Sanfly Thanks that " " worked perfect :) as for 2 here's some code that i hope will explain.... i have 4 files 2 normal php files and 2 files that have the code to display the forms and page its a 2 page website (main page and service page) ***********1st file (main_page_forms.php)********** ..... function m_p((&$PHP_SELF, $First_name, $Last_name, $Address, $Post_code ...){ here i have a couple of these <input type="text" name="First_name" size="27" value = "<? echo $First_name;?>"></td> and 4 buttons like this <form name ="otherbuttons" action="<?php echo ($PHP_SELF)?>"METHOD=POST> <input name="Service_details" type="submit" style="color: #FF0000" value="Service Details"></td> <td width="70" height="27"> <input type="submit" value="Save" name="save"></td> <td width="314" height="27"> <input type="submit" value="Search" name="search"> <input name="clear" type="reset" onClick="MM_goToURL('parent','testing5.php');return document.MM_returnValue" value="Clear"></td> } *******2nd file is the main page itslef (main_page.php)********** include("main_page_forms.php"); include("dbinfo.inc.php"); ..... if($_GET['Cust_id']){// this will display the search results $Cust_idd= $_GET['Cust_id']; mysql_connect(localhost,$username,$password); mysql_select_db($database) or die( "Unable to select database"); $sql = ("SELECT `Cust_id` , `First_name` , `Last_name` , `Address` , `Post_code` , `Phone_number` , `Mobile_number` , `Number_plate` , `Car` , `Model` , `Year` , `Mot_exp` FROM `customer` WHERE 1 AND `Cust_id` = '$Cust_idd' "); $result = mysql_query($sql); $myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result); $Cust_id = $myrow[Cust_id]; $First_name = $myrow[First_name]; $Last_name = $myrow[Last_name]; $Address = $myrow[Address]; $Post_code = $myrow[Post_code]; $Phone_number = $myrow[Phone_number]; $Mobile_number = $myrow[Mobile_number]; $Number_plate = $myrow[Number_plate]; $Car = $myrow[Car]; $Model = $myrow[Model]; $Year = $myrow[Year]; $Mot_exp = $myrow[Mot_exp]; $_SESSION['Cust_id'] = $Cust_id; $temp = main_page_wv(&$PHP_SELF , $First_name , $Last_name , $Address , $Post_code , $Phone_number , $Mobile_number , $Number_plate , $Car , $Model , $Year , $Mot_exp); $result2 = mysql_query("SELECT `Cust_id` , `History_id` , `Serv_date` , `Short_desc` , `Mot` , `Serv_details` , `Part_charge` , `Labor` , `Mot_charge` FROM `service` WHERE 1 AND `Cust_id` = '$Cust_id'"); $howmanyrows2=mysql_num_rows($result2); $myrow2 = mysql_fetch_array($result2); do { //print the history for the current user echo "<a href=\"".$PHP_SELF."?History_id=".$myrow2["History_id"]."\">".$myrow2["Serv_date"]." - ".$myrow2['Short_desc']."</a><br>"; echo "<br />\n"; } while ($myrow2 = mysql_fetch_array($result2)); }else if($_POST[search]){ //if clicked on the search button extract($_POST); mysql_connect(localhost,$username,$password); mysql_select_db($database) or die( "Unable to select database"); $result = mysql_query(" SELECT `Cust_id` , `First_name` , `Last_name` , `Address` , `Post_code` , `Phone_number` , `Mobile_number` , `Number_plate` , `Car` , `Model` , `Year` , `Mot_exp` FROM `customer` WHERE 1 AND `First_name` LIKE '$First_name' OR `Last_name` LIKE '$Last_name' OR `Post_code` LIKE '$Post_code' OR `Number_plate` LIKE '$Number_plate'"); $howmanyrows =mysql_num_rows($result); if ($howmanyrows == 1){ $myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result); do { $Cust_id = $myrow[Cust_id]; $First_name = $myrow[First_name]; $Last_name = $myrow[Last_name]; $Address = $myrow[Address]; $Post_code = $myrow[Post_code]; $Phone_number = $myrow[Phone_number]; $Mobile_number = $myrow[Mobile_number]; $Number_plate = $myrow[Number_plate]; $Car = $myrow[Car]; $Model = $myrow[Model]; $Year = $myrow[Year]; $Mot_exp = $myrow[Mot_exp]; main_page_wv(&$PHP_SELF , $First_name , $Last_name , $Address , $Post_code , $Phone_number , $Mobile_number , $Number_plate , $Car , $Model , $Year , $Mot_exp); $result2 = mysql_query("SELECT `Cust_id` , `History_id` , `Serv_date` , `Short_desc` , `Mot` , `Serv_details` , `Part_charge` , `Labor` , `Mot_charge` FROM `service` WHERE 1 AND `Cust_id` = '$Cust_id'"); $howmanyrows2=mysql_num_rows($result2); $myrow2 = mysql_fetch_array($result2); do { //print the history for the current user echo "<a href=\"".$PHP_SELF."?History_id=".$myrow2["History_id"]."\">".$myrow2["Serv_date"]." - ".$myrow2['Short_desc']."</a><br>"; echo "<br />\n"; } while ($myrow2 = mysql_fetch_array($result2)); } while ($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result)); $_SESSION['Cust_id'] = $Cust_id; }else if (($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result))and ($howmanyrows >1)) { main_page_wv(&$PHP_SELF , $First_name , $Last_name , $Address , $Post_code , $Phone_number , $Mobile_number , $Number_plate , $Car , $Model , $Year , $Mot_exp); echo "Search Results :<br /><br /> "; do { echo "<a href=\"".$PHP_SELF."?Cust_id=".$myrow["Cust_id"]."\">".$myrow["First_name"]." ".$myrow['Last_name']." "." - ".$myrow['Address']." - ".$myrow['Post_code']." - ".$myrow['Car']." - ".$myrow['Model']."</a><br>"; echo "<br />\n"; } while ($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result)); }else{ //nothing found main_page_wv(&$PHP_SELF , $First_name , $Last_name , $Address , $Post_code , $Phone_number , $Mobile_number , $Number_plate , $Car , $Model , $Year , $Mot_exp); echo "Sorry but nothing is found!"; } }else if($_POST[Service_details]){ and here a couple of validation things to make sure all items have been entered and the last one i want it to load (service_details.php) !! i can't find a function to do that! }} ******3rd file is the service page forms(service_page_forms.php)****** function service_page(&$PHP_SELF , $Serv_date,$Short_desc,.....) and a few inputs like <td width="283" colspan="2"><input type="text" name="Serv_date" size="20"value = <? echo $Serv_date;?>></td> and forms... <form action="<?php echo ($PHP_SELF)?>"METHOD=POST> <input type="submit" name="Save" value="Save"> <input name="p_invoice" type="submit" onClick="MM_callJS('javascript:print()')" value="Print Invoice"> <input name="clear2" type="reset" onClick="MM_goToURL('parent','servicedetails2222.php');return document.MM_returnValue" value="Clear"></td> <td height="50" width="134"> <input name="mainpage" type="submit" onClick="MM_goToURL('parent','testing5.php');return document.MM_returnValue" value="Main Page"></td> } **************4th file is the Service page itself(service_page.php)*************** include ("service_page_forms.php"); deals with the service page buttons... in the 2nd file as you can see if i click on the search button and 2 items are found then i display the results as a link to the main page with ?custid=id! and i got another if statement at the top to load the page to load the main page using the custid! once the page is loaded tho non of the button work!!(except the clear!!) and this is the problem i have! i hope this makes sense!!