Pass array in IMG call to php file

irishb3

Hello,

I need to pass an array to an image...i.e on a call in an html file to an image created by php, the variable being passed is an array. This array is used by the php script that creates the image.

I know that:
<IMG SRC="filename.php?variable=value">
will pass "value" to "filename.php", but I can't get it to pass an array.

Overview of what I am doing:
On the first page "choice.php" the user enters 2 to 10 dates in seperate INPUT fields that they want to graph. These dates are put into an array. Then, the ACTION from FORM calls "display.php", which calls two images (chart.php and legend.php) and then query's a MySQL database and prints out the data which was graphed. I know that the array is successfully passed to "display.php", but I can't use this array as the variable for the first IMG call to "chart.php".

Any suggestions on how to do this, or a better way to do it.

Thanks in advance.
-Rob

amcgrath

have u investigated the serialize() function? that sohuld work for you....

irishb3

Allen,

I tried the serialize function as suggested and I can't get the array to pass. Here's what's going on now:

In "choose.php", an array is passed called $invdate to "display.php". Via some print commands in "display.php", I can print all of the values in $invdate.

In "display.php", I run the following:

<?php
$data = serialize($invdate);
?>
<IMG SRC="chart.php?passvar=<?php echo $data; ?>">

In "chart.php", I run:
$invdatearray = unserialize($passvar);

and then the script continues. This should put the original array into $invdatearray...correct????

What I get is a broken image. If I enter $invdatearray[0] = "2002-01-08";
$invdatearray[1] = "2002-01-14";

and the let the script continue, I get the image.

Do you see any problems with this that I can't?

Thanks again for the help and the introduction to a new function.

-Rob

amcgrath

in chart, unserialize and then reset($passvar) that might take care of it....

irishb3

It didn't work. I'll continue to play with it today to see if I can work through the issue. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks.
-Rob

amcgrath

Man, then I'm running outta options. Howzabout trying a filename/variable1/variable2 format? I do that here (turn multiviews on in your web server conf file...) and retrieve the values off the $PATH_INFO....

irishb3

Allen (and everyone else),

It works...here's what was missing:

Allen was right-on with using the serialize() and unserialize() functions

From "choose.php" we pass the $invdata array to "display.php". In "display.php", use the serialize() function to convert the $invdata array into an ASCII string by doing the following:
<?php
$data = serialize($invdata);
?>
Then, pass the $data ASCII string to "chart.php" (which needs the array to create the image):
<IMG SRC=inventory_trend_chart.php?passdata=<?php echo $data; ?>>

Then in "image.php" you need to unserialize the $passdata ASCII string into an array. The problem was that the ASCII string now contained "\" characters in front of the double-quotation marks. (This was done by the IMG tag) Fortunately, PHP has a function that will remove these marks: stripslashes().

So, in "image.php" do the following to remove the slashes and then convert the $passdata ASCII string into an array:
$invdataarray = unserialize(stripslashes($passdata));

Hope this helps someone someday...thanks for all of the help Allen.

-Rob

amcgrath

you're welcome.