Please help me oh yee magical programming masters :)

[kac001]

Okay... so I am loading some content into my page from the database... I know how to do this normally... but here is the sticking point... I want to load the content from one of 5 options (so there are multiple pages with 5 different options for body copy) depending on what the value of the cookie is...

 

Here is what I tried, but it did not work:

 

//Determin which page ID to use in our query ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
if (!$_GET['pid']){
$pageid = '1';	
} else {
$pageid = $_GET['pid'];
}
//Query the Main Content and Titles for the proper page ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$sqlCommand="SELECT process_mainContent_vers1, process_mainContent_vers2, process_mainContent_vers3, process_mainContent_vers4, process_mainContent_vers5, process_pagetitle FROM pages_process WHERE process_id='$pageid' LIMIT 1";
$query=mysqli_query($myConnection, $sqlCommand) or die (mysql_error());
$body = '';
$title = '';
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($query))
{
if (isset($_COOKIE['career_status']))
{
	$carreerStatus = ($_COOKIE['career_status']);

	if ($carreerStatus=="Starting Residency/Graduating Medical School")
		$body = $row["process_mainContent_vers1"];

	if ($carreerStatus=="Ending Residency/Starting Fellowship")	
		$body = $row["process_mainContent_vers2"];

	if ($carreerStatus=="Practicing Physician")
		$body = $row["process_mainContent_vers3"];

	if ($carreerStatus=="Practicing Physician")
		$body = $row["process_mainContent_vers4"];

	if ($carreerStatus=="Hospital/Practice Administrator")
		$body = $row["process_mainContent_vers5"];
}
else
{
	$carreerStatus = ($_SESSION['career_status']);

	if ($carreerStatus=="Starting Residency/Graduating Medical School")
		$body = $row["process_mainContent_vers1"];

	if ($carreerStatus=="Ending Residency/Starting Fellowship")	
		$body = $row["process_mainContent_vers2"];

	if ($carreerStatus=="Practicing Physician")
		$body = $row["process_mainContent_vers3"];

	if ($carreerStatus=="Practicing Physician")
		$body = $row["process_mainContent_vers4"];

	if ($carreerStatus=="Hospital/Practice Administrator")
		$body = $row["process_mainContent_vers5"];
}

$title = $row["process_pagetitle"];
}
mysqli_free_result($query);
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[dadamssg]

i would change the very first part to this...for sql injection reasons

 

if (!$_GET['pid']){

$pageid = '1';

} else{

           $pageid = (int) $_GET['pid'];
           if($pageid == 0)
            {
                $pageid = "1";
            }
          
}

 

So if they do write letters/words in that parameter this would convert it to 0 and then set it to 1

[kac001]

i would change the very first part to this...for sql injection reasons

 

if (!$_GET['pid']){

$pageid = '1';

} else{

           $pageid = (int) $_GET['pid'];
           if($pageid == 0)
            {
                $pageid = "1";
            }
          
}

 

So if they do write letters/words in that parameter this would convert it to 0 and then set it to 1

 

 

okay... good idea and all, but what does that do as far as resolving my actual problem?

 

Thanks anyway

 

I just hope another person actually addresses what I am trying to do... 

[litebearer]

1. have you echo'd the $pageid to make sure it contains the value you ecpect

2. have you echo'd the $carreerStatus to make sure it contains the value you expect

[Pikachu2000]

You should start by seeing if the cookie or session vars actually hold the data you're trying to use in the conditionals (might consider making those into switch statements instead, too). Add this code at the head of the script and see what data you actually have coming in.

 

echo '<pre>';
echo 'Cookie Data:';
print_r($_COOKIE);
echo 'Session Data:';
print_r($SESSION);
echo '</pre>'

[BlueSkyIS]

question, re this thread. i usually use intval() to ensure submitted values are integers when required. is it better/faster/less resource-intensive to use (int) instead?

 

$pageid = intval($_GET['pid']); // What I usually do.

$pageid = (int) $_GET['pid']; // Is this better?

 

[Pikachu2000]

The problem with intval() against a form value is that all form values are, by default, strings. So it's kind of a crap shoot to assign the intval() of a string to a variable that needs to be an integer without validating it. I don't know if there's an advantage in processing overhead, or if it's technically right or wrong, but I normally do this for a value that's expected to be an integer.

 

if( !empty($_POST['int_field']) && ctype_digit($_POST['int_field']) ) {
     $int_var = (int) $_POST['int_field'];
}

[Pikachu2000]

You should start by seeing if the cookie or session vars actually hold the data you're trying to use in the conditionals (might consider making those into switch statements instead, too). Add this code at the head of the script and see what data you actually have coming in.

 

echo '<pre>';
echo 'Cookie Data:';
print_r($_COOKIE);
echo 'Session Data:';
print_r($SESSION);
echo '</pre>'

 

I just noticed I have a typo in there. $SESSION needs to be $_SESSION . . .