Alternatives to appending links with session variables...

[Slade]

Hey all,

I am new to PHP in general, but I have very good experience with C, C++, Java programming. I have a bit of a quandry I hoped some PHP gurus could help me with.

To explain briefly: I am trying to pass along some session variables to save information about what sub-menus are expanded or collapsed. Everything works fine with this method, but I was wondering if anyone had a way to do this in a manner where I would not have to append a session variable to every link on the page (e.g. /blah.php?menu=Academics).

I would not really have a problem with this other than the fact that I really want to make this site easy to maintain for an entry-level web designer to come in and add/remove simple pages from the site.

Thanks ahead of time for the responses!
-Slade

[leatherback]

Hi,

Think you ar econfusing two things:

_ Sessions: Are handled by PhP: you do not have to do anything about the links yourself. PHP will add the session ID to the links, if needed

• Passing variables through the URL (What you are doing).

So basically: If you ARE storing the vars in the SESSION.. You de not need to do anything to the links. PHP will handle it for you.

If you are passing the variables through the URL, and don't want that anymore.. Have a look at using sessions.

J.

[Slade]

I see.. I guess I was just confused with my terminology. I'll look in to that, now.

One thing I did want to ask though, is that does using sessions mean I will still have to see a really long, ugly URL everywhere I go on my site?

Thanks!
-Slade

[leatherback]

Well,

If THAT is what you don't want..

Place your site in frames, with the top frame a height of 0 px?

J.

[Slade]

Oh, I was just wondering if there was a way to hide the SID part, not really the whole URL.

I'm picky, you see.

I'll read all through the rest of this sessions stuff, though and we'll see if I can get a workable alternative from there.

Thanks again,
-Slade

[johnnyv]

you are confusing $SESSION variables with $GET variables.

blah.php?user=bob&dog=wolfie

those variables passed in the url are normally accessed via
$GET['user']; & $GET['dog'];

if you use session variables
in the page you start at you:
<?
session_start();
session_register('user');
session_register('dog');
$SESSION['user'] = bob;
$SESSION['dog'] = wolfie;

?>

then on blah.php
<?
session_start();
echo $SESSION['user'];
echo $SESSION['dog'];
?>

no need for the blah.php?_____ url
to get rid of a session variable
session_unregister('user');

[Slade]

Yeah... your posts and the tutorial on phpfreaks are going to solve my situation.

Thanks for the help guys!
-Slade

[Paulus_Magnus]

You can also use session_name to change the PHPSESSID to something more aesthetically pleasing, like s.

session_name ("s");
session_start ();