Refresh problems

[seidel]

I need a way to prevent a user from refreshing the browser or Navagating with the BACK and FORWARD buttons on the browser.

The problem is once a form has been submited or a script has been executed, and the user decides or accidently refreshes the browser the script is recompiled. This causes problems with SQ INSERTS and UPDATES, is there a function in PHP that can prevent this? Or do I have to rely on some s_itty Java Script that never works.

Thanks

Christopher

[knickerlas]

Theres no function and it's best not to anyhow.
What you could do to solve your problem is use a 'flag' in a session like this

<?
session_start();
session_register("has_used_script");
?>
<?
if ($has_used_script==TRUE) {
//do something else
} else {
//do your stuff
if (stuff_is_done) {
$has_used_script=TRUE;
}else { $has_used_script=FALSE;
}
}
?>

Havn't tested but I'm sure you get the idea!

Nick

[rrijnders]

After you process the form and execute your database updates, you can use the header() function to redirect the visitor's brower to another page or even the same page:

header("Location: PHP_SELF");

The idea here is that the page will be redisplayed, but without the post variables being set. This way, even if the visitor presses the refresh button, the url is resent without the post (form) variables so the form will not be re-processed by your script.

HTH

-- Rich Rijnders
-- Irvine, CA US