the ? marks after .php

[JoJoNAloha]

Ok, this may seem dumb...and it probably is...but how do you set the things after the .php like here it says .php?do=newthread&f=34

is that just a variable, $do, or what?

[nick0161]

i made the url appear like that using this

echo "<td><a href=bookings.php?eventid=$link_date><font color=\"#666666\"> $day </font></a></td>"; 

where $link_date is a variable from php code

does this help or not really?

[JoJoNAloha]

in ways, yes...but how about the eventid part?

[nick0161]

that's just what i used to explain the date, ie url after click on a date link would show

http://localhost/bookings.php?eventid=2004-11-16

so would replace eventid to do, in your case for post #1

[JoJoNAloha]

ok...well maybe some context for what i'm looking for will help

basically i have a dropdown menu and i wanted to change the default selected item if somebody clicked a link from another page. http://wvbs.t35.com/quote.php is the form

so i was thinking the links on the other page would be like http://wvbs.t35.com/quote.php?ds1=1
http://wvbs.t35.com/quote.php?ds2=1
http://wvbs.t35.com/quote.php?ds3=1
etc

and in quote.php for the dropdown i want it to effect would look somethin like this, but so it works

<select name="dslab">
<option<?php
switch($ds1)
{
case 1: echo " selected";
break;
default: echo"";
}; ?>>Hardboard Moulded 6-Panel Textured</option>
<option<?php
switch($ds2)
{
case 1: echo " selected";
break;
default: echo"";
}; ?>>Thermatru Steel #CS-210 6-Panel</option>
<option<?php
switch($ds3)
{
case 1: echo " selected";
break;
default: echo"";
}; ?>>Simpson #3806</option>
<option<?php
switch($ds4)
{
case 1: echo " selected";
break;
default: echo"";
}; ?>>Simpson #3816</option>
</select>

so basically if they didnt click a link from the other page, it would just have the top selected, if they did click a link, then one of those would return true for 1 and echo the " selected" part and then it would be the default selected item in the menu. but when i type in the address http://wvbs.t35.com/quote.php?ds3=1 it goes to quote.php fine but doesn't change the default selected item to the 3rd option...

so yeah...if that makes sense...any suggestions?

[nick0161]

umm i think i might start to understand, two things first
when you post php code put it in php tage [ p h p ] CODE HERE [ / p h p ]
without the spaces.
secondly your website has a big picture covering most of your form.

now - your code

i think i understand what you mean, when someone selects something from a drop bar, it will hold that data and load the options for the next drop bar? is this correct?

EDIT - actually i just looked at your forms and i don't think this is what you meant...

what's this "other page" you referring to

so depending on how they get to your page, depends what default items are highlighted in your box?

[JoJoNAloha]

sorry about that...

first off...the big picture is a popup ad thing, you should be able to close that...once i get paid for doin this site i will upgrade it so that doesnt show up ever.

ok, basically i want to have on this other page (which will be (eventually) http://wvbs.t35.com/products-doors.php), pictures of the door slabs that link to the quote.php thing, and depending on which door slab they clicked on, that door slab will be the one selected in that dropdown menu...

[nick0161]

ah so they chose either double or single in products-doors.php then this will decide which doorslab will be selected in the dropdown menu.

right?

ok well my understanding is that in dropdown menu, single door will be index 1 and double index 2. and depending what door that select will mean they have only 2 options for hemlock and primed right?

so you would say

from first page - product-doors.php

pass either 1 or 2 from this page to next page depending what door they chose
use this number to select the index of the dropmenu
according to what index was passed will decide what option can be selected

ie if they select single (1)
single will be highlighted and then they can only chose 4-9/16 primed or hemlock for that dropdown menu

[JoJoNAloha]

uhm, ok...no actually, this should be just for one drop downmenu, and i could do similar things later once i know what to do.

ok, so lets just say i have this link http://wvbs.t35.com/quote.php?ds3=1

how would i put the ds3 into a switch statement? its not a variable $ds3 because i tried that...

[nick0161]

don't know about passing ds3 as a variable i think that is the variable name not it's value.

you know you don't have to you .php?varname=varvalue

you could just use $_SESSION variables. but if you insist, i don't think you can pass ds3, so swap ds3 with 1 and try something else instead of old ds3 position like

http://wvbs.t35.com/quote.php?status=ds3

if you want the 1 add it on after ds3. (not sure how but it wouldn't be hard)

oops ignore that crap that i wrote

try

$varname = $_POST['ds3']; 

[JoJoNAloha]

so the thing after the ? is a variable? or not? so i should be able to test what the value of it is... basically if you can tell me in your example .php?status=value (and the value would the thing that changes) how to test what the value of status is...

thanks for all the help by the way...lol...and sorry i don't get it and i don't explain well

[nick0161]

ha, that's cool i'm still new to this myself but sitepoint is the place to be for php. hmmm that sounded bad it wasn't meant to rhyme.

anyway

so ya stick a value for status ie

$value = "smalldoor";
    echo "<a href=quote.php?status=$value> click here </a>"; 

next page quote.php

$var = $_POST['status'];
echo $var //to test it. 

have a crack with that

----
nick
---

[JoJoNAloha]

ok...wow...i tried the $_POST["status"] and it didn't work, so i switched to $_GET["status"] and it WORKED

THANKS!


EDIT - O MAN THIS WORKS LIKE A DREAM!

[nick0161]

ha!.. oops yeh use $_GET
my bad!

[JoJoNAloha]

haha...thats cool man, YOU ROCK!