helps.

Anon

Tried it in PHP3 - sorry - didn't work....The $help variable never carried over. The CGI script must have done something because I could even get to the page. Got an error

Marty wrote:

Try this as a possibility

$help="phpbuilder"

This way the variable $help gets passed through the url that the CGI program is sending it to. This should preserve the value of $help not matter what the CGI does. When you get the thanku.php3 page

echo "$help";

should output

phpbuilder

Hope this helps.

Anon

Hi, I found another problem. If you try:

file1.php