[RESOLVED] keeping the page state FORMS

thosecars82

Hello there
I wanted to ask you this: I have a get variable in the url which indicates the language in which a website is shown.Moreover, there is a form with a text area which loses its content when the language is changed because I am not keeping any get or post variable with the content of that text area. For that reason, I wanted to learn some way to keep the state of the content of the text area so that the user can still see the text that they wrote when they changed the language of the website. You can check what I mean if you write anything in the text area of the contact section of www.metatradersoftware.com and change the language before clicking send. As you will see, the content of the text area will be lost.
I would appreciate any idea to keep that content.
Thanks in advance

bpat1434

There's no real simple way to do this. You have no way to know what they've typed without having it posted. You could get JS TO WRITE A COOKIE (i believe) and then read it on reload, and "delete" it after use. I know it's not a lot to go on, but without posting (or getting) the form with the text area, they'll lose their text.

thosecars82

hello bpat1434
What about using the $_SESSION variable?

Is there any way to recover the current content of a text area from a form without using javascript, just with php? I need to recover a text area content to save it in $_SESSION before linking to another php file. That way, I might keep the value of the text area and have it available at the second php file. If I am forced to use javascript, I will use it, but I prefer to uses php as long as it is possible for my purpose.
Thanks in advance

djheru

How are you switching languages? Do they go to a completely different page, or does a javascript function change the displayed language of the page?

If you do switch pages to change languages, you might want to write the language link to switch the page using a javascript function utilizing window.location.href and then you could automatically submit the form when you click the language link. Then you could just write the php form to re-display the text that was submitted.

leatherback

thosecars82 wrote:
hello bpat1434
What about using the $_SESSION variable?

Is there any way to recover the current content of a text area from a form without using javascript, just with php? I need to recover a text area content to save it in $_SESSION before linking to another php file. That way, I might keep the value of the text area and have it available at the second php file. If I am forced to use javascript, I will use it, but I prefer to uses php as long as it is possible for my purpose.
Thanks in advance

Didn't you JUST post this question in an other thread too?

Short answer: Yes. Submit the form, retrieve the info, and stack it into a session var. Then you could do a header redirect, or you post the form straight to the page where you want to go, and put the info in a session variable.