automating page navigation and control transfer

[Joseph S.]

Is there a system available to do the following:
consider an app of a few pages:

page1.php:
form1----->page3.php
form2----->page4.php

page2.php:
form3----->page3.php
form4----->page4.php

when I am at page3.php, I do not know whether I came there from
page1->form1 or page2->form3.
I can check for $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] and get an answer. But this
example is simple. Let us generailze that I want an app that keeps a
track of all the pages the user requested, in the order that they were
sent to him.

Obviously, it can be written based on sessions. Is there already some
popular open source application for this?

Also, this brings me to a broader question of page navigation rules. In
an app made of 20-50 pages/scripts, life will be hell if there is no
systematic approach to transferring control between pages. Is there
some kind of structure already made and readily available into which
you just plug-in your pages by telling some rules ?

E.g. the scheme is something like:
$ListOfPages = array(
1=>"Main.php",
2=>"Edit.php",
3->"Add.php",
..........,
N->"Error.php") ;

$RuleSet = array(
1=>array("Main. php","Edit.php" ,"allow_edit "),
2=>array("Main. php","Add.php", "allow_add" ),
............... ....
3=>array("Main. php","Error.php ","my_error_han dler")
);
The RuleSet is a set of page transfer rules based on evaluation to true
of the specified functions, i.e., allow_edit(), allow_add(),
my_error_handle r() etc.
Obviously, form submission is the chief means of control transfer for
PHP programs and the use of ?op=add_somethi ng in URL's(GET) and <input
type=hidden name=op value=add_somet hing> (POST) are a step towards
making some kind of structure.

So the grand code will look like:
$MyGrandAppCont rollerObj = new GrandAppControl lerObj();
$MyGrandAppCont rollerObj->setPages($List OfPages);
$MyGrandAppCont rollerObj->setRules($Rule Set);
$MyGrandAppCont rollerObj->Run();

Any links to discussions of this kind or apps or pages that do
something like this ?
TIA,
JS

[d]

"Joseph S." <js****@rediffm ail.com> wrote in message
news:11******** **************@ z14g2000cwz.goo glegroups.com.. .

Is there a system available to do the following:
consider an app of a few pages:

page1.php:
form1----->page3.php
form2----->page4.php

page2.php:
form3----->page3.php
form4----->page4.php

when I am at page3.php, I do not know whether I came there from
page1->form1 or page2->form3.
I can check for $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] and get an answer. But this
example is simple. Let us generailze that I want an app that keeps a
track of all the pages the user requested, in the order that they were
sent to him.

Obviously, it can be written based on sessions. Is there already some
popular open source application for this?

Also, this brings me to a broader question of page navigation rules. In
an app made of 20-50 pages/scripts, life will be hell if there is no
systematic approach to transferring control between pages. Is there
some kind of structure already made and readily available into which
you just plug-in your pages by telling some rules ?

E.g. the scheme is something like:
$ListOfPages = array(
1=>"Main.php",
2=>"Edit.php",
3->"Add.php",
.........,
N->"Error.php") ;

$RuleSet = array(
1=>array("Main. php","Edit.php" ,"allow_edit "),
2=>array("Main. php","Add.php", "allow_add" ),
............... ...
3=>array("Main. php","Error.php ","my_error_han dler")
);
The RuleSet is a set of page transfer rules based on evaluation to true
of the specified functions, i.e., allow_edit(), allow_add(),
my_error_handle r() etc.
Obviously, form submission is the chief means of control transfer for
PHP programs and the use of ?op=add_somethi ng in URL's(GET) and <input
type=hidden name=op value=add_somet hing> (POST) are a step towards
making some kind of structure.

So the grand code will look like:
$MyGrandAppCont rollerObj = new GrandAppControl lerObj();
$MyGrandAppCont rollerObj->setPages($List OfPages);
$MyGrandAppCont rollerObj->setRules($Rule Set);
$MyGrandAppCont rollerObj->Run();

Any links to discussions of this kind or apps or pages that do
something like this ?
TIA,
JS

Here's one idea: Use mod_rewrite (or equivalent on IIS) to redirect all
requests for the contents of a certain directory (or entire site) to a
single PHP script. Use the original request (sent through the REQUEST_URI
header on apache, or similar header with ISAPI rewrite) to determine what
URI was requested, to figure out which script to run. Make your code
light-weight enough (caching, etc.), and you'll not notice a performance
hit. It's ridiculously easy to implement cross-site templating, without the
explicit tying-in of templates with a specific templating engine.

dave

[Joseph S.]

Hi dave,
d wrote:

Here's one idea: Use mod_rewrite (or equivalent on IIS) to redirect all
requests for the contents of a certain directory (or entire site) to a
single PHP script. Use the original request (sent through the REQUEST_URI
header on apache, or similar header with ISAPI rewrite) to determine what
URI was requested, to figure out which script to run. Make your code
light-weight enough (caching, etc.), and you'll not notice a performance
hit. It's ridiculously easy to implement cross-site templating, without the
explicit tying-in of templates with a specific templating engine.

dave

thanks for the reply.
what I was looking for was a "PHP framework".
There are quite a few of them around, mostly open source, I got them by
just googling http://www.google.com/search?q=PHP+framework
BlueShoes, Seagull, php.MVC, AjaxAC, lots basically.

Most of my questions are answered.

thanks anyway.
Regards,
JS

[d]

"Joseph S." <js****@rediffm ail.com> wrote in message
news:11******** **************@ g14g2000cwa.goo glegroups.com.. .

Hi dave,
d wrote:

Here's one idea: Use mod_rewrite (or equivalent on IIS) to redirect all
requests for the contents of a certain directory (or entire site) to a
single PHP script. Use the original request (sent through the
REQUEST_URI
header on apache, or similar header with ISAPI rewrite) to determine what
URI was requested, to figure out which script to run. Make your code
light-weight enough (caching, etc.), and you'll not notice a performance
hit. It's ridiculously easy to implement cross-site templating, without
the
explicit tying-in of templates with a specific templating engine.

dave

thanks for the reply.
what I was looking for was a "PHP framework".
There are quite a few of them around, mostly open source, I got them by
just googling http://www.google.com/search?q=PHP+framework
BlueShoes, Seagull, php.MVC, AjaxAC, lots basically.

Most of my questions are answered.

thanks anyway.
Regards,
JS

That's essentially all those frameworks are :) If you want to use one off
the shelf, then you'll miss out on a lot of fun ;)