How to return to previous php page wioth data displayed?

basil

I have a php script that querys a database and pulls up a list of titles. When you click on a title, it goes to another page where the details are displayed. I would like to add a return link to the details page that will take be make to the previous php page and still show the data. Just a link to the php page returns an error as if I were trying to do another search of the database with no criteria selected. Is there a way to add an HTML return link that will act like the back button on a browser so that the data from the previous search is still displayed when I return to it?

Basil

juschillinnow

are you talking about you have a search box and you type something in it, hit search, and you want to go back to that page and still have something in the text box?

easy:

<input type="button" onClick="go()">;

cclohman

I'm not sure if that's the answer he's looking for, but I had a similar question - and that's not the answer I was hoping for... Anyways, here's my situation. I've got a search feature on an e-store that sells posters. Searching on "marley" returns about 4 pages of Bob marley posters. The posters are returned as thumbnails, so if you want a better look at one of the search results, you click on it. On the poster specific page, I have a link called "back" which does a history.go(-1) to take you back to the search results page. But, since the page was dynamically created, the browser issues a warning saying "page expired", click refresh. What I'd like to know how to do is to be able to hit the back button and go back to the search results page without the "page expired" warning. Thanks in advance!🙂 -Chris.

ednark

don't use javascript : that asks the browser to resubmit the last request.

try using the session to store the form

### FORM 
<?php
$form = $_SESSION['form'];
?>

<form action="handler" method="post">
<input type="text" name="form[var]" value="<?=$form['var']?>">
</form>

### FORM HANDLER
<?php
$_SESSION['form'] = array();

if ( $must_return_to_form ) {
   $_SESSION['form'] = $_POST['form'];
   header("Location: form.php");
}
?>

juschillinnow

Sorry bout that. I didn't understand the question.

Ednark has the right idea.

run2web

Originally posted by ednark

try using the session to store the form

### FORM 
<?php
$form = $_SESSION['form'];
?>

<form action="handler" method="post">
<input type="text" name="form[var]" value="<?=$form['var']?>">
</form>

### FORM HANDLER
<?php
$_SESSION['form'] = array();

if ( $must_return_to_form ) {
   $_SESSION['form'] = $_POST['form'];
   header("Location: form.php");
}
?>

[/B]

This is exactly what I have been looking for also. Now I just have one question, is this used on the page where the information is entered, on the second page or both, 1 on one page and 1 one the other page that shows the results of the submission? Hope that isn't too cryptic.

ednark

1 on one page and 1 one the other page that shows the results of the submission?

my example uses two pages....

form.php holds the form and submits to a sencond page handler.php, which actually performs the action on the script,
then handler.php bumps the user right back to form.php. they use the session to keep common data

you could however just stick the code that is in handler.php inside form.php at the top, and have form.php call itself.

whatever floats your boat... i thought it would be clearer if i split the files up... maybe not 🙂

run2web

Perfect, that is all I needed to know. I thought it was used in two pages but wanted to make sure.

Thanks! 😃

keakathleen

Or you could just stick your proprietary MySQL information in your address bar...
Then when you go BACK your page will know the information you had because it will just requery the database. It's how amazon.com and those other web sites do this. Click on the product and then go back to the product listings.
http://yourdomain.com/cpa/fetch_products.php?Product_Category_Id=1&Keyword=Victorian

azkworld

or you could simply use GET instead of POST as your search form ACTION

sdkeene1

I always just use the GET method in my forms. Is there a downside to doing it this way?

Weedpacket

Oh, a few drawbacks spring to mind:

Limited amount of space for data (couple hundred characters MAX)
Confidential stuff like passwords are exposed for all to see
Contamination of browser bookmark and history lists with bits of old searches
Ugly URLs

Whether any of these actually are problems depends on the precise situation of course. In some circumstances some (specially the third) can be a positive advantage.

sdkeene1

I discovered some of the downfalls of using the "GET" method last night. Particularly the way it passes confidential login data to the address box.
The method ednark suggested is easy to implement and works smoothly and transparently.
Don't try to register form variables separately though, or it won't work.

i.e. session_register('UserID');

Will cause the script to fail because UserID (a form variable) is already stored in the form array with:

      $_SESSION['form'] = array();

That's actually one of the great things about doing it this way. All your form fields are stored to the session in one fell swoop.

dot

If I understand correctly this is the same problem as I had a while ago.

I got the suggestion to insert the following code in the header on the POST'ed page:

if ($REQUEST_METHOD=='POST') { 
		header('Expires: ' . gmdate("D, d M Y H:i:s", time()+1000) . ' GMT'); 
		header('Cache-Control: Private'); 
	}

It did so the re-post dialog do not appear. Any negative things with this solution?