Question

I’ve hit a dead end. I’ve been working on this for 3 weeks with no result.

I have 10 php pages (1.php, 2.php, …, 10.php) and a starting page (start.php).

All I want to do is randomize the 10 pages with no repeat, so when I click “next” in the start.php it should go to one of the 10 pages (let’s say for example it goes to 4.php). When I click “next” in 4.php it should redirect to another within the 10 pages except for 4.php.

It should continue this until all the numbers (1.php – 10.php) have been displayed. At this point it should randomize again. When I click “next” in the last number .php displayed, it should randomize the number and go back to the first on the random list.

Here’s what I have so far:

start.php:

<?php $vidcount = 1; ?>
<? include ("source.php"); ?>
<a href="$nextvid[$vidcount].php">next page</a>

source.php:

<?php 
include ("start.php");

$numbers = range(1, $total_songs);

if(($vidcount == $total_songs)||($vidcount == 1)){
shuffle($numbers);
$vidcount = 1;
}

$nextvid[1] = $numbers[0];
$nextvid[2] = $numbers[1];
$nextvid[3] = $numbers[2];
$nextvid[4] = $numbers[3];
$nextvid[5] = $numbers[4];
$nextvid[6] = $numbers[5];
$nextvid[7] = $numbers[6];
$nextvid[8] = $numbers[7];
$nextvid[9] = $numbers[8];
$nextvid[10] = $numbers[9];
?>

1.php, 2.php, … 10.php:

<?php
include("source.php");?>
<?php echo $vidcount; ?>

<a href="testrun[<?php echo $nextvid[$vidcount];  ?>].php">next page</a>
<?php $vidcount++;?>

1.php – 10.php have the same code. I also have a source.php which is supposed to keep track of what number has been displayed and re-shuffle when all the numbers have been displayed.

Please help. I’ll greatly appreciate any help I can get.

You don’t have to use the above code, I don’t mind starting from scratch if you have a different idea as long as the code I get works.

Answer 1

Well firstly why do you have ten files when you could just have one file and ?id=X in the URL? But never mind that.

Your best bet is to use a session variable. Something like this:

<?php
    session_start();
    if( !isset($_SESSION['sequence']) || !$_SESSION['sequence']) {
        $_SESSION['sequence'] = shuffle(range(1,10));
    }
    $next = array_shift($_SESSION['sequence']);
    // now use $next to create your "Next page" link.
?>