calling a javascript funciton with PHP

jacksonpt

Is it possible to call a javascript function with PHP without embedding it in the webpage? I've got a function that returns a boolean value, and depending on the value returned, I need to do different things. Here's what I want to do:

if (FunctionCall()) {
   do this
} else {
   do this other stuff
}

sneakyimp

is there something wrong with just calling the javascript by printing it in the page? at what point do you want to execute the code?

jacksonpt

the if I showed above is actually part of a larger if structure. So the function is only called if certain criteria are met. So the bigger picture is:

if (condition) {
   do this stuff
} else if (another condition) {
   more stuff
   if (FunctionCall()) {
      do this
   } else {
     do this other stuff
   }
} else {
   other stuff
}

I tried embedding the javascript into the if statement as the conditional, but it didn't work.

if (echo "javascript code") {
   stuff
}

sneakyimp

My question isn't so much about the logic of your script, but rather about when you want the javascript function to get executed. As the page is loading? After the page has loaded?

Once the page is completely loaded and all the PHP has run, PHP cannot continue running and execute more code at arbitrary intervals.

You can assign the javascript code you want to run to the body's onload event. OR you could print the javascript as the very last line of your php code.

You could put a META REFRESH tag in your html so that the page reloads after some fixed interval.

Unless you provide more detail about the conditions under which you would like your javascript function to run or not, it will be absolutely impossible to give you an answer. you're going to have to be more specific.

jacksonpt

OK, sorry - I didn't understand your question.

I want the script to run when the page loads, but only if certain parameters are passed to the page via the querystring.

Does that help?

sneakyimp

that is helpful.

by query string, i'm assuming you mean everything after your file name...like

myfile.php?foo=bar&bar=foo

correct?

maybe try something like this:

<html>
<head>
<script language="Javascript">
function myFunction() {
  alert("YES IT RAN!");
}
</script>
</head>
<body <?

If ($_GET['runit']) {
  echo " onload='myFunction();' ";
}

?>>
<h1>My Awesome Page</h1>
</body>
</html>

that works for me. if i just load mypage.php, no alert. if i load mypage.php?runit=1
then i get a javascript alert.

jacksonpt

OK... um...

maybe I asked my initial question wrong. I can get the script to execute when I need it to just fine. (I was doing it differently, and your way is much better, so thanks for that.) What I need to do is to use the boolean value returned by the javascript function as the conditional in my PHP if statement.

Let me give you a rundown on what I'm doing... maybe that will help clear things up.

the page is called and the user is presented with 3 options, one of which is to delete a record from the database (the other to optios I have working just fine, so there should be no reason to go into those).
the user clicks one of the 3 options (for our purposes, they want to delete a record).
the page then calls itself, passing a parameter called 'action'. This parameter is how the page knows what the user wants to do.
an sql query is run retreiving all records from the DB. The user picks from that list which record they want to delete.
this causes the page to call itself again, this time passing the 'action' parameter, and an 'ID' parameter (the record ID).
the page uses the 'ID' parameter to identify the record, then deletes it from the database.

That's where things stand now - everything works. What I want do is to change that last step slighty. I want to use a javascript confirmation box to force the user to confirm that they do indeed want to delete that specific record. So that last step would change like this:

the page uses the 'ID' parameter to identify the record, then uses a javascript confirmation box to confirm the record to be deleted. If the user confirms it (clicks ok/yes), the record is deleted. If the user does not confirm (clicks cancel/no), they are taken back to the list of records.

And this is the direction I've been going...

if ($action=="AddRecord") {
   do a whole bunch of stuff
} else if ($action=="EditRecord") {
   do a whole bunch of other stuff
} else if ($action=="DeleteRecord") {
   if ($ID!="") {
      run javascript showing confirmation box
      if (boolean value from confirmation box = true) { 
         delete the record
      } else {
          retrieve and display the list of records
      }
   } else {
      retrieve and display the list of records
   }
} else {
   die ("error interpreting the action command");
}

sneakyimp

seems to me like you should keep most of your original approach.

first two actions work fine.

for delete, you go fetch the records and prompt them for which record they would like to delete. when they choose one, you should have a javascript confirmation dialog pop up "are you sure you want to delete so-and-so?". this link describes how to do that:

http://www.shiningstar.net/articles/articles/javascript/confirmsubmit.asp?ID=AW

basically, when they click the delete link, it calls a javascript function confirm() that says "are you sure" with yes or no buttons. if they click yes, then the javascript submits the form or redirects to the php page with the appropriate query string or whatever.

does that make sense?

jacksonpt

It makes sense and sounds like just exactly what I'm trying to do.

I'm about to leave work though, so it'll have to wait till Monday. Thanks for the help though - I appreciate it.

sneakyimp

glad i could help.😃

if you know anybody who knows sockets, maybe send them over to give me a hand on my thread!😕

http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10288046