processing and displaying data

[rpjd]

I have page1.php which has a post form and page2.php which display data/results.  I have a seperate php script file which queries a database.  Having completed the query and assuming a result, I would end up with something like

while($result = mysql_fetch_assoc($query))

how do I get the data onto the display page.  Looking at example approaches I found this using a go-between file

<?PHP 
include_once(process.php;
process($_POST);
display_results; 
?>

would display_results be a form of redirect?  If not?

Any help appreciated.

[gizmola]

Your form is going to post to it's target, and that script will have the values from the form in the $_POST.  Assuming you need to use the post in your query, your results script should just contain or include the query.  There is no redirect or intermediary involved.

[rpjd]

So if I have my query in a seperate file and end up with

while($result = mysql_fetch_assoc($query))

  {what happens here?}

what happens next if re-direct is not involved? 

[gizmola]

That loop is going to fill $result as an array with one row of data.  Usually you would output it in some way.  For a really quick test:

 

var_dump($result);

[rpjd]

So how do I output it to page2.php?

[rpjd]

I don't mind doing the data processing on the same page as the display page, but I don't want the servername, user and password visible?  Can/should I have the connection details listed in another security file perhaps?

[hoogie]

Yeah generally you put your database connection information in it's own script and include it when you need to connect.

 

It also makes things a lot easier if the password to your database ever changes.

[rpjd]

Ok.  How and where exactly show this information be stored?   

[hoogie]

Just create a new .php file and put the connection information in there.

 

For added security, you can save it outside your document root (more info on that here if you're interested: http://www.tuxradar.com/practicalphp/17/1/3).

 

Then, when you need to run a query, just include that file before the query is run.