Cannot remove cookie array, can you?

Anon

SHORT QUESTION: How do you reliably delete a cookie array when the index is a variable integer (i.e $cookie_array[1]...[n])?

LONG QUESTION (with background info):
I need to set user input from a multiple select box into a cookie. When that user goes back to that same form later, I want the selections they made last time to be selected this time too.

The approach I used is to set a cookie array with the multiple selections. The next time the user goes to the page, changes their selctions, and submits the form, I want to capture the latest 'state' of the multiple select box. To do this, I am trying to delete the old cookie array and then set the new cookie array that contains all of the new values.

It seems to work okay, untill the third or fourth time through (or when the selections total 8 or so). At this point, inspection of the cookie stored on my computer shows the cookie array starting with index 3 or 4.

Am I going about this the wrong way? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I've included the code below that I am using to delete the cookie array. '$other_tools_array' is the array stored in the cookie.

for($loop_cntrl=0; $loop_cntrl<count($other_tools_array); $loop_cntrl++)
{
if(isset($other_tools_array[$loop_cntrl]))
{
setcookie("other_tools_array[$loop_cntrl]", "", time() - 3600);
}
}

theslinky

Hi,

Firstly: i'm not offering a solution to your cookie problem, but rather an alternate to your select approach.

How are you displaying the form? Is it just a .html file you are redirecting back to? Or is a PHP displaying the HTML output? if so, why not do this:

In the PHP, when you print your choices, do this:

<?php
$items = $_GET['items']; // this is the array of the selected items

$choices = Array("Apple", "Banana", "Orange", "Tangerine"); // this is the list of possible items

// print the HTML output
?>
<form action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF; ?>" method=GET>
<select name="items[]">
<?php
for($i = 0; $i < sizeof($choices); $i++) {
echo "<option value=\"" . $choices[$i] . "\"";
// check to see if this choice is in the items array
for($j = 0; $j < sizeof($items); $j++) {
if($items[$j] == $choices[$i]) {
echo " selected";
break;
}
// finish the option tag
echo ">" . $choices[$i] . "\n";
}
?>
</select>
</form>

this is a bit better than passing cookies around and is browser safe (in case someone has cookies disabled or on alert) :-)

-sridhar

Anon

Thank you very much for replying to my post. I like your approach above, but I don't think it will work for me because I am not displaying what the user selected directly after they submit the form.

After they submit the form (it is a download survery), they can download the file they selected. At any other time during their site visit they may want to download another file. If so, I don't want them to have to fill in all of the download survey fields again.

Because of this requirement I chose to use cookies (although session variables may have been a better choice).

Any thoughts considering this new requirement?

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate your help.

theslinky

In that case, I would recommend using a single string as your cookie variable. Meaning, put all the contents of the array in a single string using a delimiter.

For example, if you want to store the following items:

apple
banana
orange

then use the cookie string:

SetCookie("choices", "apple;banana;orange", time() + 3600);

Then when you want to access it as an array, use explode:

$choiceArray = explode(";", $choices);

if you want to create this string from an array, use implode:

$choices = implode(";", $choiceArray);

NOTE: look up the syntax for implode as i'm not totally sure of what it is :-)

using a single string to store array contents is better since you don't have to worry about indexing. The next time you use explode, it will re-index all the items in a sequential numerical order.

-sridhar

Anon

That's EXCELLENT! I think that will solve my problem. I am going to try it right now - if I don't post anything else that means it workd 🙂

Thank you for pointing me in a fresh direction.

Thank you!

Sam