How can I pass POST parameters in a URL

Question

Basically  I think that I can t  but I would be very happy to be proven wrong  I am generating an HTML menu dynamically in PHP  adding one item for each current user  so that I get something like  lt a href  quot process user php user  lt user gt  gt   but I have a preference for POST over GET  Is there a way to pass the information as a POST parameter  rather than GET from a clickable HREF link  I am not allowed to use JavaScript   It looks like Rob is on to something with  quot You could use a button instead of an anchor and just style the button to look like a link  That way you could have your values in hidden fields inside the same form to be sent via POST quot

User · Answer

I would like to share my implementation as well. It does require some JavaScript code though.

<form action="./index.php" id="homePage" method="post" style="display: none;">
    <input type="hidden" name="action" value="homePage" />
</form>

<a href="javascript:;" onclick="javascript:
document.getElementById('homePage').submit()">Home</a>

The nice thing about this is that, contrary to GET requests, it doesn't show the parameters in the URL, which is safer.

User · Answer

First off  a disclaimer  I don t think marrying POST with URL parameters is a brilliant idea  Like others suggested  you re better off using a hidden form for passing user information  However  a question made me curious how PHP is handling such a case  It turned out that it s possible in theory  Here s a proof  post url params html  lt  DOCTYPE html gt   lt html gt       lt head gt  lt  head gt       lt body gt           lt form method  quot post quot  action  quot post url params php key1 value1 quot  gt               lt input type  quot hidden quot  name  quot key2 quot  value  quot value2 quot  gt               lt input type  quot hidden quot  name  quot key3 quot  value  quot value3 quot  gt               lt input type  quot submit quot  value  quot click me quot  gt           lt  form gt       lt  body gt   lt  html gt   post url params php  lt  php     print r   POST       print r   GET       echo   SERVER  REQUEST METHOD      gt   Output Array    key2    gt  value2  key3    gt  value3   Array    key1    gt  value1   POST  One can clearly see that PHP stores URL parameters in the   GET variable and form data in the   POST variable  I suspect it s very PHP- and server-specific  though  and is definitely not a thing to rely on

User · Answer

You could use a form styled as a link  No JavaScript is required   lt form action  quot  do stuff php quot  method  quot post quot  gt       lt input type  quot hidden quot  name  quot user id quot  value  quot 123 quot    gt       lt button gt Go to user 123 lt  button gt   lt  form gt   CSS  button       border  0      padding  0      display  inline      background  none      text-decoration  underline      color  blue    button hover       cursor  pointer     See  http   jsfiddle net SkQRN

User · Answer

This could work if the PHP script generates a form for each entry with hidden fields and the href uses JavaScript to post the form

User · Answer

No  you cannot do that  I invite you to read a POST definition  Or this page  HTTP  request methods

User · Answer

Parameters in the URL are GET parameters  a request body  if present  is POST data  So your basic premise is by definition not achievable   You should choose whether to use POST or GET based on the action  Any destructive action  i e  something that permanently changes the state of the server  deleting  adding  editing  should always be invoked by POST requests  Any pure  information retrieval  should be accessible via an unchanging URL  i e  GET requests    To make a POST request  you need to create a  lt form gt   You could use Javascript to create a POST request instead  but I wouldn t recommend using Javascript for something so basic  If you want your submit button to look like a link  I d suggest you create a normal form with a normal submit button  then use CSS to restyle the button and or use Javascript to replace the  button with a link that submits the form using Javascript  depending on what reproduces the desired behavior better   That d be a good example of progressive enhancement

User · Answer

You can make a link perform an Ajax post request when it s clicked  In jQuery     a   click function e        var  this     this       e preventDefault          post  url     user    something    foo    bar    function             window location    this attr  href                 You could also make the link submit a POST form with JavaScript   lt form action  quot url quot  method  quot post quot  gt       lt input type  quot hidden quot  name  quot user quot  value  quot something quot    gt       lt a href  quot   quot  gt CLick lt  a gt   lt  form gt    lt script gt         a   click function e            e preventDefault              this  parents  form   submit             lt  script gt

[php] How can I pass POST parameters in a URL?

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