user function "self starts" apparently

dlowery

I have a website with articles, reviews, and commentary. I am able to log hits to specific items, now I want to log when my Print button is clicked.

The user function "log c_print()" and php includes appear as the first objects in the <body> block. The page has two custom buttons; "Print Article" and "Go Back".

Two functions are called when the visitor uses the Print button. A JavaScript function prints the page, and the PHP function should log it. Details are in the code block below. $id_no identifies the article to be printed.

The problem....log_cprint() executes whether the Print button is clicked or not!! The db field is incremented even when the "Go Back" button is used, or when the browser window close button is used, implying that the function runs on its own!

I have used php functions before and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong here. I hope somebody can see my mistake. More page context is availabe.

D Lowery

CODE:

<?php

      function log_cprint(){
         global $connection;  //mySQL connected earlier
         global $id_no;
         if ($connection) {
             $query = "UPDATE reviews SET prints = prints+1 WHERE id_no = '$id_no' ";
             $result = mysql_query( $query) or die ( "Did not update reviews print: " . mysql_error( )) ;
         }
      }

<div align="center">
  <a href="javascript:printext();"><img src="../Banners/printstory.gif" border="1" alt="Print Review" onclick="<?php log_cprint(); ?>"></a> 
  <a href="javascript:window.close();"><img src="../Banners/goback.gif" border="1" alt="Return"></a><br>
</div>

Here's the JS function--defined in <head>
<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript">

</script>

sweetkisses_net

PHP is server-side language you cannot do this:

onclick="<?php log_cprint(); ?>"

archangel_617b

Okay, bro. Three things:

Is your name really Lowery? I bloody love Brazil. (The protagonist's name is Lowery and thus you score brownie points just for having a cool name 😃)
Your post rules. It is clear, articulate, and complete. Everyone should make posts like you do.
PHP is a server-side scripting language (server being your Apache or IIS or whatever). JavaScript is a client-side scripting language (client being IE or Netscape or whatever and JavaScript is part of the web browser and thus client-side).

You cannot have the client call php functions. If you are not really sure what I am talking about, then do a "view source" on your page there. You will see:
```
<a href="javascript:printext();"><img src="../Banners/printstory.gif" border="1" alt="Print Review" onclick=""></a>
```
This is because the server runs all php code before sending it to the client such that the client will never see it.

How to handle it then? I cannot help you, sadly. I do not do a lot of client-side scripting.

dlowery

Problem solved and many new things learned!

As a result of this problem, I used a very short <form> with two buttons to accomplish the goal. The "submit" button transmits the form content (nothing!). But "action" launches a 'log_print.php' and does the trick), and it's 'onclick' property launches the JS component for printing.

Now, since I wanted something a bit nicer than HTML <form> buttons, I investigated some CSS resources to create buttons on the fly. Just the ticket! But....how can I make a custom button perform the "submit" function? A wee bit of research turned up the JS way of doing it! Hooray!

One more problem was introduced, however; by placing the PHP script in a file (page) rather than in a function, a new window was launched every time the logging program was called. And it didn't close automatically. Dang!

Solution: at the end of the PHP code block...
?> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">

</script>
<?php

I wouldn't have discovered for a long time how to solve this. Thanks again for your help!!

Dale Lowery (real name! Not related to the Oracle User group dude!)