[Resolved] passing variable from script to next page (not "form -> page")

[kubik]

hey everybody!

i got a question regarding passing along variables ... did a search and couldn't find anything ... the scenario is as follows:

• 1. user comes to "index.php" and must choose one of two available options (radio buttons) ...
  2. hitting "submit" calls my "index_scr.php" where a user id is calculated (as well as a bunch of other stuff happening) and redirects the user to one of two pages ...
  3. depending on the option chosen on "index.php", the user will then be redirected to another page ...

what i need to do is pass along the calculated user id from the script "index_scr.php" to the next page "whatever.php" ... since there's no html/form in my "index_scr.php" how do i accomplish this?

or is it that shudder the variable gets passed along automatically to the following page? :rolleyes:

from there on, i know that i can simply pass this variable along from page to page using a hidden form field ... it's just the from "script to page" part that's got me stumped 🙂

thanks + cheers,

kubik

P.S. - just curious, is this an appropriate question for the "newbie" forum or should questions like this be asked in the "coding" forum? i wouldn't wanna be clogging up one place with stuff that should go in another 😃

[stolzyboy]

whichever way you are redirecting, with a meta tag or with the header location, you can put the var's into the url like

redirectedpage.php?id=$varfromfirstpage

then on the that page you can grab id with

simply $id if register_globals is on

or

$_GET['id'];

if register_globals is off

[kubik]

• <? echo "God, you're good!!"?>

  😃 😃

a lot easier than i thought it would be - thank you very much stolzyboy, much appreciated!!

cheers,

kubik

[sijis]

what i would suggest is to use sessions.
you would be able to pass any values across any pages in a hidden input field (which you will have to submit to get to other pages).

here's an example.

index.php

<?php
<form method="post" action="index_src.php">
<input type="text" name="field_name" />
// end form..
?>

index_src.php

<?php
session_start();
// some code to do stuff
$_SESSION['field_value'] = $_POST['field_name'];
// redirect user to other page.
?>

now that you have created a session named $_SESSION['field_value'] you can use it across other pages, as long as you put session_start() in the top of the page you plan on using the sesion.

so in page1.php
you would be the value if you did this:

<?php echo $_SESSION['field_value']; ?>

or you can alternatively do stolzyboy suggestion and use querystrings....

enjoy.

[stolzyboy]

yes you can do it that way also, but didn't think he would want to get into sessions for that

also don't be mislead that sessions are in hidden fields that you
need to submit to other pages, they are merely stored on the server and kept on each page that has session_start(), and will die when you close the browser or you call the script to destroy the session (which can be done many ways)

[kubik]

sijis,

thanks for your help ... stolzyboys' assumption is correct ... i'm "brand-spanking-new" to php and (at least for the time being) i think i'm going to stick with the easy way to implement my stuff (since i really want to understand what i'm writing and why instead of just copying someone's code 🙂 ).

once i get a bit of practice and have a better general understanding of php, that will of course be a whole different story (geek alarm!) 😃 that's why your solution went right into my "php-code-snippets-for-future-use" library.

cheers + thanks a bunch for your help,

kubik

oh, and a general thingie - i've only been here for a couple of days but i can honestly say that this is one of friendliest and most helpful places i've been to ... BIG THANKS TO ALL YOU GUYS OUT THERE WHO DONATE THEIR TIME to help out clueless "noobs" like me!!

[kubik]

hmmm ... 😕

now i got stolzyboy's tip to work like a charm, and my user id (uid) shows up beautifully in the url ... one thing i didn't think about though, is how do i get the uid from here:

• [FONT=courier new]www.domain.com/whatever.php?uid=3[/FONT]

into my hidden form field on whatever.php so i can keep forwarding it until i need it, which is approx. 3 pages later?

tia + cheers,

kubik 🙂

[sijis]

In your form you would put

<input type="hidden" name="input_name" value="<?php echo $_REQUEST['uid']; ?>">

and you would basically be doing that for all 3 pages.
don't forget to keep adding it to the URL.

[kubik]

veery nifty ... vielen dank, sijis!! 😃

kubik

[kubik]

hmpft, this day started out so well and now i feel so dumb :mad: ... sorry to pest you guys with this again ... i have no clue why, but i simply can not get this to work ...

1. "index_scr.php" - here i calculate my user id (uid) and pass it on to the next page using:

header ("Location: ../setup_b.php?uid=$newid");

2. on "setup_b.php" the user id shows up in the address bar. now i try to get it from there into a hidden form field like so:

<input type="hidden" name="uid" value="<?php echo $_REQUEST['uid']; ?>">

3. the form action on "setup_b.php" calls the next script, "setup_b_scr.php" where i need "$uid" to open the flat text file with the composite name "user_"."$uid"."txt" to write the info from the "setup_b.php" form into the text file. so far i tried to get the hidden field "uid" from above like this

<?php
//part 1 - open "user_$uid.txt" file and append personal info, close file
//
$_GET['uid'];
$filename = "../user_results/user_$uid.txt";
$handle = fopen ($filename, "a+");
fwrite ($handle, "$name"."\n"."$company"."\n"."$position"."\n"."$email"."\n"."$url"."\n"."\n");
fclose ($handle);
//
//part 2 - forward user to next page, include user id ($uid)
//
header ("Location: ../survey01.php?uid=$uid");
?>

4. from the script "setup_b_scr.php" i then need to forward "uid" through a few more "loops" like the one above so i can keep opening the flat text file for that user and write info to it ... it's basically a continous

form->script->form->script->form-> etc. loop

the problem is that as soon as i submit info from the form in "setup_b.php" (step 2 -> step 3), the user id seems to get lost ... my script "setup_b_scr.php" instead of creating the proper composite file name (e.g., "user_12.txt") and opening that file, creates an empty file "user_.txt" and writes the info in there ... :mad: (i hate being stupid) .. . so, my guess is that the user id never makes it from the address bar to the hidden form field in "setup_b.php" to the script "setup_b_scr.php"

can you guys maybe see what i'm doing wrong? i'm totally lost here ...

thanks + cheers 🙂 ,

kubik

[stolzyboy]

is the form method get for the form going to this part

<?php
//part 1 - open "user$uid.txt" file and append personal info, close file
//
$GET['uid'];
$filename = "../user_results/user_$uid.txt";
$handle = fopen ($filename, "a+");
fwrite ($handle, "$name"."\n"."$company"."\n"."$position"."\n"."$email"."\n"."$url"."\n"."\n");
fclose ($handle);
//
//part 2 - forward user to next page, include user id ($uid)
//
header ("Location: ../survey01.php?uid=$uid");
?>

if not, change

$_GET['uid'];

to

$_POST['uid'];

[kubik]

you're right stolzyboy, the method is post - i went ahead and changed "$GET['uid']" to "$POST['uid']", but still no go ... when i submit "setup_b.php" i get to "survey01.php" with an empty uid in the address bar ...

"survey01.php?uid="

funnily enough that is the same result i got when i had "$_GET['uid']" in my "setup_b_scr.php" script ... bummer.

[stolzyboy]

if you are posting, you won't get anything in the address bar, change the method back to get and change the $POST back to $GET and see if that works

[kubik]

puzzling ... same thing ... changed the form method in setup_b.php from POST to GET and the script in setup_b_scr.php back to $_GET['uid'] and the address on the following page still says

www.domain.com/survey01.php?uid=

wacky

[stolzyboy]

is your input field like this

<input type="hidden" name="uid" value="<? echo $uid; ?>">

or something to that effect

[kubik]

almost ... siji was so friendly to give me the hint as to how to grab the uid from the address bar to my hidden form field ... i took his code from further up in the thread. on my page, it looks like this:

<input type="hidden" name="uid" value=" <?php echo $REQUEST ['uid' ]; ?> "

edit: sorry for the crappy "copy & paste" job - here's what it really looks like on my page:

<input type="hidden" name="uid" value="<?php echo $_REQUEST['uid']; ?>">

[kubik]

HA! :eek:

that did it!!! i put your hidden form field code in my page and now the id is carried along most beautifully!!!

you guys are the bomb! one day, when i make it to fargo, i'll be springing for the beer! 😃

(and siji gets one as well, of course - without him, i'd still be sitting here, trying to figure out how to get the id from the address bar to a form field)

thank you so much for your time + help, this is most appreciated!

kubik