Redirecting PHP pages midway

Anon

Hello.

I have a php file which needs to display different web pages depending on a set of conditions.

Is there any way that I can get the php file to load up another php file midway?

That is, to leave the current PHP file and call up another instead?

Thanks.

Anon

Yep!

Well, I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but if you mean what I think you do, then it is very possible.

If you want a chunk of PHP to do some decision-making based on, say, page arguments and database entries, display nothing itself and then redirect to one of a couple of pages, depending on its decision, then it is very possible.

Just don't have any HTML tags in the page and you can use standard redirects. See below.

HTH,

Jack

<?
// Put your decision-making code in here.
// Then redirect according to your decision.

if ($test == $somecondition) {
header ("Location: somepage.php3");
}else{
header ("Location: otherpage.php3");
}

Anon

Hmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but that method is only possible if no HTML headers at all have been sent to the client.

Anon

Yeah,

That's right. Sorry if I misunderstood what you wanted.

So you want to redirect the surfer after you've started displaying the body of the page?..

Hmmm... You might want to look at building some client-side javascript. But, as with any client-side scripting, you've no way of knowing if the client runs it or not.

There may be a neater solution. I'm new in town 🙂

Jack

Anon

No...

I'm wanting to redirect the surfer from the php script on the server side.
What you said before about the header() function is what I'm looking for, but I just tried using the header:
("location: http://www.php.net")

and it gives the error:
"Warning: Cannot add header information - headers already sent..."

Yet none of the pages I am using contain any html tags at all!
Do you know why this is happening at all?

Thanks!

Anon

Hmm...

As I understand it, headers come from two places...

Simple Tags in your pages:

Or else your php code is spitting them out.

If neither of these is the case, then I'm a bit confused. Could it be that your script has previously output plain text and, so headers have been assumed? Or maybe your host is automatically wrapping your output in headers. Neither of these seems likely to me, but if you're sure that it's not 1 or 2 above, then I'm clutching at straws.

Jack

Anon

If your file code contains anything at all before going into PHP mode -- even a blank space -- PHP will generate a set of default headers and you will get an error if you subsequently call the header() function.

If all you are trying to do is conditionally present information, you don't need to redirect to another page. Code it inline or use include().

<?
// call this mycode.php
if ($foo) include ("foo.php");
else include ("bar.php");
?>

http://localhost/mycode.php?foo=1 will include foo.php; if the foo argument is unset, bar.php will be included.

Anon

Hey Ej,

There are two ways to accomplish what I think is your goal. The first is to, as the other posts mentioned, to put use header("Location: http://www.somedomain.com") calls within your conditional statements. The most effiecient way to use this function is to make sure that no output or whitespace exists above the header call. If this is not possible, you can set the output_buffering directive in the php.ini to off and it will work. Unforunately, this method will slow down the PHP engine. The other method is to echo meta-refresh tags within the conditional statements. Output buffering is then not an issue since you're using pure HTML to redirect the user to the appropriate page. Hope this helps!!!!

Cheers,

Geoff A. Virgo

Anon

Ok I know how to use a header
but what if I need to do this :
header($myURL);
process_my_function_whose_I_dont_know_execution_time();
// and then only send back a new page
the point is I cannot use header for it had already send a page ...
// the other point is I dont know the execution time so I cannot use refresh
Do you know how to do what I want ?
do you think there could be any trick ?
with frames for instance or whatever ...
thanks a lot for any pieces of information that could help me
++

Anon

A refresh meta tag should work in that situation.

You can output the in-progress html; make sure you
don't have any open tables or the browser will probably
defer rendering anything, and it definitely helps to send
"</body>" and flush() the output.
Then, when you are ready to redirect them, send a
refresh--just make sure to send another "<body>"
first, and don't forget to include a link for those poor
unfortunates whose browsers may not support meta
refresh.

Anon

OK,

I'm sorry no one has told you this yet, but in PHP4 you can buffer the output like you could always do in good old ASP.

put ob_start(); at the beginning of your php file, and ob_end_flush(); at the end.

Then you can output HTML and redirect midway. The client will obviously not see the HTML because the redirection happens instantaneously.

Anon

thanx ara this been a great help .....