storing category in a session

gwh

Hi everyone,

The code below is the code in a template file that lists categories from a database and this code is controlled by code in a controller file (see code at the end of this post):

<?php include_once $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/includes/helpers.inc.php'; ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
		"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
	<head>
	<title>Manage Categories</title>
	<meta http-equiv="content-type"
				content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
</head>
	<body>
		<h1>Manage Categories</h1>
		<p><a href="?add">Add new category</a></p>
		<ul>
			<?php foreach ($categories as $category): ?>
				<li>
					<form action="" method="post">
						<div>
							<?php htmlout($category['category']); ?>
							<input type="hidden" name="catID" value="<?php
									echo $category['catID']; ?>"/>
							<input type="submit" name="action" value="Edit"/>
							<input type="submit" name="action" value="Delete"/>
						</div>
					</form>
				</li>
			<?php endforeach; ?>
		</ul>
		<p><a href="..">Return to apparel management system home</a></p>
	</body>
</html>

In this template file, I need to store the value of the category that was clicked on via the delete, in a variable so that I can use it in another file (category_delete.html.php).

This is easier enough to do with the catID in the above code as the catID is stored in a hidden field so that when the delete submit button is pressed I can access it via the $POST[ ] array in the controller file, but I'm not sure how I can capture the value of the category that was clicked on in the above template file as it's not stored in an input field so I can't access it via the POST[ ] array.

I thought about using a session in the controller file below after the point where the mysqli_query has fetched the categories from the database, ie.

  if (!isset($_SESSION['category']) || empty($_SESSION['category']))
  {
	$_SESSION['category'] = $row['category'];

  }

...but this stores all the categories in the session and not just the specific category that relates to the delete button that was clicked.

I'd really appreciate any advice if anyone has any suggestions how to solve this.

<?php
session_start();
?>

<?php
if (isset($_POST['action']) and $_POST['action'] == 'Delete')
{
	include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/includes/dbAdmin.inc.php';
	$id = mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $_POST['catID']);

// Get items with certain category
$sql = "SELECT itemID FROM items WHERE catID='$id'";
$result = mysqli_query($link, $sql);
if (!$result)
{
	$error = 'Error getting list of items to delete.';
	include 'error.html.php';
	exit();
}

// assume that no match has been found
$recordsExist = false;

// check whether recordset found any matches
if (mysqli_num_rows($result) > 0) {

	$recordsExist = true;

 	include 'category_delete.html.php';

 }
	else {

	// Delete the category
	$sql = "DELETE FROM categories WHERE id='$id'";
	if (!mysqli_query($link, $sql))
		{
			$error = 'Error deleting category.';
			include 'error.html.php';
			exit();
		}
	}

header('Location: .');
exit();
}

// Display category list
include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/includes/dbAdmin.inc.php';
$result = mysqli_query($link, 'SELECT catID, category FROM categories');
if (!$result)
{
	$error = 'Error fetching categories from database!';
	include 'error.inc.html.php';
	exit();
}

while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
{
	$categories[] = array('catID' => $row['catID'], 'category' => $row['category']);
}



  if (!isset($_SESSION['category']) || empty($_SESSION['category']))
  {
	$_SESSION['category'] = $row['category'];

  }

include 'categories.html.php';
?>

halojoy

<?php
session_start();

if (isset($_POST['action']) and $_POST['action'] == 'Delete')
{
	include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/includes/dbAdmin.inc.php';
	$id = mysqli_real_escape_string($_POST['catID'], $link );

// Get items with certain category
$sql = "SELECT itemID FROM items WHERE catID='$id'";
$result = mysqli_query($link, $sql);
if (!$result)
{
	$error = 'Error getting list of items to delete.';
	include 'error.html.php';
	exit();
}

// assume that no match has been found
$recordsExist = false;
// check whether recordset found any matches
if (mysqli_num_rows($result) > 0) {
	$recordsExist = true;
 	include 'category_delete.html.php';
}
else
{	// Delete the category
	$sql = "DELETE FROM categories WHERE id='$id'";
	if (!mysqli_query($link, $sql))
	{
		$error = 'Error deleting category.';
		include 'error.html.php';
		exit();
	}
}

header('Location: .');
exit();
}

If there are some records in category, you do not delete
but you include another page:
include 'category_delete.html.php';

This means the variables stay intact.
You can still use $id and $_POST['catID'] in that page.

An included page is a part of current page.
Just as if there was only one php page.

gwh

Thanks for the reply,

I think you misunderstood my code. The following code in the controller file is the code that queries the database and then at the end it includes categories.html.php which outputs the categories to the browser:

// Display category list
include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/includes/dbAdmin.inc.php';
$result = mysqli_query($link, 'SELECT catID, category FROM categories');
if (!$result)
{
	$error = 'Error fetching categories from database!';
	include 'error.inc.html.php';
	exit();
}

while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
{
	$categories[] = array('catID' => $row['catID'], 'category' => $row['category']);
}



  if (!isset($_SESSION['category']) || empty($_SESSION['category']))
  {
	$_SESSION['category'] = $row['category'];

  }

include 'categories.html.php';
?>

The following code is the contents of categories.html.php

<?php include_once $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/includes/helpers.inc.php'; ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
		"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
	<head>
	<title>Manage Categories</title>
	<meta http-equiv="content-type"
				content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
</head>
	<body>
		<h1>Manage Categories</h1>
		<p><a href="?add">Add new category</a></p>
		<ul>
			<?php foreach ($categories as $category): ?>
				<li>
					<form action="" method="post">
						<div>
							<?php htmlout($category['category']); ?>
							<input type="hidden" name="catID" value="<?php
									echo $category['catID']; ?>"/>
							<input type="submit" name="action" value="Edit"/>
							<input type="submit" name="action" value="Delete"/>
						</div>
					</form>
				</li>
			<?php endforeach; ?>
		</ul>
	</body>
</html>

The above code displays the categories and has a delete and edit button next to each category. I need to capture the value of the category that is clicked on when a user presses the delete button as I need this value in the third page called category_delete_html.php as follows:

<?php include_once $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/includes/helpers.inc.php'; ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
		"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
	<head>
	<title>Manage Categories</title>
	<meta http-equiv="content-type"
				content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
</head>
	<body>
		<h1>Delete Category</h1>

    <p>
<?php
if ($recordsExist) {
	print_r($_SESSION);
  echo '<p class="warning">'. $_SESSION['category'] . ' category has dependent records. Can\'t be deleted.</p>';
  }
else {
?>
</p>
<p class="warning">Please confirm that you want to delete the following record. This operation cannot be undone. </p>



<p><a href="?add">Add new category</a></p>
<ul>
				<li>
					<form action="" method="post">
						<div>
						  <?php htmlout($category['category']); ?>
							<input type="hidden" name="catID" value="<?php
									echo $category['catID']; ?>"/>
							<input type="submit" name="delete" value="Confirm deletion"/>
						</div>
					</form> 
</li>
		</ul><?php } ?>
	</body>
</html>

It's in this delete page where I'm trying to ouput the value of the category as in the following code:

    <?php
if ($recordsExist) {
	print_r($_SESSION);
  echo '<p class="warning">'. $_SESSION['category'] . ' category has dependent records. Can\'t be deleted.</p>';
  }
else {
?>
</p>

So my original question is still not answered. I'm trying to capture the value of the category that was clicked on in the page that lists the categories. To clarify it's not the id I'm trying to capture eg. $_POST['catID'] - it's the category, ie.

<?php htmlout($category['category']); ?>

Any further advice appreciated.

johanafm

What's wrong with using the catID? You should need nothing else to delete the record. Apart from that, you do not define $recordExists, nor $SESSION['category']. At least not in the code shown.
And what would category be doing in SESSION anyway? You just posted a form containing catID, so if it's purely the category's name you want to show, either pull it from DB/cache by using catID, or send it with the form data as $_POST['category']. I.e. htmlout($category['category']) should ouput an input element of type text, or be replaced by something that does.

Edit: Just realized there might be some more useful info in the first post, so I read that as well. I probably should stop replying when I'm too tired... but

  if (!isset($_SESSION['category']) || empty($_SESSION['category']))
  {
	$_SESSION['category'] = $row['category'];

  }

Turn this into something like

$_SESSION['categories'][$row['catID']] = $row['category'];

And then you can use the $_SESSION['categories'][$_POST['catID']] to get the category.

gwh

Thanks - I'll give it a try