Yes, it is possible, but not exactly what are you trying to do
Solution #1
Intoduction
First of all, it should work only on users who are currently logged in and are trying to see their profile. The final results to reach is to not display ID in URL if ID is equal to current logged user's ID. It is more common than Solution #2 but if you want to hide all IDs, skip this solution.
Pluses:
- There is not too much to change, just add a few more lines for checking current user ID
- You can still use
<a></a> tags for Edit Business Profile links.
Minuses:
- Only current logged user's ID will be hidden in the URL
So what to do...
You probably use sessions to let users remain logged in even if they refreshed the page. You are on the right path, but you should add at least one more element to $_SESSION (Profile identification, so we can call it as profile_id for example).
Assume you are using this login formula:
function check_login($username, $password)
{
// query to find user with these inputs (encrypted password, prepared statements, etc)
if($query->num_rows > 0) // user exists
{
// fetch your query
// ...
session_start();
// set the session probably user is logged
// some return on success (probably redirect)
}
else
{
// some return on false
}
}
Now you should add one more $_SESSION element to save your current profile_id value:
session_start();
// ...
$_SESSION['profile_id'] = $result->profile_id; // <--- THIS IMPLEMENT
// some return on success (probably redirect)
1/2 is done!
Half of the problem is already finished, now all you need to do is compare $_GET input with $_SESSION.
Again, assuming your edit_profile.php file looks like this:
if(isset($_GET['id']) && !empty(trim($_GET['id'])))
{
$profile_id = intval($_GET['id']);
// ...
}
else
{
// probably an error profile id is not defined
}
// rest of the code ...
So now instead of error profile id is not defined we can assign to $profile_id variable index profile_id of superglobal $_SESSION:
else
{
$profile_id = intval($_SESSION['profile_id']);
}
Notice that I am assuming you have condition to reject access to this script, if user is not logged (some condition at the start).
Now your code should work but maybe you are asking the question what if user knows his ID and types it into URL?
So you have two choices:
- Let it be as it is
- Add condition to check if
$_GET['id'] equals to $_SESSION['profile_id'] then redirect to edit_profile.php
Final thoughts...
Maybe if you are generating the list of the users, where the user can edit the others' users profiles including himself's, you want to remove id parameter of the edit_profile.php URL if the user's ID is equal to current ID in fetch loop. You can inspire by this simple function:
function generate_profile_edit_url($id)
{
session_start(); // for the case, you don't have started session yet
return '<a href="edit_profile.php' . ($_SESSION['profile_id'] == $id ? '' : '?id=' . $id) . '">Edit Business Profile</a>';
}
Just in every fetch iteration you will use this function, like in the example below:
// ...
echo generate_profile_edit_url($result->profile_id);
// ...
Solution #2
Introduction
This solution will reach to the editing user's profile without any ID parameter in URL. It is designed for situation where user has rights to edit someone else's profile (for example, a moderator or an admin) and you still don't want to have the users' ID in the URL.
Pluses:
- No ID parameter in URL needed for all users
Minuses:
- you have to change every profile link to little form using POST action without JavaScript knowledge
- no more
<a></a> links for profile edit, again without JavaScript knowledge
- users are still able to get their id if they want to
So what to do...
Firstly, we need to change edit_profile.php file. We have to recieve $_POST data containing target's profile_id.
Like in Solution #1, assume your edit_profile.php looks like:
if(isSet($_GET['id']) && !empty(trim($_GET['id'])))
{
$profile_id = intval($_GET['id']);
// ...
}
else
{
// probably an error profile id is not defined
}
// rest of the code ...
Most of the changes will be just replacing $_GET with $_POST:
if(isSet($_POST['profile_id']) && !empty(trim($_POST['profile_id'])))
{
$profile_id = intval($_POST['profile_id']);
// ...
}
else
{
// probably an error profile id is not defined
}
// rest of the code ...
For this file, it is enough.
Now there is some more work to do if you have a placed profile links in different files. But we can make it easier using one simple function like this:
function get_profile_edit_button($profile_id)
{
$html = '<form action="edit_profile" method="POST">';
$html .= '<input type="hidden" name="profile_id" value="' . intval($profile_id) . '">';
$html .= '<input type="submit" value="Edit Business profile">';
$html .= '</form>';
return $html;
}
The last thing is replace current edit profile links with this function. For example you have fetch loop of users:
// ...
echo '<a href="edit_profile.php?id='" . $result->profile_id . '">Edit Business Profile</a>';
// ...
So you will replace this string with your function get_profile_edit_button():
// ...
echo get_profile_edit_button($result->profile_id);
// ...
Final thoughts...
As I mentioned in minuses, profiles' ids cannot be totally hidden. If someone opened Source code of your page, he can see profile_id in hidden form type:
<input type="hidden" name="profile_id" value="1234567">
It is only on you what solution you prefer, but I can recommend you Solution #1. There is nothing bad about having IDs in URL. Stack Overflow has it too as you can see it on questions, answers, comments and users.
Useful resources:
