[RESOLVED] Value can come from Session or url

GrexP

I'm not sure the best way to handle this.

Initially, the user logs in and they are presented the alphabet as a series of links. If they click on ‘A’ they are shown a list of people whose last name starts with ‘A’. Each person has an ID number that is a link. They click on the persons ID number link and then they move through a series of pages where they can edit and add information for the person.

When the user first clicks on the person ID number I pass that number via the url (e.g. mypage.php?ID=123). When MYPAGE.PHP loads I set a session variable for $PersonID which is used in the rest of the pages.

This works fine except when the user goes back to the initial page for the person (mypage.php). Now I need to get the ID from the session variable and not from the URL.

Either I need to be able to tell where to look for the value (isset() maybe) or I need to be able to set the session variable when the user first clicks on the link from the list of names.

Any help is appreciated...

Greg

GrexP

I went with this and it seems to be working...

<?php 
session_start();	
if (!empty($_GET['PersonID'])) {
	$PerID=$_GET['PersonID'];
//	$Type="Get";
} else {
	$PerID=$_SESSION['PerID'];	
//	$Type="Session";
}
?>

Initially I pass in the id with the url and after that the $_SESSION[] variable is used.

sneakyimp

That looks like a good approach. Keep in mind that if $_GET['PersonID'] is zero then [man]empty[/man] returns true. If you don't have a person with PersonID of zero, then don't sweat it.

You might also want to check if NEITHER value is set in which case you should redirect them or show an error message.

GrexP

sneakyimp;10908729 wrote:
That looks like a good approach. Keep in mind that if $_GET['PersonID'] is zero then [man]empty[/man] returns true. If you don't have a person with PersonID of zero, then don't sweat it.

You might also want to check if NEITHER value is set in which case you should redirect them or show an error message.

Thanks for the feedback. I didn't realize that about the zero value. That seems like odd behavior that would make me pull my hair out if I didn't know it and personid came in as zero. As it is, that won't be an issue.

sneakyimp

I'm not 100% sure but I think all variables that come in through $_GET are typed as strings. Unless of course you do something like page.php?var[]=foo&var[]=bar in which case PHP builds an array of strings. At any rate, any non-array values are strings.

If you wanted to allow zero as a PersonID then you could check for strlen($GET['personID']) == 0 or maybe even isset($GET['personID']).

GrexP

sneakyimp;10908737 wrote:
I'm not 100% sure but I think all variables that come in through $_GET are typed as strings. Unless of course you do something like page.php?var[]=foo&var[]=bar in which case PHP builds an array of strings. At any rate, any non-array values are strings.

If you wanted to allow zero as a PersonID then you could check for strlen($GET['personID']) == 0 or maybe even isset($GET['personID']).

Thanks. I considered strlen() but in this case it would be over-kill. All of the ids are 6 to 10 chrs.

Greg