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Transferring Link Page URL to Web Page Form

Do you have a "recommend this page" link on your web pages?

Getting the URL (and/or the page title) of the recommended page automatically into the central recommend form is the purpose of this article.

Our example is a recommend form that will recommend the web page the person was at when they clicked the "recommend this page" link. The technique can be used with other forms, as well, such as feedback/contact forms, where it may help to know on which page the user found the "contact" link.

The technique can be accomplished with either JavaScript or PHP. You'll find information for both.

JavaScript can be used on any page, but requires a JavaScript-enabled browser.

PHP can be used only on pages that the server recognizes may contain PHP code. Usually, these will be web pages with .php file name extensions, but other extensions might also be recognized. There is no special browser requirement when PHP is used.

A primary difference between JavaScript and PHP is that JavaScript runs in the browser, after the web page has been retrieved from the server, and PHP runs on the server before the web page is sent to the browser.

JavaScript can run on any browser that is JavaScript-enabled. PHP can run on any server that has PHP available.

As an aside, something to consider when creating a new web site or new sections of a web site is whether or not to create the web pages with .php file name extensions. This "Considering PHP?" blog post talks about some pros and cons.

How This Technique Works

One or more web pages have a link that can be clicked to load the recommend form.

The URL of the link that can be clicked has parameters that contain the URL of the current web page and/or the title of the current web page. Creating this link is step 1.

When the link is clicked, the parameters are carried over to the web page with the form.

At the web page with the form, the parameter information is inserted into existing form fields for that purpose. Inserting this information is step 2.

The recommend form can now be used to recommend the specific page where the "recommend this page" link was clicked.

Step 1 — Creating the Link To the Form

Step 1 is creating the link and URL to the "recommend" form. The link will be put on one or more web pages.

The Web Page With the Link — JavaScript Method

The following JavaScript will create a link with the correct parameters

<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"><!-- document.write('<a href="http://example.com/form.html?'); // "A" tag begin document.write('url='+escape(document.URL)); // optional URL print document.write('&'); // omit line unless both URL and title are printed document.write('title='+escape(document.title)); // optional title print document.write('">'); // "A" tag finish document.write('Recommend this page.'); // link text document.write('</a>'); // cancel "A" tag //--></script>

The first document.write() line is where the HTML A tag and href attribute are started. The href attribute value is the URL of the form the link is to click to, with a "?" appended to the URL. Change the href URL in the JavaScript to the URL of the web page with your form — keep the question mark character at the end of the URL.

The rest of the JavaScript can be copied and pasted just like it is presented above — unless you don't want both URL and page title to be carried over to the form.

The second document.write() line is where the parameter for the current URL is appended to the form link URL. This line is optional.

The third document.write() line puts an "&" character between the URL and title of the web page. This line is to be used only if both the URL and title of the web page will be part of the link URL.

The fourth document.write() line is where the parameter for the current page's title is appended to the form link URL (the title being whatever is specified with the HTML TITLE tag). This line is optional.

It is assumed that at least the URL or the page title will be specified, else why use this JavaScript in the first place. When both are specified, the "&" must separate the two.

The fifth document.write() line completes the href attribute and opening A tag.

The sixth document.write() line is where the link text is specified. If preferred, it may be an image tag instead of, or in addition to, text.

The seventh and last document.write() line is for the closing A tag.

It may be prudent to add a NOSCRIPT tag to the web page for browsers without JavaScript.

<noscript> <a href="http://example.com/form.html"> Recommend this page. </a> </noscript>

With the NOSCRIPT tag, browsers without JavaScript have a link to click even though the recommend form will not receive the current page information. It is assumed the default values in the form will recommend the web site rather than an individual web page.

The Web Page With the Link — PHP Method

PHP is not as straight-forward if the page title is also to be part of the link. Unfortunately, PHP code does not know the title of the web page, as PHP code runs before the web page is loaded into the browser.

PHP can, however, automatically determine the URL of the current web page.

Following are 2 PHP code sections to create the link. The first has only the current web page URL in the parameter and the second also has the current web page title.

Here is the first PHP code to create the link:

<? echo('<a href="http://example.com/form.html?'); echo('url=http://'.$_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'].$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']); echo('">Recommend this page.</a>'); ?>

The first echo() line is where the A tag and href attribute are started. The href attribute value is the URL of the form the link is to click to, with a "?" appended to the URL. Change the href URL in the PHP code to the URL of the web page with your form — keep the question mark character at the end of the URL.

The second echo() line is where the parameter for the current URL is appended to the form link URL.

The third echo() line ends the href attribute and opening A tag, specifies the link text (which may be image URL instead, or in addition to), and prints the closing A tag.

Here is the second PHP code to create the link:

<? echo('<a href="http://example.com/form.html?'); echo('url=http://'.$_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'].$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']); echo('&title=My Page\'s Title'); echo('">Recommend this page.</a>'); ?>

This PHP code is identical to the previous except for the addition of a line, the second from last echo() line. That is the line where the web page title parameter is appended to the URL.

The title will need to be specified at every page the link is used. (Notice that apostrophes, sometimes called "single quotes," within the specified title must be escaped with a backslash character.) I am aware of no PHP code to automatically insert the web page title.

Step 2 — Inserting the Information Into the Form

Step 2 is inserting the information carried over with the link to the form.

Although the technique of transferring link page URL and title to a web page form can be integrated with most forms, this article refers specifically to a form that submits to Master Recommend Pro V4. For other forms, simply change form and field names to reflect the form you're using.

Inserting the Information — JavaScript Method

Paste this JavaScript somewhere below the recommend form.

<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"><!-- // The form name: var InfoInsert_FormName = "MasterRecommendProForm"; // The field name to receive the link page URL: var InfoInsert_URLfieldName = "siteURL"; // The field name to receive the link page title: var InfoInsert_TitleFieldName = "sitename"; function InfoInsertFunctionality() { var questionlocation = location.href.indexOf('?'); if(questionlocation < 1) { return; } var InfoInsert_QS = location.href.substr(questionlocation + 1); var InfoInsertParameters = InfoInsert_QS.split('&'); for( var i = 0; i < InfoInsertParameters.length; i++) { var InfoInsert_P = InfoInsertParameters[i].split('='); var InfoInsert_s = 'document.'+InfoInsert_FormName+'.'; if(InfoInsert_P[0] == 'title') { InfoInsert_s += InfoInsert_TitleFieldName; } else { InfoInsert_s += InfoInsert_URLfieldName; } var InfoInsert_s2 = unescape(InfoInsert_P[1]); var InfoInsert_i = InfoInsert_s2.indexOf('"'); while(InfoInsert_i > -1) { InfoInsert_s2 = InfoInsert_s2.substr(0,InfoInsert_i)+'"'+InfoInsert_s2.substr(InfoInsert_i+1); InfoInsert_i = InfoInsert_s2.indexOf('"'); } InfoInsert_s += '.value="'+InfoInsert_s2+'"'; eval(InfoInsert_s); } } InfoInsertFunctionality(); //--></script>

The above is a simple copy 'n paste — unless you're implementing this technique with a form other than Master Recommend Pro V4, in which case the 3 marked variables for form and field names might need to be changed.

The JavaScript will replace URL or title only if the information was carried over from the link. If either or both URL and title information is not available, the respective form field values are not changed.

Inserting the Information — PHP Method

Updating the form field values with PHP is more than just copy 'n paste.

First, find the hidden field name="siteURL". It looks something like this (except all one line):

<input 
   type="hidden" 
   name="siteURL" 
   value="http://example.com/">

Replace the above with:

<? echo('<input type="hidden" name="siteURL" '); if(isset($_GET['url'])) { echo('value="'.$_GET['url'].'">'); } else { echo('value="http://example.com/">'); } ?>

Replace "http://example.com/" in the above PHP code with the default value for the form field.

Second, find the hidden field name="sitename". It looks something like this (except all one line):

<input 
   type="hidden" 
   name="sitename" 
   value="My Site!">

Replace the above with:

<? echo('<input type="hidden" name="sitename" '); if(isset($_GET['title'])) { echo('value="'.$_GET['title'].'">'); } else { echo('value="My Site!">'); } ?>

Replace "My Site!" in the above PHP code with the default value for the form field.

In both of the above instances, the PHP code will use the information if it was carried over from the link. Otherwise, the value on the "else..." line is used.

Testing

Before employing either of these methods site-wide, test it on one or a few pages. This way, the code for the links can be corrected as needed before pasting them on every web page of the site.

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Will Bontrager
©2006 Bontrager Connection, LLC

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