The best way to insert an integer into my table using previous/next buttons

Question

I have a slideshow where the user can click a button with an arrow on it pointing to go next and previous. When the user clicks on the arrow I want to save a page name in there, so it will redirect them to the correct page. I also want to store a number so when the user clicks previous or next, the integer will be saved in the correct table userTakingModule, under the checkPoint.

Table layout:

What is the best way to do this i.e. user a button tag inside of a form tag? I have pasted the two ways which I have so far tried to get to happen when the user clicks on one of the two arrows:

a.) Take the user back one page, by having the page1.html in the action of one arrow, and page3.html in the other arrow b.) Save on the button click, a value into the userTakingModule table.

html attempt 1.)

<div class="arrow-container">
  <form style="display: inline" action="dashboard.php" method="post">
  <button value="1"><i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-left"></i></button>
  </form>

<form style="display: inline" action="slide2.php" method="post">
  <button value="3"><i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i></button>
</form>
</div>

html attempt 2.)

<div>
<form action ="dashboard.php" method = "POST"> <!-- However I may need this page link to change depending on whether they click forward or back -->
    <label>Competition Categories</label>
    <select name="checkPoint">
    <option value="">Select</option>
    <option value="1">Previous</option>
    <option value="3">Next</option>
    </select>
    </fieldset>
    <button name="save_check_point" type="submit" type="button">View</button>
 </form>
</div>

The query I have so far is this:

<?php

  // The module ID will always be 5, as they are in the Stress & Anxiety slideshow which has an ID of 5 in the table.
  $idUsers = $_SESSION['id'];
  $ModuleID = 5;
  $checkPoint = $_POST['checkPoint'];

        // Preparing and binding my SQL query which inserts a checkpoint number into the table
        $stmt = $conn->prepare ("INSERT INTO `userTakingModule` (`userTakingModuleID`, `idUsers`, `ModuleID`, `checkPoint`) VALUES (NULL, ?, ?, ?)");

        $stmt->bind_param("iii", $idUsers, $ModuleID, $checkPoint);
        $stmt->execute();
?>

I've really been struggling on this for a while now so any help on this would be fantastic, thank you in advance.

Do you need to keep the user history or only the current position? If you only want to store the current position, insert (or update if record for current session exists) a record when page loads. It's irrelevant whether users goes to next or previous page, you update the database when slideshow page loads. — Vasya, Apr 18 '19 at 14:37
Hello @Vasya I just need to run an insert (or an update query, if an integer is already held in table), when they arrive on a particular page into the `checkPoint`, please say you can help haha! — xo., Apr 18 '19 at 14:39
A simple way to do this is to call php script in $(document).ready event (using jquery) — Vasya, Apr 18 '19 at 14:51
take a look at this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46871706/how-to-execute-php-code-after-html-page-load — Vasya, Apr 18 '19 at 15:02
Thank you, that is what I will do :) If you mark as answer I can mark correct :) — xo., Apr 18 '19 at 15:39
Possible duplicate of [How to execute php code after html page load](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46871706/how-to-execute-php-code-after-html-page-load) — Dharman, Jul 29 '19 at 21:37

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 08 '19 at 07:48

I would suggest a simpler aproach. If your pages have the same name format: 'page' followed by the page number, and ending with the file extension (for example page2.html); then you don't need to use forms, since PHP can give you:

The address (including the name of the script) of the current page
The address of the page (if any) which referred the user agent to the current page.

If you don't need a reliable source for this, in security terms, you can use $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'] and $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] to get the info and use simple anchors to link the pages.

This is a PHP code that must be inserted in all slide pages, before your PHP code (that looks good), and before the HTML buttons:

<?php

//A simple function to parse script names and get your page number
function page_number($script_name){
  //Remove the first '/' character and the word 'page' to get '#.php'
  $number = substr($script_name,1+strlen('page'));
  //Remove the extension part to get just the page number 
  $number = substr($number,0,strpos($number,'.')); //
  return $number;
}

//Get the page script name, like '/page#.php'
$script_name = $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'];
$n = page_number($script_name);

//Get the referer URL
$referer = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];
//Get the script name of that URL
$referer = substr($referer,strrpos($referer,'/'));
$checkPoint = page_number($referer);

?>

When this PHP code ends you have your $checkPoint integer ready to use in your PHP script. And the $n variable to use in the HTML links in the buttons.

This is the HTML for prev and next buttons:

<div class="arrow-container">
  <a href="page<?php echo($n-1); ?>.php">
    <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-left"></i>
  </a>

  <a href="page<?php echo($n+1); ?>.php">
    <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i>
  </a>
</div>

PS: Note the pages need the .php extension to work instead of .html extension.

The best way to insert an integer into my table using previous/next buttons

1 Answers1