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m.brown · Aug 12, 2002, 11:37 AM

Hi

Does anyone know how to make a simple static HTML site user aware - what I want to do is have a online book, and when people have finished reading a chapter/page etc., they can click on a link that saves their location on a unique page.

Ideas/Comments/Suggestions?

Thanks

Amorya · Aug 14, 2002, 08:26 PM

The simplest way you could do that would be using Javascript and cookies. That means that nothing is stored on your servers (so you don't need any server software), but it's not a great method if you're wanting it to work perfectly in every case.

I found this function amongst a load of code scraps. It might be of help. Sorry I can't explain this technique very well, since it's ages since I've used Javascript for any more than a popup menu script.

Code:
	&lt;!--HIDE
	function storeIt() {
	var theDate=new Date()
	theDate.setMonth(theDate.getMonth() + 1)
	var raw="index.html"
	var str=escape(raw)
	document.cookie = "cookie1=" + str + "; expires=" + theDate.toGMTString()
	}
	//STOP--&gt;

A better way, but maybe an overkill for a simple script like that, would be to use a server-side database and scripting language (eg PHP and MySQL) to let users create usernames and passwords, and then log in. All the info would then be stored in the database. That'd mean that they could still find where they were up to if they were on a different computer, or they had javascript or cookies turned off. However, you'd need the database stuff running on your server.

Look for online tutorials for PHP and MySQL (they tend to go together) if you want to try this method. I found them very easy to pick up (I've been using them a few months, and my first full site goes live on Friday! Check http://www.scifiminds.net after then.)

Amorya

[edit]Found a bug in your forum code, guys - it parsed out the whole of my code example, instead of replacing < with & lt; and > with & gt;.[/edit]

ilukas · Aug 15, 2002, 12:57 AM

javascript should be enough, though i've never worked w/ cookies in javascript.

you could set it up so the book's page/chapter is recorded in the cookie and when the user returns to the index page, he/she gets redirected to the last page they were in with location.href = /book/chapter/page.html

hyperizer · Aug 16, 2002, 10:12 AM

Webmonkey's Advanced JavaScript Tutorial offers a good overview of using JavaScript to handle cookies.