Creating a URL parameter for the links (PHP)

The links in the dynamic table on the master page (see Creating the links to the detail page (PHP)) not only have to open the detail page, they must pass the ID of the record the user selected. The detail page will use this ID to find the requested record in the database and display it.

The record ID is passed to the detail page in a URL parameter.

This section describes how to create a URL parameter that passes a record ID to the detail page.

To create the URL parameter:

1. Select the link in the dynamic table.

If Live Data is turned on, select the link in the first row.

2. In the Link field in the Property inspector, add the following string at the end of the URL: ?recordID=
The question mark tells the server that what follows is one or more URL parameters. The word recordID is the name of the URL parameter (you can use any name you like). Make a note of the name of the URL parameter because you’ll use it in the detail page later.

The expression after the equal sign is the value of the parameter. In this case, the value is generated by a PHP expression that returns a record ID from the recordset. A different ID is generated for each row in the dynamic table. In the PHP expression, replace recordsetName with the name of your recordset, and replace fieldName with the name of the field in your recordset that uniquely identifies each record. In most cases, the field will consist of a record ID number. In the following example, the field consists of unique location codes.

locationDetail.php?recordID=
When the page runs, the values of the recordset’s CODE field are inserted in the corresponding rows in the dynamic table. For example, if the Canberra, Australia, rental location has the code CBR, then the following URL will be used in the Canberra row in the dynamic table:

locationDetail.php?recordID=CBR

3. Save the page.

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