help with header("Location: $u");

fearfx

ok my problem I have is a little more complex than normal...

Is that ok?

Well here I go

I have created an admin section for updating categories and ad's with in the categories.

Now this is the code, when the submit button is pressed.

if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST"){
	$name = parse_input($name);
	$title = parse_input($title);
	$description = parse_input($description);
	if ($name){
		$bd = mysql_connect($mysql_hostname, $mysql_user, $mysql_password);
		mysql_select_db($mysql_database, $bd);
		mysql_query("UPDATE {$prefix}categories SET name = '$name', title = '$title', description = '$description', pages = '$pages' WHERE id = '$c'");
		mysql_close();
		header("Location: $u");
		exit();
	};
};

notice header("Location: $u");

now $u is supposed to represent the last page you were working on.

But for some reason when you submit, you just stay on admin_edit_category.php
instead of returning to the previous page.

NogDog

What is the value of $u? Are you sure it was set? (I don't see anywhere in your code sample where it does get set.)

fearfx

I can post more source code if needed...which it probably is just let me know...

NogDog

Start by searching through your code for the variable $u. Determine where it is set and how. If at that point it's not obvious to you what the problem is, then either show us the code where it is set, or explain to us how you set it. (For instance, if you are setting it from the value of $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'], then you may be running into the fact that that HTTP header is not required to be sent by the user agent, so you may be getting an empty value.)

fearfx

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Control Panel : Edit Category</TITLE>
<STYLE>
BODY {font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; color: #666666; margin: 5% 12%}
H1 {font-size: 22px; color: #666699; padding-bottom: 10px; border-bottom: 1px solid}
A:link {color: #666699}
A:visited {color: #666699}
A:hover {color: #9999CC}
FORM {margin: 0px}
INPUT {width: 300px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; color: #666666; background: white; padding: 1px 3px 0px; margin-right: 10px}
SELECT {width: 300px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; color: #666666; margin: 1px 0px; margin-right: 10px}
TEXTAREA {width: 300px; height: 70px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; color: #666666; padding: 1px 3px 0px; margin-right: 10px}
P {margin-top: 15px}
HR {height: 1px; color: #DDDDDD; margin: 10px 0px}
.BUTTON {width: auto; background: #dddddd}
</STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<?php
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST"){
?>
<H1>Error</H1>
<A HREF="<?php echo $dir?>">Index</A> > <A HREF="admin_edit.php">Control Panel</A> > <A HREF="admin_edit_category.php?c=<?php echo $c?>&u=<?php echo urlencode($u)?>">Edit Category</A> > Error
<HR SIZE=1 COLOR="#DDDDDD">
<?php
flush();
$last_category = false;
$ref = $c;
$bd = mysql_connect($mysql_hostname, $mysql_user, $mysql_password);
mysql_select_db($mysql_database, $bd);
while(!$last_category){
	$n_parent_categories += 1;
	$sql = mysql_query("SELECT id, name, ref FROM {$prefix}categories WHERE id = $ref");
	$parent_categories[$n_parent_categories-1] = array_map("parse_output",mysql_fetch_array($sql, MYSQL_ASSOC));
	if ($parent_categories[$n_parent_categories-1]["ref"] == 0){
		$last_category = true;
	}else{
		$ref = $parent_categories[$n_parent_categories-1]["ref"];
	};
};
mysql_close();
for ($x = $n_parent_categories-1; $x >= 0; $x--){
	if ($x != $n_parent_categories-1) echo ' > ';
	echo '<A HREF="admin_edit.php?c='.$parent_categories[$x]["id"].'"><B>'.$parent_categories[$x]["name"].'</B></A>';
};
?>
<P>You have not typed the category name:<P>
<FORM METHOD="post" ACTION="admin_edit_category.php">
<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="name" VALUE="<?php echo parse_output($name)?>" MAXLENGTH=100> Name<BR>
<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="title" VALUE="<?php echo parse_output($title)?>" MAXLENGTH=100> Title<BR>
<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="description" VALUE="<?php echo parse_output($description)?>" MAXLENGTH=200> Description<BR>
<SELECT NAME="pages">
<OPTION VALUE="y">Entries allowed
<OPTION VALUE="n"<?php if ($pages == "n"){ echo ' SELECTED'; };?>>Entries disallowed
</SELECT><BR>
<INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="Submit" CLASS="BUTTON">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="c" VALUE="<?php echo $c?>">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="u" VALUE="<?php echo $u?>">
</FORM>
<SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript">
function focus_first_field(){
	if (document.forms[0]){
		try {
			document.forms[0].elements[0].select();
			document.forms[0].elements[0].focus();
		}
		catch(e){}
	}
}
focus_first_field()
</SCRIPT>
<?php
}else{
?>
<H1>Edit Category</H1>
<A HREF="<?php echo $dir?>">Index</A> > <A HREF="admin_edit.php">Control Panel</A> > Edit Category
<HR SIZE=1 COLOR="#DDDDDD">
<?php
flush();
$last_category = false;
$ref = $c;
$bd = mysql_connect($mysql_hostname, $mysql_user, $mysql_password);
mysql_select_db($mysql_database, $bd);
while(!$last_category){
	$n_parent_categories += 1;
	$sql = mysql_query("SELECT id, name, ref FROM {$prefix}categories WHERE id = $ref");
	$parent_categories[$n_parent_categories-1] = array_map("parse_output",mysql_fetch_array($sql, MYSQL_ASSOC));
	if ($parent_categories[$n_parent_categories-1]["ref"] == 0){
		$last_category = true;
	}else{
		$ref = $parent_categories[$n_parent_categories-1]["ref"];
	};
};
for ($x = $n_parent_categories-1; $x >= 0; $x--){
	if ($x != $n_parent_categories-1) echo ' > ';
	echo '<A HREF="admin_edit.php?c='.$parent_categories[$x]["id"].'"><B>'.$parent_categories[$x]["name"].'</B></A>';
};
if ($c != 1){
	echo '<BR>'."\r\n";
	echo '<A HREF="admin_edit_category_delete.php?c='.$c.'&u='.urlencode($u).'" ONCLICK="return confirm(\'delete?\')">(delete)</A>'."\r\n";
	echo '<A HREF="admin_edit_category_move.php?a='.$c.'&r='.$current_category["ref"].'&c='.$current_category["ref"].'&u='.urlencode($u).'">(move)</A>'."\r\n";
};
flush();
$sql = mysql_query("SELECT name, title, description, pages, ref FROM {$prefix}categories WHERE id = $c");
$current_category = array_map("parse_output",mysql_fetch_array($sql, MYSQL_ASSOC));
mysql_close();
?>
<P>Modify this category:<P>
<FORM METHOD="post" ACTION="admin_edit_category.php">
<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="name" VALUE="<?php echo $current_category["name"]?>" MAXLENGTH=100> Name<BR>
<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="title" VALUE="<?php echo $current_category["title"]?>" MAXLENGTH=100> Title<BR>
<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="description" VALUE="<?php echo $current_category["description"]?>" MAXLENGTH=200> Description<BR>
<SELECT NAME="pages">
<OPTION VALUE="y">Entries allowed
<OPTION VALUE="n"<?php if ($current_category["pages"] == "n"){ echo ' SELECTED'; };?>>Entries disallowed
</SELECT><BR>
<INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="Submit" CLASS="BUTTON">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="c" VALUE="<?php echo $c?>">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="u" VALUE="<?php echo $u?>">
</FORM>
<SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript">
function focus_first_field(){
	if (document.forms[0]){
		try {
			document.forms[0].elements[0].select();
			document.forms[0].elements[0].focus();
		}
		catch(e){}
	}
}
focus_first_field()
</SCRIPT>
<?php
};
?>
</BODY>
</HTML>

supposed to be set with in their

NogDog

It is not explicitly set in that code. The only way it might be set (based on what you've shown us) is if was provided from an external source (form, cookie, etc.) and you have register_globals turned on (which is deprecated and should not really be used or depended upon). In any case, you can find out by simply adding a quick debug echo in there to find out:

// debug:
printf( "<p>DEBUG: Value of \$u: %s</p>\n", (isset($u)) ? $u : "[NOT SET!]");
// end debug

fearfx

ok, question, why is register globals on a bad thing. and how do i rectify the problem?

fearfx

DEBUG: Value of $u: http://okauchee.fearfx.com/admin/edit_cata/admin_edit.php

which is right, but when I submit I am still stuck on /admin_edit_category.php

why is this?

cgraz

inside your if($name) block, print out some text to make sure that if statement is executing.


if($name)
{
   // Other code here
   print 'This if block is executing; we should have redirected';
   exit;
}
else
{
   print 'This block failed to execute. name must have returned false';
   var_dump($name);
}

If this doesn't give you anything, debug your script (make sure display errors is on) and that there are no error warnings.

fearfx

the statement is excuting correctly because it updates the database

so...

NogDog

Doh! Do you have display_errors turned on? I'll bet you a good sum that if you did you'd see an error on the header() line about headers already being sent: header() will fail if any output--including HTML text not within <?php...?> tags--occurs before the call to header().

NogDog

PS: register_globals has been deprecated because it provides a mechanism whereby poorly written code could conceivably have uninitialized variables get their values clobbered in unexpected ways, either by accident or by malicious users. For instance, with the following code...

while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
   $text .= $row['text'] . "<br>\n";  // $text was never initialized
}
echo $text;

If the user called the page with the following URL:

www.yoursite.com/pagename.php?text=<some_nasty_javascript_here>

...then the value of $text would end up beginning with that javascript text if register_globals is on.

fearfx

NogDog wrote:
Doh! Do you have display_errors turned on? I'll bet you a good sum that if you did you'd see an error on the header() line about headers already being sent: header() will fail if any output--including HTML text not within <?php...?> tags--occurs before the call to header().

ok, how do I turn on display errors, and also, their is no html ahead of the header.

NogDog

fearfx wrote:
ok, how do I turn on display errors,...

<?php
ini_set('display_errors', 1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);

...and also, their is no html ahead of the header.

What about all the html you showed in post #5, above?