link to page 2 from a table

[robin01]

Hello all,

Trying to learn and create my own classified script.

on page one main page i was able to read the categories from mysql databse and display the the categories in a 3 col table (row1['category']).

what can i add in terms of code so when i click on a category that it takes me to page_2.php carring with it the category i selected (the page must open in the same page)?

i tried different version of $_service(php_self) but not getting anywhere.

page_2.php will display a sub category which i will work on later.
any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

[Rodney_H_]

I think you can accomplish what you are trying with use of the PHP Super-Global array(), $_GET

These are values that are passed in the query string, whose values can be easily converted to variables, validated, and used in your scripts.

For example, you may have links on page one:

<?php
// connect and query DB here... 
?>
<ul>
<?php
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC))
{
     echo '<li><a href="page2.php?cat=' . $row['cat_id'] . '">' . htmlspecialchars( $row['cat_name'] ) . '</a></li>' . "\n";
}
?>
</ul>

Then, on page two, you could check to see if there is a GET value set for "cat" like:

<?php
$cat = 1; // create default

if(isset($_GET['cat']) && ctype_digit($_GET['cat']) )
{
     $cat = (int)$_GET['cat'];
}

// etc...
?>

And you can then safely use your $cat variable in your script to determine the appropriate SUB-categories, etc..