Pass a session from PHP to HTML?

Question

G'day,

This is for my tutorial purpose.

I have 3 files

1. mlogin.htm - Takes the input from the user (login name and password). The action is set to the next file so the details can be checked.

<form id="logIn" name="logIn" method="get" action="mlogin.php">

2. mlogin.php - Takes the value from mlogin.htm using GET method. If the details match the details in XML file, the user is redirected to the next file

$musername = $_GET['username'];
$mpassword = $_GET['password'];
exit(header('Refresh:5; url=mloginsuccess.htm'));

3. mloginsuccess.htm - Displays the menu.

Now, what I'm trying to do is to show the username in the 3rd file so it's something like

Welcome, John

I do realise that I can do this using a session by changing the 3rd file to a

mloginsuccess.php

but it MUST be a

mloginsuccess.htm

I was wondering if this is possible.

Any help is appreciated :)

include the files that contain `$musername` and in the page you want to show the user name do `` teh page where you are doing the `echo` statement has to be `.php` instead `.html` — Emilio Gort, Oct 21 '13 at 03:09
So you mean include mlogin.php in mloginsuccess.htm? Are you sure it's possible to the include function in a .htm file? — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 03:12
Unless you use an `AddHandler` to treat `.html` files as `.php` you'll have to rename it. — Funk Forty Niner, Oct 21 '13 at 03:13
you have to change `mloginsuccess.htm` to `mloginsuccess.php` — Emilio Gort, Oct 21 '13 at 03:13
and for [include](http://php.net/manual/en/function.include.php) I mean `` — Emilio Gort, Oct 21 '13 at 03:14
@Brad Yes, that's another way, however if there are any PHP directives inside the OP's `.html` file, it will ultimately fail. — Funk Forty Niner, Oct 21 '13 at 03:16
@Fred-ii-, I don't know how to use an AddHandler. I'm still a beginner. — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 03:21
@EmilioGort yes but then I'll have to change the 3rd file to a .php which I don't want (well, my tutor) — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 03:22
Using rewrite rule you change how you see the url, but the file is php — Emilio Gort, Oct 21 '13 at 03:24
@callMeJava Just Google "AddHandler" and "treat html as PHP" and you'll find many hits. This is done with your `.htaccess` file. — Funk Forty Niner, Oct 21 '13 at 03:24
I have emailed my tutor to ask if I can change the 3rd file to a .php and if yes, then everything is good. — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 03:24
@callMeJava You're welcome. However, certain servers require a bit more than just `AddHandler`. You'll find the right formula, but that's basically how it's done. — Funk Forty Niner, Oct 21 '13 at 03:28
you were right about AddHandler @Fred-ii-, preparing for the worse...lol — Emilio Gort, Oct 21 '13 at 03:33
@Fred-ii- I'm using Apache server. I, now, have a file `.htaccess` with `AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .html` Does this look alright? — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 03:36
@EmilioGort Yes, it does help to go that route. I rather not use it myself but in certain cases, some must/need to do that. — Funk Forty Niner, Oct 21 '13 at 03:36
@callMeJava You also need to add this `AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .php .html` and not just `AddType` — Funk Forty Niner, Oct 21 '13 at 03:39
@callMeJava I think, the case your tutor want to see the webpage in html is because he want you learn how to use rewrite url, I dont see the case to use addHadler — Emilio Gort, Oct 21 '13 at 03:41
@Fred-ii- Can I include `AddHandler` and `AddType` in the same `htaccess`file? — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 03:42
@Fred-ii- I think rewrite rule is healthier than addHandler? what do you think? — Emilio Gort, Oct 21 '13 at 03:44
@Fred-ii- Now I have both `AddType` and `AddHandler` in `.htaccess` file. The contents of the file are now like - `AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .htm`
`AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .php .html` — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 03:49
@Fred-ii- but the username is not still not showing up. The 3rd file is still a .htm :( — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 03:51
@callMeJava Test to see if the `AddHandler` worked by creating an `.html` file with this inside it `` — Funk Forty Niner, Oct 21 '13 at 03:56
@callMeJava And if it does in fact work, well now you need to echo your variable(s) — Funk Forty Niner, Oct 21 '13 at 04:02
@Fred-ii- I made a `test.htm` with `` inside and it worked like a charm! But when I tried the same thing using session on `mloginsuccess.htm`, it didn't work. — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 04:05
Sorry those links don't work. `mlogin.php` - http://postimg.org/image/q5od7vjyr/ `mloginsuccess.htm` - http://postimg.org/image/rijj057rj/ — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 04:18
@callMeJava You need to echo `$musername` and not `$_SESSION['name']` — Funk Forty Niner, Oct 21 '13 at 04:19
@callMeJava It's ok, I figured the links out. Don't wrap your URLs with brackets, just paste the links. — Funk Forty Niner, Oct 21 '13 at 04:20
@callMeJava I have to call it a night. `$brain="mush";` - Good luck. — Funk Forty Niner, Oct 21 '13 at 04:25
@Fred-ii- I changed it to `$musername`. If I run the page `mloginsuccess.htm` by itself, "Welcome" shows up and `undefined variable` BUT when run `mlogin.htm` and it redirects to `mloginsuccess.htm`, nothing come up. Not even "Welcome". — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 04:28
@Fred-ii- Okay. Thanks a lot, anyway. You're awesome :) Take care. — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 04:28
@Fred-ii- finally got it working! I changed it back to `$_SESSION['name']` and it worked fine! Thanks a ton! — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 04:32

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:25

Suppose for a moment that you actually do want to follow your instructions to the letter. (You don't really want to do this, probably... interpreting requirements, rather than following them exactly, is a key trait of a decent software engineer.) If your requirement is that you must use a static page, you have a couple options for getting data accessible on that page. All of which require JavaScript.

Cookies
Query String
Anchor Fragment

Basically, you need to set this data in one of these three places so that you can access it with JavaScript from your static HTML page later on. To set a cookie with PHP, use setcookie(). To read it with JavaScript, use document.cookie, or one of the many snippets of code to make this easier.

To set the query string, simply do so in your redirect:

header('Location: http://www.example.com/mloginsuccess.htm?name=' . urlencode($_GET['username']));

See this question for the JavaScript needed to read the query string: How to get the value from the GET parameters?

Finally, for the anchor fragment, you can often redirect to it the same way. (However note that not all browsers are guaranteed to follow the anchor fragment part of the URL!) To read the anchor fragment, use window.location.hash.

I hope that in the end, you will choose to do none of these and keep your auth logic in a sensible place. Literal interpretation of requirements rarely leads to good code and application design. At a minimum, you can hack around the URL requirement with a rewrite rule, making whatever.html be an alias to whatever.php. The client doesn't know or care what is actually running on the server... that's the server's job. I would tell you how to write a rewrite rule, but you didn't specify which server you are using, so I'll leave that part up to you to Google.

totally agree with the first paragraph line and beyond..the first paragraph should be BOLD — Emilio Gort, Oct 21 '13 at 03:46
That is some useful information there. I really appreciate you explaining that :) I'm using an Apache server and I'll have a look how to make an alias. Again, thanks a ton, good sir. — callMeJava, Oct 21 '13 at 03:55
@callMeJava No problem. http://www.addedbytes.com/articles/for-beginners/url-rewriting-for-beginners/ — Brad, Oct 21 '13 at 03:58

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:05

0

How can you expect to use a php feature(SESSION) in a file which is not php(.HTML). However you are allowed to use html inside a php file as php is a template engine and process the html ...refer this for for indepth What renders the HTML?

just convert your .html to .php and

<?php>
session_start();
$_SESSION['username']=$_GET['username']
?>

<html>....<body>welcome <?=$_SESSION['username']?></body>...</html>

or however your html tags are.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:05

Community

1
1

answered Oct 21 '13 at 03:22

Andy Khatter

165
1
9

Thanks for replying, @Andy. I do realise that but the 3rd files needs to be a .html – callMeJava Oct 21 '13 at 03:23

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 21 '13 at 03:47

Maybe you can use AJAX to load session details. For example, using JQuery,

<script>
...
$(document).ready(function(){
    $.ajax({
        url: "load_session.php",
        success: function(uname){
            $("#uname").html(uname);
        }
    });
});
...
</script>
...
Welcome, <span id="uname"></span>

Pass a session from PHP to HTML?

3 Answers3