Pagination Query Failing on Second Page

[scriderpsd]

I'm trying to paginate some query results but when I click on "next" to go to the next set of results, the query fails. Here's what I'm using to pull the data from the database.

	$sql="SELECT id, student_id, first_name, last_name, address, city, state, zip, DOB, gender, grade, aka FROM student WHERE last_name LIKE '".$_GET['last']."%' and current_student='yes' ORDER BY last_name LIMIT $offset, $rowsPerPage";
	$conn = db_security_connect();
	$result = mysql_query($sql,$conn);
	$query   = "SELECT COUNT(*) AS numrows FROM student WHERE last_name LIKE '".$_GET['last']."%' and current_student='yes'";

Here is my pagination code...

					$oddrow=true;
					for ($i = 0; $i < mysql_num_rows($result); $i++) {						
						$row_array = mysql_fetch_assoc($result);
								if ($oddrow) {
									$oddrow=false;
									$classtype="evenrow";
								} else {
									$oddrow=true;
									$classtype="oddrow";
								}
								echo '<tr class="'. $classtype. '">';	
						  		echo '<TD>'.$row_array['student_id'].'</a></TD>';
						  		echo '<TD><a href="notes.php?id='.$row_array['id'].'">'.$row_array['last_name'].', '.$row_array['first_name'].'</a>';
						  			if (!empty($row_array['aka'])){
						  				echo ' aka ("'.$row_array['aka'].'")';
						  			}
						  		echo '<br>'.$row_array['address'].' '.$row_array['city'].', '.$row_array['state'].'  '.$row_array['zip'].'</TD>';
						  		echo '<TD>'.$row_array['DOB'].'</TD>';
						  		echo '<TD>'.$row_array['gender'].'</TD>';
						  		echo '<TD>'.$row_array['grade'].'</TD>';
						echo("</TR>");
					}

	// how many rows we have in database ($query ran above)
	$result  = mysql_query($query) or die('Error, query failed');
	$row     = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC);
	$numrows = $row['numrows'];

	// how many pages we have when using paging?
	$maxPage = ceil($numrows/$rowsPerPage);

	$self = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];

	// creating 'previous' and 'next' link
	// plus 'first page' and 'last page' link

	// print 'previous' link only if we're not
	// on page one
	if ($pageNum > 1)
	{
		$page = $pageNum - 1;
		$prev = " <a href=\"$self?".$urlVariable."&page=$page\">[Prev]</a> ";

		$first = " <a href=\"$self?".$urlVariable."&page=1\">[First Page]</a> ";
	} 
	else
	{
		$prev  = ' [Prev] ';       // we're on page one, don't enable 'previous' link
		$first = ' [First Page] '; // nor 'first page' link
	}

	// print 'next' link only if we're not
	// on the last page
	if ($pageNum < $maxPage)
	{
		$page = $pageNum + 1;
		$next = " <a href=\"$self?".$urlVariable."&page=$page\">[Next]</a> ";

	 	$last = " <a href=\"$self?".$urlVariable."&page=$maxPage\">[Last Page]</a> ";
	} 
	else
	{
		$next = ' [Next] ';      // we're on the last page, don't enable 'next' link
		$last = ' [Last Page] '; // nor 'last page' link
	}

	// print the page navigation link
	echo "<tr><td colspan=5><hr color=gray size=6></td></tr><tr><td><a href=\"index.php\">Return To Main Page</a></td><td colspan=2 align=center>";
	echo $first . $prev . " Showing page <strong>$pageNum</strong> of <strong>$maxPage</strong> pages " . $next . $last;
	echo "</td><td colspan=2>&nbsp;</td></tr>";

I'm thinking the problem may have something to do with the persistence of this variable...

$_GET['last']

This is being pulled from the search on the previous page.

Am I on the right track here? Does this maybe need to be a hidden form element.

As always, any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Scott

[scriderpsd]

Okay, so on the previous page (where I do the search), I'm using a...

form method=POST

Therefore nothing is posted in the URL. Would this have something to do with it? When I go to the second page of my paginated results, is that POSTed variable being lost?

[Weedpacket]

You don't appear to be using any variables in $POST; only the one in $GET.