Question

I’m using this method to display different content based on the variable that was passed down from my previous page.

    <?php
    if (isset($_GET['click'])) {
        if($_GET['click'] == 'person'){
          file_put_contents('person.txt', ((int) file_get_contents('person.txt')) + 1);
          include 'resultperson.php';
        } elseif ($_GET['click'] == 'text'){
          file_put_contents('text.txt', ((int) file_get_contents('text.txt')) + 1);
          include 'resulttext.php';
        } elseif ($_GET['click'] == 'online'){
          file_put_contents('online.txt', ((int) file_get_contents('online.txt')) + 1);
          include 'resultonline.php';
        }
    } else {
        include 'resulttext.php';
    } 
    ?>  

Problem is, when I hit refresh, the file_put_contents() function will be executed again. It’s just a way that I use to track how many times users have clicked that button.

How do I prevent the increment of the integer being injected upon refreshing the page?

Or if there’s a simpler method doing all this?

Answer 1

Using a session is probably your best bet, unless you don’t mind that when the user closes the browser and visits the page again it will be triggered.

// This will be set to true if the user has the session variable set
$clicked = isset($_SESSION['clicked']);

// Check if get variable 'click' is set, and that $clicked is false. 
// If 'click is set and $clicked if false, the variable $click is set to the 
// value of $_GET['click'] (for example 'person'). Other wise it will be set to false.
$click = (isset($_GET['click']) && !$clicked) ? $_GET['click'] : false;   

// Set the session variable 'clicked' if it isn't set so that the next time 
// the user visits, we'll know
if (!$clicked) {
    $_SESSION['clicked'] = 1;
}

if($click == 'person'){
    file_put_contents('person.txt', ((int) file_get_contents('person.txt')) + 1);
    include 'resultperson.php';
} elseif ($click == 'text'){
    file_put_contents('text.txt', ((int) file_get_contents('text.txt')) + 1);
    include 'resulttext.php';
} elseif ($click == 'online'){
    file_put_contents('online.txt', ((int) file_get_contents('online.txt')) + 1);
    include 'resultonline.php';
} else {
    include 'resulttext.php';
}