Question

I am using a feature of popup box in my project. When a user come to the site a popup box apears on the top of the page hiding the rest of the content. In that popup form the user has to give a download key. if the user has the key he can go forward otherwise he cannot see anything else. When the user provide the key he goes to the main page.
Now the problem is once the user comes to the main page after providing the key and when he clicks again on the header again the page is reloaded and again tht popup form comes. How can I prevent it to apear again if some user has already given the download key . I am using php with code igniter. My code

<?php if($download_key != null && !isset($_POST['popup'])){?>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        $(document).ready(function(){  
                loadPopup();    
        });  
    </script>
<?php } ?>

downlaod key is database column and popup is a hidden input that is set when the form is submitted on the popup box.
The form that appears on popup box is as

<form name="form" method="post" onsubmit="return validateForm('<?php echo $download_key ?>')"> 
 <div style="width:530px;">
     <input style="display:none; height:25px;" id="downloadkey" name="downloadkey" type="text" />
     <input style="display:none;" type="submit" id="submit" name="submit" value="<?php echo $variable['QUESTION_BUTTON']['value']?>"/>
  </div>
</form>

Any ideas ?

Thanks

Answer 1

You should have a session_start() at the beginning of pageload

EDIT: changed a bit

session_start();

//check if key has already been seen:

if(isset($_SESSION['download_key']) && $_SESSION['download_key'] != null ...

// then if not check if the key is submitted

else if ( isset($_POST['popup']) ... // and other checks

   // set session variable
   $_SESSION['download_key'] = $key;

else

   // load the ask for key page