call a php from onclick event

[n8w]

objective: I want to track outbound links using the event [b]onclick[/b]

currently, I am doing using a form that goes to a script called go.php .. it looks up the id in the database and then goes .. but I would like to avoid forms so search engines can follow the links.

Here is the current code
note:
name="user_id" is the id of the outbound link
name="token" is a variable that is compared to a session variable to make sure the outbound link being counted is originating at my website

[code]
<form action="go.php" method="post" name="frmMyForm1297" target="_blank">
<a href="JavaScript:document.frmMyForm1297.submit();" >
<img src="../../images/illustrators/1297.jpg" alt="Catherine Lepage" width="190" height="190" border="0" /><br />
<span class="headlines"><strong> Catherine Lepage</strong></span></a>
<input type="hidden"  value="1297" name="user_id" >
<input type="hidden"  value="b3a4156b1249469af356e6bfa0483f74" name="token" >
</form>
[/code]

Ideally, I would like it to be like the following .. but I am not sure how to get it to work

[code]
<form action="go.php" method="post" name="frmMyForm1297" target="_blank">
<a href="http://www.theurl.com" onclick="outbound(1297,b3a4156b1249469af356e6bfa0483f74)">
<img src="../../images/illustrators/1297.jpg" alt="Catherine Lepage" width="190" height="190" border="0" /><br />
<span class="headlines"><strong> Catherine Lepage</strong></span></a>

[/code]

[joquius]

can't you just set the page to direct to go.php?name=soandso&otherstuff=blah and just input it from some fields or data on the page? (inputting the values with javascript of course)

[n8w]

no cause I want to avoid calling the go.php script using href .. I'd like the href to go to the url and the onclick to count the outbound link by calling the go.php

also I want to avoid using the get method cause people can easily manipulate the query string .. hence I am using the post method right now

[kenrbnsn]

The only way to "call" a PHP routine from Javascript is to use AJAX techniques.

Ken