Pass parameters invisibly?

Anon

This is probably a dumb way of doing what I want to do, but if you have an idea of a better method, please tell me.

I'm trying to pass a parameter(account number) from one page to an entirely new page, via the location(?foo=1). However once that new page loads, I'd like to hide the parameter in the location(or just not show it in the first place), because if the user changes that, they will simply move into the other account. I still need that value for the new page though, as my submit is based on that value.
Is there anyway to catch and hold it(but not show it), without losing it upon reload of the page? Because I've tried dumping it into a hidden field, and then reloading the page without the parameter in the location, and of course on reload the hidden field looks for the value in the location and it's not there anymore.

I've been out of PHP programming for about 6 months, so I'm just trying to get back in the rhythym. This little problem isn't making it fun though. 🙂

Anon

Look into sessions. They require less work and won't go showing off the visitors account number to who ever is interested.

session_start();
$account="432234";
session_register("account");

Anon

Thanks Jerry! This seems much easier.

I do have one little problem now though:
I am able to start the session and register the variable on my initial page, although I'm not 100% positive its being registered properly.
I've got on my (login.php) page:

<?
session_start();
session-register("clientID");
?>

right at the top of the body, before anything else. Then later on down the page I query the database and assign a value from it to the clientID variable. Should I assume that's being registered properly as a session variable?

Because when I move to my (interests.php) page, and do a <? session_start();?> right off the bat(within the body), I can't get a value for my $clientID session variable.

Anyone happen to know what I'm missing by chance?

Anon

Oops, I do have an underscore rather than a hyphen on the session_register("clientID");