Question

Before I am told to look at other posts that are similar, please note that I have tried to apply them but to no avail.

I need to clear the variables in the url after a series of if statements are true. I have the following code:

<?php


$_SESSION['passlevel']='0'; 

if ($_SESSION['passlevel'] == '0')

{
if(isset($_GET['box_1_color']))
{
$color=$_GET['box_1_color'];
    if($color == "#800080")
    {
    echo "you have passed step one.";

    $_SESSION['passlevel'] = '1';

    // add something that removes url string



    }
    else 
    {
    echo "you didn't select purple.";

    }   
}
else echo "login with your colorlock passcode.";

}

if ($_SESSION['passlevel'] == '1')

{
if(isset($_GET['box_1_color']))
{
$color=$_GET['box_1_color'];
    if($color == "#DD7500")
    {
    echo "you have passed step two.";
    $_SESSION['passlevel']='2'; 
            // add something that removes url string

    }
    else 
    {
    echo "you didn't select orange.";

    }   
}
else echo "enter remaining colors.";

}


?>

This is for color dependent password that has the background of each of 10 divs change to one of 10 colors after a div is clicked on (note that some of the echoes are only there for now as a method of debugging). The information is sent to the url through multiple forms:

<form> 
<div id="box1" class="box" onclick='this.parentNode.submit()'></div>
<input type='hidden' name='box_1_color' value='<?php echo $box1color ?>'/> 
<input type='hidden' name='name' value='box1color'/> 
</form>

<form>
<div id="box2" class="box" onclick='this.parentNode.submit()'></div>
<input type='hidden' name='box_1_color' value='<?php echo $box2color ?>'/>
<input type='hidden' name='name' value='box2color'/> 
</form>

<form>
<div id="box3" class="box" onclick='this.parentNode.submit()'></div>
<input type='hidden' name='box_1_color' value='<?php echo $box3color ?>'/> 
<input type='hidden' name='name' value='box3color'/> 
</form>

<form>
<div id="box4" class="box" onclick='this.parentNode.submit()'></div>
<input type='hidden' name='box_1_color' value='<?php echo $box4color ?>'/>  
<input type='hidden' name='name' value='box4color'/> 
</form>

<form>
<div id="box5" class="box" onclick='this.parentNode.submit()'></div>
<input type='hidden' name='box_1_color' value='<?php echo $box5color ?>'/>  
<input type='hidden' name='name' value='box5color'/> 
</form>

<form>
<div id="box6" class="box" onclick='this.parentNode.submit()'></div>
<input type='hidden' name='box_1_color' value='<?php echo $box6color ?>'/> 
<input type='hidden' name='name' value='box6color'/> 
</form>

<form>
<div id="box7" class="box" onclick='this.parentNode.submit()'></div>
<input type='hidden' name='box_1_color' value='<?php echo $box7color ?>'/> 
<input type='hidden' name='name' value='box7color'/> 
</form>

<form>
<div id="box8" class="box" onclick='this.parentNode.submit()'></div>
<input type='hidden' name='box_1_color' value='<?php echo $box8color ?>'/>
<input type='hidden' name='name' value='box8color'/>
</form>

<form>
<div id="box9" class="box" onclick='this.parentNode.submit()'></div>
<input type='hidden' name='box_1_color' value='<?php echo $box9color ?>'/>
<input type='hidden' name='name' value='box9color'/>
</form>

<form>
<div id="box10" class="box" onclick='this.parentNode.submit()'></div>
<input type='hidden' name='box_1_color' value='<?php echo $box10color ?>'/> 
<input type='hidden' name='name' value='box10color'/> 
</form> 

An example of the url after one of the colors (purple) is selected:
http://localhost/colorlock/index.php?box_1_color=%23800080&name=box9color

So I want to remove the ?box_1_color=%23800080&name=box9color part. How could i remove it where the code says “// add something that removes url string” so that when the next block of code is initiated it doesnt run immediately with the same color code in the url before a user can select their next color?

I hope my question is clear (i understand that it a confusing) and i hope that it is answerable. Thank you.

Answer 1

You need to do one/some of 3 things:

1. Use POST. This is a good idea but it would still be best combined with…
2. Redirect to the same page without the URL arguments after processing the form.
3. Use ajax to process the user input.

The easiest of these to integrate with your existing code is probably a combination of 1 and 2. To do this, add these lines where your comment is:

header("HTTP/1.1 303 See Other");
header("Location: http://{$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']}{$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']}");
exit;

…and change all the <form> elements in your HTML so that they read:

<form method="post">

…and obviously change all occurrences of $_GET in your PHP code to $_POST