Paging Problem

[leest]

Hi, I am fairly new to php and have pretty much been playing with things until i manage to get the result i am looking for, but now i am a littl stuck.

I have a search form that contains two drop down menu boxes, in my results page i retrieve the information selected by using the below statement.

$search1 = $POST['search1'] ;
$search2 = $POST['search2']

Using the above returns the information beautifully, until i follow the link to the next pr any page and it is lost. I have realised, that the other pages are obviously not reading this information, and i think to resolve it i should use some kind of session. Now i have tried this but i am getting more and more confused, could anybody please just give me a few pointers or a nudge in the right direction please.

Thanks

[leatherback]

Search the forum, and look at the tutorials on this website. There are loads of examples

[greenie2600]

http://php.net/manual/en/ref.session.php

[chardx_211]

hi..
im a newbie of php and web programming... im a student and having this school project.. this code will display a search page.. i limit it to 10 result per page..
but when i click the next button.. no result will display..
your help will be very apreciated.. tnx..

<form action="<?php echo "$PHP_SELF"; ?>" method="post">
<div id="logo">
	<h1 class="style4">Guidance</h1>
	<h2 align="right" class="style4">information system </h2>
</div>
<div id="menu">
	<ul class="style1">



	<div>
	<li><a href="mainpage.php"class="style1">Home</a></li>
	</div><p>&nbsp;</p>
		    <li>Let us not say every man is the architect of his own fortune; but let us say, every man is the archetict of his own character. </li>
</ul>
</div>
<!-- end #menu -->
<div id="page">
	<div id="content">
	  <div id="example" class="post">
	    <div class="story">
	      <label>	      </label>
	      <table width="107" border="0">
            <tr>
              <td width="97"><select name="selection" id="selection">
                <option value="4">All</option>
                <option value="2">Last Name</option>
                <option value="3">First Name</option>
                <option value="1">Student ID</option>
                            </select></td>
            </tr>
          </table>
	      <label>
	      <input name="field" type="text" />
          </label>
		        <label>
                <input name="Submit" type="submit" onclick="MM_validateForm('studentid','','R');return document.MM_returnValue" value="Search" />
                </label>
	    </div>
	  </div>
	</div>
	<!-- end #content --><!-- end #sidebar -->
    <span class="style4"><img src="g2_tux.png" alt="" width="154" height="122" /></span>
</form>
<?php

  // Get the search variable from URL
  $sel = $_POST['selection'];
  $var = @$_POST['field'] ;
  $trimmed = trim($var); //trim whitespace from the stored variable

// rows to return
	$limit = 10; 

// check for an empty string and display a message.
if ($trimmed == "")
  {
  echo "<p>Please enter a search...</p>";
  exit;
  }

// check for a search parameter
if (!isset($var))
  {
  echo "<p>We dont seem to have a search parameter!</p>";
  exit;
  }

//incuding the connect database
include 'dbcon.php';
// Build SQL Query  

if($sel == 4 )
{
	//SQL query
 $query = "select * from studentpersonaldata where student_id like \"$trimmed%\" OR lastname like \"$trimmed%\" OR firstname like \"$trimmed%\" order by lastname "; 
 $numresults=mysql_query($query);
 $numrows=mysql_num_rows($numresults);
}
elseif($sel == 3 )
{
 //SQL query
 $query = "select * from studentpersonaldata where firstname like \"$trimmed%\" order by lastname "; 
 $numresults=mysql_query($query);
 $numrows=mysql_num_rows($numresults);
}

elseif($sel == 2 )
{
 //SQL query
 $query = "select * from studentpersonaldata where lastname like \"$trimmed%\" order by lastname "; 
 $numresults=mysql_query($query);
 $numrows=mysql_num_rows($numresults);
}

elseif($sel == 1 )
{	
 //SQL query
 $query = "select * from studentpersonaldata where student_id like \"$trimmed%\" order by lastname";
 $numresults=mysql_query($query);
 $numrows=mysql_num_rows($numresults);
}




// no result prompt

if ($numrows == 0)
  {
  echo "<h4>Results</h4>";
  echo "<p>Sorry, your search: &quot;" . $trimmed . "&quot; returned zero results</p>";
  exit;

  }

// next determine if s has been passed to script, if not use 0
  if (empty($s)) {
  $s=0;
  }

// get results
  $query .= " limit $s,$limit";
  $result = mysql_query($query) or die("Couldn't execute query");
echo "<center>";
// display what the person searched for
echo "<p>You searched for: &quot;" . $var . "&quot;</p>";

// begin to show results set

echo "Results";
$count = 1 + $s ;

// display the results returned
echo "<div>&nbsp;</div>";

  while ($row= mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
  echo "<form action='searchmenu.php' method='post'>";
  echo "<div>&nbsp;</div>";
  $studentID = $row["student_id"];
  $lastname = $row["lastname"];
  $firstname = $row["firstname"];
  $mi = $row["middleinitial"];


echo "$count.)&nbsp;<input name='Submit' type='submit' value='view'> >&nbsp;";
echo " &nbsp;<input name='LastName' type='text' value='$lastname' readonly='readonly'/>";
echo " &nbsp;<input name='FirstName' type='text' value='$firstname' readonly='readonly'/>";
echo " &nbsp;<input name='MI' type='text' size='1' value='$mi' readonly='readonly'/>";
echo " &nbsp;<input name='Student_IDN' type='text' size='7' value='$studentID' readonly='readonly'/>";
echo "</form>";
echo "<div></div>";
  $count++ ;
  }

$currPage = (($s/$limit) + 1);

//break before paging
  echo "<br />";

  // next we need to do the links to other results
  if ($s>=1) { // bypass PREV link if s is 0
  $prevs=($s-$limit);
  print "&nbsp;<a href=\"$PHP_SELF?s=$prevs&q=$var\">&lt;&lt; 
  Prev 10</a>&nbsp&nbsp;";
  }

// calculate number of pages needing links
  $pages=intval($numrows/$limit);

// $pages now contains int of pages needed unless there is a remainder from division

  if ($numrows%$limit) {
  // has remainder so add one page
  $pages++;
  }

// check to see if last page
  if (!((($s+$limit)/$limit)==$pages) && $pages!=1) {

  // not last page so give NEXT link
  $news=$s+$limit;

  echo "&nbsp;<a href=\"$PHP_SELF?s=$news&q=$var\">Next 10 &gt;&gt;</a>";
  }

$a = $s + ($limit) ;
  if ($a > $numrows) { $a = $numrows ; }
  $b = $s + 1 ;
  echo "<p>Showing results $b to $a of $numrows</p>";
  echo "</center>";
?></div>