An efficient way to pass variables from page to pa

[Anon]

I have a search criteria page which users complete and submit. Depending on the selections from this page the next page might present further selections or might present the actual results page.

i.e The user might select a country from a list on the first page then the following page might present a list of states for selection.

I can produce the result page following the first page but am not sure how to carry the variable through from the country to the state page then onto the result page.

This is a simplistic example, the actual page contains numerious variables. between 50 and 100 at times.

Thanks for any pointer

Wayne

[Anon]

you might try to store all the data in a database and only pass the id of the row in the database, then draw out all the data when you get to the next page

Andreas

[Anon]

Hey,
You could use OO PhP,
Create a class with get/set methods for the vars your storing in an object and get/set them as needed.

hth

pete

[Anon]

There are a couple of ways of doing this.

The first is to use sessions. They are standard in PHP4, but were a "bolt on" via phplib for php3. Read the section on session variables in the php docs for more, but they're fairly easy to program for.

The next is to use either a database or text file to hold the data. Either store all your vars in the file or the database, and use a form or a get url (i.e. http://server.domain.com?id=0010) to pass the id of the row or text file you saved the data in.

You can stuff it all into your form, as extra hidden variables via the <input type=hidden...> form element.

Lastly, you can build a giant get URL with all the data on it, and make sure any reference link that brings up the next page has all that data in it. i.e.:

server.domain.com?var1=some+value&var2=some+other+value&var3=yet+another+value&varn=the+last+value

Note that many older web browsers have a 4096 byte limit on their get url length, which can get in the way if you're doing too much.

[Anon]

If as you say you are submitting the data then I assume that you are using forms.
If this is the case why can't you use the "hidden" type to retain the information between pages as it will be submitted in subsequent forms?

[Anon]

Think I'll try the session solutions first, I'm already using them for other variables but as I'm only new to web programming and even newer to PHP it just didn't occur to me to use it for that purpose.

I will also try writing a row to the database and the OO solution for performance comparisons.

Once again thankyou

Regards
Wayne

[Anon]

Yes I am using forms and the hidden type but I'm not exactly sure what you mean.

The first page might have anywhere up to 100 variables set, then the user may or may not be presented with a second page from which they will set more variables then the total of variables from page1 and page2 needs to be submitted to create a 3rd page (result page).

Sorry if I'm not making this clear, only new to web programming and am not certain of all the terms etc.

Thank you

Wayne

[Anon]

If you're talking 100s of variables, I think the database will be your best solution. That way you can save everything, and then only pull out what you need on the following pages.

Someone said this already, I'm just seconding their idea. 🙂

---John Holmes...