Question

I know this is a fundamental understanding problem, but as a novice I would love if someone would be willing to clarify this for me.

Right now, my site works for a single user, me. The answer comes in to a reply.php page, where I parse and save the data to my database.

For multiple users, my readings point to having to use “Sessions”, where each session can set a UserID and other useful, personalized information stored in a cookie.

My question is: can I use a unique identifier such as session data to create a unique address for that user to be redirected to? If not, what do I use?

I saw an example online indicating something like www.site.com/replies/dfb97g or `www.site.com/replies.php?dfb97g

I’d like a clarification on how to proceed.

Answer 1

It makes no sense to do this…

Using SESSION and GET

User completes a form which posts to reply.php

reply.php

<?php 
session_start();
$_SESSION['userid'] = strtotime('now'); # don't use this as a user id, it's just an example

#add something to db using generated userid

header("location: replies.php?userid=".$_SESSION['userid']);
?>

replies.php

<?php
#session_start(); don't even need it

# get something from db where userid=".$_GET['userid'];

# output something
?>

Using SESSION normally

User completes a form which posts to reply.php

reply.php

<?php 
session_start();
$_SESSION['userid'] = strtotime('now'); # don't use this as a user id, it's just an example

#add something to db using generated userid

header("location: replies.php");
?>

replies.php

<?php
session_start(); 

# get something from db where userid=".$_SESSION['userid'];

# output something
?>

There’s no need to pass the variable when you have it in session.