[php] Access a JavaScript variable from PHP

I need to access a JavaScript variable with PHP. Here's a stripped-down version of the code I'm currently trying, which isn't working:

<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
    var test = "tester";
</script>

<?php
    echo $_GET['test'];
?>

I'm a completely new to both JavaScript and PHP, so I would really appreciate any advice.

UPDATE: OK, I guess I simplified that too much. What I'm trying to do is create a form that will update a Twitter status when submitted. I've got the form working OK, but I want to also add geolocation data. Since I'm using Javascript (specifically, the Google Geolocation API) to get the location, how do I access that information with PHP when I'm submitting the form?

This question is related to php javascript variables

The answer is


_GET accesses query string variables, test is not a querystring variable (PHP does not process the JS in any way). You need to rethink. You could make a php variable $test, and do something like:

<?php
$test = "tester";
?>
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
    var test = "<?php echo $test?>";
</script>

<?php
    echo $test;
?>

Of course, I don't know why you want this, so I'm not sure the best solution.

EDIT: As others have noted, if the JavaScript variable is really generated on the client, you will need AJAX or a form to send it to the server.


try adding this to your js function:

    var outputvar = document.getElementById("your_div_id_inside_html_form");
    outputvar.innerHTML='<input id=id_to_send_to_php value='+your_js_var+'>';

Later in html:

    <div id="id_you_choosed_for_outputvar"></div>

this div will contain the js var to be passed through a form to another js function or to php, remember to place it inside your html form!. This solution is working fine for me.

In your specific geolocation case you can try adding the following to function showPosition(position):

    var outputlon = document.getElementById("lon1");
    outputlon.innerHTML = '<input id=lon value='+lon+'>';
    var outputlat = document.getElementById("lat1");
    outputlat.innerHTML = '<input id=lat value='+lat+'>';  

later add these div to your html form:

<div id=lat1></div>
<div id=lon1></div>

In these div you'll get latitude and longitude as input values for your php form, you would better hide them using css (show only the marker on a map if used) in order to avoid users to change them before to submit, and set your database to accept float values with lenght 10,7.

Hope this will help.


If showing data to the user, do a redirect:

<script language="JavaScript">
    var tester = "foobar";
    document.location="http://www.host.org/myphp.php?test=" + tester;
</script>

or an iframe:

<script language="JavaScript">
    var tester = "foobar";
    document.write("<iframe src=\"http://www.host.org/myphp.php?test=" + tester + "\"></iframe>");
</script>

If you don't need user output, create an iframe with width=0 and height=0.


Well the problem with the GET is that the user is able to change the value by himself if he has some knowledges. I wrote this so that PHP is able to retrive the timezone from Javascript:

// -- index.php

<?php
  if (!isset($_COOKIE['timezone'])) {
?>
<html>
<script language="javascript">  
  var d = new Date(); 
  var timezoneOffset = d.getTimezoneOffset() / 60;
  // the cookie expired in 3 hours
  d.setTime(d.getTime()+(3*60*60*1000));
  var expires = "; expires="+d.toGMTString();
  document.cookie = "timezone=" +  timezoneOffset + expires + "; path=/";
  document.location.href="index.php"
</script>
</html>
<?php
} else {
  ?>

  <html>
  <head>
  <body>

  <?php 
  if(isset($_COOKIE['timezone'])){ 
    dump_var($_COOKIE['timezone']); 
  } 
}
?>

I'm looking at this and thinking, if you can only get variables into php in a form, why not just make a form and put a hidden input in the thing so it doesn't show on screen, and then put the value from your javascript into the hidden input and POST that into the php? It would sure be a lot less hassle than some of this other stuff right?


As JavaScript is a client-side language and PHP is a server-side language you would need to physically push the variable to the PHP script, by either including the variable on the page load of the PHP script (script.php?var=test), which really has nothing to do with JavaScript, or by passing the variable to the PHP via an AJAX/AHAH call each time the variable is changed.

If you did want to go down the second path, you'd be looking at XMLHttpRequest, or my preference, jQuerys Ajax calls: http://docs.jquery.com/Ajax


JS ist browser-based, PHP is server-based. You have to generate some browser-based request/signal to get the data from the JS into the PHP. Take a look into Ajax.


Examples related to php

I am receiving warning in Facebook Application using PHP SDK Pass PDO prepared statement to variables Parse error: syntax error, unexpected [ Preg_match backtrack error Removing "http://" from a string How do I hide the PHP explode delimiter from submitted form results? Problems with installation of Google App Engine SDK for php in OS X Laravel 4 with Sentry 2 add user to a group on Registration php & mysql query not echoing in html with tags? How do I show a message in the foreach loop?

Examples related to javascript

need to add a class to an element How to make a variable accessible outside a function? Hide Signs that Meteor.js was Used How to create a showdown.js markdown extension Please help me convert this script to a simple image slider Highlight Anchor Links when user manually scrolls? Summing radio input values How to execute an action before close metro app WinJS javascript, for loop defines a dynamic variable name Getting all files in directory with ajax

Examples related to variables

When to create variables (memory management) How to print a Groovy variable in Jenkins? What does ${} (dollar sign and curly braces) mean in a string in Javascript? How to access global variables How to initialize a variable of date type in java? How to define a variable in a Dockerfile? Why does foo = filter(...) return a <filter object>, not a list? How can I pass variable to ansible playbook in the command line? How do I use this JavaScript variable in HTML? Static vs class functions/variables in Swift classes?