Correct Way To Make a Double post

amax

Hi there. I would love some advice on the correct way to make a double post.

Basically, I have a php form that receives customers details such as name, address, phone number etc. When the user confirms and submits the form for an order via a POST , I insert the users details into a database on the next page, setting orderComplete=0, and then rebuild the form on the same page with php and hidden fields to post alternative specific values to a 3rd party such as Paypal etc with Javascript i.e.

echo '<form method="post" action="thirdpartypage.php" id="sendtoparty" name="sendtoparty">';
echo '<input type="hidden" value="all other values" />
echo '<script>document.sendtoparty.submit();</script>';

This works fine in that as far as the customer is concerned, they basically just get redirected as should but there has to be a better way / standard practice for this.
e.g. if Javascript was disabled, the redirect would not happen etc

What is the best way / practice for coding a page like this where you process POST variables, then make another POST to a differnt URL in the most seamless way

Ashley_Sheridan

You don't actually need to post the form twice to send the data to two places. In the part of your script where you're inserting it into your database, you can make a cURL request which passes the data onto PayPal (in much the same way that you'd make your Ajax request with Javascript)

This way, you eliminate a step for the user, which makes it less likely that they give up (there are quite a few studies that show exponential rates of drop-off the more clicks there are involved for making an online purchase)

anoopmail

Another way would be, build the form according to the way you want for paypal. On clicking on the submit button, you could send the data via an Ajax call to your server to update the database and return a success code. Upon receiving the success code, the form should submit using javascript call.

Ashley_Sheridan

What if Javascript was disabled or unavailable on their browser? I wouldn't rely on Javascript for core functionality like this when there is no difference with doing it all on the server using cURL.

vivek151189

Ashley Sheridan;11003409 wrote:
What if Javascript was disabled or unavailable on their browser? I wouldn't rely on Javascript for core functionality like this when there is no difference with doing it all on the server using cURL.

Yse that' s true