Deleting data from DB if user closes browser

micmac

Hi all,
Can anyone give me some advice on doing the following?
I currently have in place a 3 part form. If the user fills in all the required fields at stage 1 and clicks the next button all of that data is inserted into a mySQL table and they are taken to stage 2 of the form process.
Now, what if the user closed the browser at stage 2 (or stage 3).
All the data to date is still in the DB. I don't want this. What i would like is to delete any data that is in the DB when they close the browser window in stages 2 or 3 of the form process.

Any ideas or tutorials out there on this topic.

Cheers,
micmac

LordShryku

Well, there's a couple thing I could think of...

1) Use sessions to register a variable to carry between pages. One the process is complete, kill the session. On every page, write a function to say that if the session is registered, delete the data

2)What I would do: Carry all you variables through the pages in hidden input fields. Only do a insert on the last page once everything has been filled out and the submit button is pressed. This would be better for the database hits, and would save you the work of coding session variables

Nate

LordShryku's first method is probably the best way to go depending on the type of data your saving, however you could use javascript.

example: User gets to stage 2 but closes their window.. If they close the window, execute some javascript that opens another tiny window, runs some php code that deletes their crap from the database, then closes the tiny window.

Again though, I would use sessions unless you want to go the easy way and just use hidden fields. Depending on the data though, that may not be safe.

AlexP

There is something else you can do. I haven't tried this method but I assume it may work as well.

From what you might know, newer versions of MySQL support transactions.
BEGIN - COMMIT - ROLLBACK.

The example query goes here

SET AUTOCOMMIT=0

BEGIN;
SELECT abc FROM table1 WHERE some=1;
INSERT .......something...;

Nothing will be inserted here until you instract MYSQL to do so. SO in your 3rd page you just need to include:

COMMIT;

And all the info will be commited to the database. I am not sure if the change of the session would be a problem though.

Alex

mogster

That was a nifty one 😉

Another way would be to either set cookies with the data (unless they're huge...) or register the data with the session, which is one of the reasons sessions were constructed.

Or, why not have all form-data on one page? This would be the simplest way to avoid garbage piling up in db, because the user would then commit himself when clicking submit.

A workaround could also be to add two fields to db: control_time and commit.
Then you could insert a time() into control_time when user starts, and have the commit (SET 'y','n') be set to n as long as the two first pages of the form is in progress, then set it to y when the user finally posts his last page.
Then add at top of indexpage or any page thats bound to be reloaded often:

## Give the user ample time to finish filling in ##
$timelimit = time() - 5000;
## Delete old garbage ##
$garbageCollect = mysql_query("delete from table where control_time < '$timelimit' and commit = 'n'");

knutm

trooper

Be aware that this option will only work for certain table type (BDB and INNODB i think)

The default table type (MyISAM) does not support transactions

HTH

Originally posted by AlexP
There is something else you can do. I haven't tried this method but I assume it may work as well.

From what you might know, newer versions of MySQL support transactions.
BEGIN - COMMIT - ROLLBACK.

The example query goes here

SET AUTOCOMMIT=0

BEGIN;
SELECT abc FROM table1 WHERE some=1;
INSERT .......something...;

Nothing will be inserted here until you instract MYSQL to do so. SO in your 3rd page you just need to include:

COMMIT;

And all the info will be commited to the database. I am not sure if the change of the session would be a problem though.

Alex

Arc

Yet another option is to create a temporary table.. that you store this data to as you go... if the user finsihes the registration or whatever it is this data is then written to the real table and deleted from the temp table... If the user quits in the middle then nothing is written to the real table.

Ofcourse then over time you would have a temp table full of junk..but a couple lines of code could empty it out..

$Sql ="DELETE FROM tblTemp";
$Result = mysql_query($Sql,$Connect);

KevinMG

you could set up a small pop-up window with javascript that gets passed the id of the table entry and executes a table deletion....the only drawback is that i'm not sure if the user quits the browser (or exit for all you windows based peoples) that this method will work...

javascript
onclose() (not sure of the exact function)

execute delete.php in a small pop-up window

...just my 2 cents

thna_brianb

I would say to not go with any javascript solution for this. It is very easy to not have javascript turned on in a user's browser.

MHO

KevinMG

this is very true...you could always go with a script that just executes every day (using cron) that deletes incomplete entries in the DB...

or have some admin page that does this whenever you visit it??

just more thoughts 🙂

JakesSA

best would be hidden values....no need to get technical for a simple solution. carry it through as many pages as you like and then do insert. Once inserted header them through to a reciept

JakesSA

@ henryguy79

You sick little prick, keep you porn infested crap off this forum. I guys like you that should be drag out into the street and be shot

mogster

😃 :p This is definitely not the ideal place to post porn-links, I agree :p 😃

What a stupid thing to do...

But else: this thread is a typical example of how good this forum works!?
Suggestions in abundance, and I for sure didn't know that there were so many solutions for this particular problem.

Very good, folks!

knutm

alsaffar

This is a good question, I was always want to ask it.

I was thought about JavaScript, but you don't advise this aproach.

So, what is the optimal way to access the DB incase the user close his/her session? (General Question)