Do you guys know of any other redirection function besides header("Location: ")?

Tea_J

do you guys know of any other redirection function besides header("Location: ")?

(also not through meta tag refresh)...

i've always found myself wanting to redirect users in the middle of my script/php page, and header("location") wont work because my page has outputs already..

is there any other function in php that can redirect a user?

searched the manuals,.. couldnt find any..

🙁

bpat1434

no, header and meta are the only HTML ways. You can redirect via JavaScript (window.location="url" )

Tea_J

i see. thanks for the speedy reply.. now if you could just give me a speedy example.. lol

i dont know crap about JS.. i just need something to redirect users to OWN page (thereby refreshing in a sense) and passing the variable ?act=sent

gracias

PS
just a quick side question
what's the php function to get the filname of the executing php file? basically need a script that knows it's own filename (for redirection purposes)

krotkruton

You probably just need to do some rearranging. I've found that the majority of the time I can either place my code before the output and use a Header or have the user click on something to redirect. I'd be curious to know what you are doing that couldn't fit into one of these catagories (this isn't to say that I think everything should fit into one of those catagories, just that I think a lot of things can be fixed to fit)

Tea_J

well for one, i am re-developing my php libraries to be in a plugin, module form..

for example, if an webpage needs a contact form, i need not do any form or any routines etc etc..

i just put inside the table where the form should be the following code:

<? php include("modules/email_form.php"); ?>

that there taks care of EVERYTHING.. from displaying the html form to outputting success/error messages.. to processing mail() routine etc etc etc...

it's a very worry free method.. slip that code in and forget about it..

I would like to REDIRECT a user AFTER successfully sending an email..

now since everything happens in that script, which is inside a table, header or meta doesnt quite cut it anymore..

now you udnerstand? 😃

laserlight

Place an anchor at that point, and then get the user there somehow. The somehow depends on what exactly happens in the logical flow of the script.

krotkruton

Yeah, I forgot about that. I do the same thing to generate my navigation bar and menus.

In that case, a quick check on php.net for the header function produces this solution (along with a few others and some more explanation of what is going on) in the comments:

3a. Use Javascript:
<? echo "<script> self.location(\"file.php\");</script>"; ?>
Since it's a script, it won't modify the header until execution of Javascript.

3b. Use output buffering:
<?php ob_start(); ?>
... HTML codes ...
<?php
... PHP codes ...
header ("Location: ....");
ob_end_flush();
?>

Tea_J

Place an anchor at that point, and then get the user there somehow. The somehow depends on what exactly happens in the logical flow of the script.

thanks laserlight... well anchoring just brings the user back up top of page.need to refresh page, or go somewhere else.. the logical flow of the script? well the whole script is embedded inside a table in the html page.. and the script checks for the required values, sends email, display's "MESSAGE SeNT"... but instead of displaying that message i wanted to redirect the user to the SAME page and then say MESSAGE SENT.. because i dont want the user REFRESHING THE PAGE and resending post data ....

@
thanks for the alternatives.. output buffer wont work for me.. but that java script MAY do me some good.. but i wanted to go PURE PHP.. sucks to know that php doesnt have this type functionality. 🙁 maybe php6?

Plasma

One way to go about this (if you are using object oriented programming) is you have more than one phase of your website.

For example, the most basic component can be 'Page', and every page uses this class.

Then you add objects to the page etc etc.

But the main point being, each and every object has some methods:

OnPreRender, OnRender, OnPostRender

Just as an example.

So, when a page request is done, OnPreRender is executed for every object, then on render (which is where you do the echo statements etc and write back data), and then after thats done, do onpostrender.

So, you can do all the hard work in onprerender, and then set a flag to say your redirecting - then in your main page class, check the flag, dont do onrender for the child objects and instead redirect.

Basically, have a 'prepare' phase of your page, and then run the actual page rendering code.

laserlight

anchoring just brings the user back up top of page.need to refresh page, or go somewhere else.

I mentioned the use of anchors since you apparently wanted the users to be at somewhere in the middle of the page, but actually, that isnt what you want.

well the whole script is embedded inside a table in the html page.. and the script checks for the required values, sends email, display's "MESSAGE SeNT"... but instead of displaying that message i wanted to redirect the user to the SAME page and then say MESSAGE SENT.. because i dont want the user REFRESHING THE PAGE and resending post data

The thing is that the HTML table is not needed in the first place. I wouldnt describe it in an OOP sense, but Plasma is right to talk about a prepare phase and a render phase in the logical flow of the script.

If there are values to be checked and an email to be sent, then the checking and sending should be done as soon as the values are received, not midway through the script.

output buffer wont work for me

Why not? I think that it is better to re-structure your script, but in this case you dont need to output to clientside in the first place.

Houdini

You were given the answer in the first post I believe, where I had an occassion to have to use such a redirect once and Javascript will do what you want.

bpat1434 Gave the simple solution but without the full code which would look like the below;

echo "<script type='text/javascript'>location.href='$url';</script>";

There is no link clicking or anything and the above works the same as if you used
header("Location:URL") with the exception that it will not throw an error because it is not PHP and it works cause I have used it in a pinch, just replace the URL with whatever file or whatever you need, for your purposes that all the JavaScript you need to know.
you could also use window.location='URL' without the href where the URL is a file or other URL you want to use. I had a form that reloaded itself to validate and if errors were made the redirect with javascript was necessary

Tea_J

The thing is that the HTML table is not needed in the first place. I wouldnt describe it in an OOP sense, but Plasma is right to talk about a prepare phase and a render phase in the logical flow of the script.

If there are values to be checked and an email to be sent, then the checking and sending should be done as soon as the values are received, not midway through the script.

i totally agree. and i would normally do it this way given the chance.. however it's come to a point that sometimes i can do it that way (and most of the websites i have now are that way where logics/verifications are done on top of everything).. and i found it MUCH easier to do things (not only my contact form) in a PLUGIN sort of way WITHOUT bits and pieces of the code spread out around the pages.. (top,head,body, etc)

I trully understand the issues of separating logic from presentation, etc etc.. I have always looked at things this way and i've always done it this way for quite some time.. but AT TIMES, it always felt like an additional load.. and i found it MANY TIMES similar to this particular situation, to be impractical. specially if im doing rapid development (need to to keep me fed)..

therefore i am redoing some of my personal libraries to be a more "PLUGIN" type where I SLIP A LINE OF CODE and THAT's IT. logic and presentation in one line.. easier to maintain..

as for efficiency, speed, i dont think the additional load on the bandwidth and cpu is that significant in todays network/pcs.. and plus most of the stuff is CACHED already only that few lines of html output that depends on the conditions in my scripts..

thanks much for the inputs.

@
ahh.. thanks..wish i didnt need to do mix javascript in my PHP plugin.. but.. oh well. hehe. thanks all the same.. this is still a good solution.