[RESOLVED] carrying variables over many pages

[noobyphpchick]

Hiya
I hope someone can advise me, I have a search and reservation system in progress and i have carried search variables over the pages using the $GET method so the variables are in the url. however now i need those variables to be carried over a few pages where they are not used but need to be remembered for the reservation page. How do i do this?
I was thinking i need a session and after a few tutorials i think i am ready to attempt one but if my variables are in the url from a $GET how would i get them to be registered to a session? (ie- how would my users search criteria be carried from the url to a session variable)
probably a simple question, i hope someone can understand what i mean.
really appreciate any help.

also on another subject- i should repost but its an easy one i think, how do i add a image to the database, or rather just add the url location so it can be seen in my pages and can be a varchar not a blob?

Thanks alot 🙂

[Gigantor]

Heya,

session variables are what you need to use to keep a value across multiple scripts. They will remain valid unless the browser is closed or the timeout is reached.

a good example is a logon script, once authenticed, $_SESSION['loggedon']=1. each script then checks the session[loggedon] variable before allowing any execution and terminate otherwise.

in your case, you would read the search tag , using $REQUEST, and then set them as session vars using $SESSION.

ie, edituser.php?id=1

$id=$REQUEST['id'] //this sets the id value from the URL to a variable for use
$SESSION['id']=$id //this creates the session variable with that data, any script

//within the session can use it

re images, there are 2 ways, you can either store image files on the server, and have them uploaded via forms, and a database table that stores the filename, file path, file description etc etc...

..or you can store the image as a blob in your table.

I think either way is valid, but I chose to store the images as files and reference them, just because i found it easier to manipulate, for example with thumbnail/image gallery type scripts. There are good tutorials around for each method.

[noobyphpchick]

THANKS!! I have my variables now printing on every page 🙂 Now i can start using them, it took a while but its working.

On the picture question, i would like to reference the pictures from a file, i have tried many ways, i know its probably a syntax problem. I can't seem to find out on the internet so hope you can help.

INSERT INTO hotel VALUES
(1, 1, 'hotel name', '\pics\picture.jpg');

[Gigantor]

ok..for starters, one of the things that tripped me up here is a problem with developing on a windows platform, and having your host on a linux platform. The different filesystems mean slashes are different.

your query dosent help much without the table structure, and im not sure what error you are getting

You need - a table to store the image properties
- a function to ulpload the image from a form, and write the properties to the table

check out a decent tutorial, here is one : http://www.php-mysql-tutorial.com/image-gallery/index.php

[Dada78]

I am going through this same thing with getting a picture into MySQL. I found it easier to upload the image to a folder in your file system then enter the url to that image in your database. It will keep your database from filling up.

[Gigantor]

hmm..perhaps you misunderstood me.

what i was talking about in my last post is uploading the image (via form) to the filesystem on the host, storing it in a folder, and then creating a record in your database to keep track of the file name and the folder.

that way your database does not actually store the image, so theres no worrying about blobs etc, but you can still use the database to track images for the purposes of image galleries or relating images to other database objects...get me?

read that tutorial i posted above dada78.

[noobyphpchick]

Thanks 🙂
i'm finding it all a bit complicated really, there must be an easier way i only want to show a picture on one page of my website, i don't want to upload the picture through a form i just want to have it already there in my database so i can call it out in a row with all my other data, i thought you might be able to do it by referencing its location when you make the database but have had no luck with that.
should i use load_file()?

[Gigantor]

ok now you've completely lost me ! 🙂

if you just want to display an image, why arent you just using HTML and uploading the file manually? if it dosent change dynamically, why does the image need to be in the database?

cant you just manually upload the image, and then use normal HTML <img src> calls to display it?

maybe PM me and tell me exactly what you're trying to do, might be less confusing