sessions

ronjon

i want to make a simple user authentication page but im confused on how to use sessions.

heres the deal:

i have a page with two text fields; one for username the other for password. within that page... i want to have a link that would say 'login'. also, i dont want to use forms (unless its the only way to do it)

how do i take the variables from that page to the next page after the user has clicked on the link that says login?

lets say the first page is "index.php"
the username textfield is named username
the password textfield is named password
the page that i want the values sent to is "authentication.php"

somebody please help.

ZibingsCoder

Shouldn't be TOO hard here...

<form action="authentication.php" method="post">

After filling in HTML below that, the update.php file will receive a block of $POST variables when the form is submitted. If you have a text field named "username", it will be $POST['username'], and likewise a password field would be $_POST['password']. Using that, you can then create...

$_SESSION['username'] = $_POST['username'];
$_SESSION['password'] = $_POST['password'];

One thing to beware of though...you should steer away from storing 'password' values in any session/cookie variables. Just not a good idea in general for security on the user-end of things.

Hope this helps!

ronjon

the reason why i didnt want to use a form was because i didnt want to have the ugly form submit button. i wanted to use say...a link... or an image for the user to click on... instead of the gray button.

you know how to get around that?

is there any way for me to juse use php sessions? without a form?

BuzzLY

Ronjon, why did you delete you original question? Now anyone using search won't ever find this thread, or know what your original question was.

ronjon

cause i posted once...and realized that my question seemed like it rambled a bit. so i posted another post with the same question...but a little clearer in wording.

but anyhow... i took the info from my second post...and pasted it on this one..

please help.

🙂

ZibingsCoder

Just cause you're using a form doesn't mean you have to use the submit button. There is even an input type called "image" which allows you to submit the form by using an image. Very nice thing, though I wish PHP would send a value with it, as of right now it only sends:

$POST['image_x']
and
$POST['image_y']

Just means you have to use a good naming convention, but, there's always a way for you to spruce something up.

PS - Here's an example...

<input type="image" name="submit_reg" src="pic.jpg">

ronjon

thats cool.

but now im ever so curious if there is anyway to do this without using forms.

is there any way to just use the session functions? without using post or anything that has to do with forms?

at this point...it seems that theres not...but .. im curious anyway.

ZibingsCoder

Unless you used some kind of JavaScript to create query-strings in a set of links...I can't really think of any other way. Of course...I am falling asleep at my keyboard, so that may be a bit of a problem to remembering oddball methods...

ronjon

tell me if im being silly... but..

if i were to use... the input type="image"... um...wheres the 'action' part?

i see how i can put two text fields on there... have an image inplace of a submit button...

but... how do i get it to load the subsequent page when i click on the image instead of the button?

and what do you mean

it only sends:

$POST['image_x']
and
$POST['image_y']

i dont get image_x image_y

what i wanna do is take values that the user entered on the two textfields (username and password), and send it to a following page (lets say authentication.php) after the user clicks on a link that says login ... or an image or whatever....i dont wanna use the ugly gray button that is hte usual submit button..

is there any way to do that? i tried the input type="image" thing... but i dont see how the image would serve as a button...i see the arrow turning into a hand as if its about to click on a link or somethin...but... i odnt understand how i can set it up to where it would load the following page to recieve the variables that i wanna send.

im a real newbie... iknow.. .i hope im not aggravating anybody here.

please help.
thanks.

aim me if thats more convenient... aim: "spinsykel"

BuzzLY

First... this isn't a coding question. Second, it's not a PHP question. Third, this is a SERIOUS HTML newbie question.

Just create a form, put in your text fields, and use an image in place of a submit button. The image will act exactly like a submit button. The field values will be available in the next page as POST variables. And your action goes in the form tag.

If you really don't understand this, then you need to learn it before you learn PHP. This is basic HTML knowledge.

For more info about images used as submit buttons, go here

Oh... and while it's fine to invite people to IM you, don't IM people asking for help. It's very intrusive, and we have already posted several threads on this board about it.

Weedpacket

Originally posted by BuzzLY
For more info about images used as submit buttons, go here

And a brief note about how PHP sees them, to forestall a typical problem is here in the PHP manual.

And if the user's browser is up to the task, you could style a button anyway....