How can I do this?

Anon

I've decided to streamline a certain portion of our department's trouble-ticket. Right now, the script grabs everything from the database and puts it into a big table. I want to make the information more readble by putting some of the information in another page accessable by a URL. So instead of having all the information in a table, it just says, "click here". When the user clicks, another window pops-up with the revelant information.

Here is a mock-up example table that I made to show what I want the script to output:
http://www.geology.ohio-state.edu/test/rfatest/possibletablelayout.html

My problem is, how can I get the information from the database to go into the URL rather than the table column? I'm kinda lost here...

Thanx

Anon

I think you could go about this several ways.

one way would be to actually make the first page a form and make your "link" a submit button. Then the information could be passed through hidden form fields to the second page and then put into a table or whatever.

another way would be to actually create a new page with the data everytime you load the first page. This could cause problems if you have moer than one user looking at different info at the same time (i.e. you'd have to create more than one page). You'd be creating many new pages and you'd have to create a way to flush out old ones that aren't used anymore (preferably automatically).

Anon

Well, I think option#2 wouldn't work since more than 1 person could easily being viewing the same data.

There's gotta be another way, can anyone else think of another option?

Thanx

kparker

When you say:

a new window will open up

do you really mean it needs to be a separate pop-up window? If you do, it's mostly a matter of having the <a href="...."> link also include a TARGET="name" item. This causes a new window of that name to be created, or an existing window of that name re-used, if the browser feels like cooperating with you. :-)

The main problem is that some browsers don't force that window to come to the foreground, so if the user has already clicked on one of the pop-up links, leaves it in place and then clicks back on the master window, the pop-up window is still there hidden in the background and subsequent links don't appear to do anything. In fact they are, they are changing the content of the hidden window, but it's kind of hard for the user to know or benefit from that.

Are you sure you need to do this? The link could simply display a new detail page; the previous page is always just a click on the Back button away.

Anon

Or I could just use target=_blank, or javascript, but that's not really the point. 🙂 My problem is this:

Instead of just taking all the info from the DB and putting it in one huge table with multiple columns and rows, I want to streamline the look of the newly created table by having some of the information be referenced via a link(so all the info isn't in the table initially). But I can't figure out how to do this.

Here is a mock-up table that I created that should help in explaining how I want the table to be generated by the PHP script.

http://www.geology.ohio-state.edu/test/rfatest/possibletablelayout.html

Anon

I still think the form idea will work. You could have several independent forms on the same page if you need. You can make a small graphic be the submit button. (maybe a gif of some text that says "more info" and looks like a link if you want).

Anon

Craig,

I understand your form idea, but would have no idea on how to implement it. Because the table is being created by the PHP script and being filled with the data from the database. So how can I insert a form into that table?

Any thoughts?

thanx

Anon

just echo the neccessary HTML (i.e. echo "<FORM ACTION=\"action1.php3\"><INPUT NAME=\"area1\" TYPE=hidden VALUE=$row['value1']> etc...

wherever you want the link to appear. You might be able to write a function that returns the HTML when you pass it the $row value (I'm guessing you are building the table in a while loop).

Anon

Craig,

Yes, the table is being built in a while loop. I understand echoing the form to run the script, but would you know how to create a link? I just need a link that says, "click here for more info". The user clicks, and another page pops up with the info.

Thanks,
mt

Anon

yeah - basically create a little GIF that says "click here for more information" and save it to the same directory as the script then use that GIF as your submit button in code like this:

$infobutton = "<FORM ACTION=\"page2.php3\" METHOD=POST>";
$infobutton .= "<INPUT TYPE=image SRC=\"info.gif\" WIDTH=110 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALIGN=left>";
$infobutton .= "<INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME=page2info VALUE=\"$page2info\"></FORM>"

while ... {
echo $infobutton;
}

if you try to use a regular link-type thing I don't think you can pass the information through like you need to. You could make your GIF look pretty close to a regular link though if you really tried... ;-)