Answer this PHP question and I'll Paypal you $5

Jeff Scott · 01-23-2010, 03:54 PM

** The first person to post the solution to this, I'll PM you to get your Paypal address and I'll send you $5

QUESTION: I'm trying to figure out the best way to redirect a vistitor who types in my URL with a coupon code (see below) to another url with a variable populated. For example, when someone types the following:

http://www.mysite.com/A101

they are redirected to:

http://www.mysite.com/page.php?coupon=A101 (PREFERRED SOLUTION)

or to:

http://www.mysite.com where a form field is prepoulated with the A101 code so they only need to click a submit button

Right now the mysite.com/A101 is treated as a 404 and I tried to do a custom PHP to get the URL using SERVER_NAME and PHP_SELF but it's just showing the 404.php page. I don't want to have to create files/directories for A101 anywhere, it needs to dynamically do it.

I'm running on Apache/PHP

Thanks in advance!

tjs1954 · 01-23-2010, 04:08 PM

Jeff,

When I want a browser to leave one site and go to another I just put this code in the meta tags of the index page, <meta HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" content="0; url=http://www.yourdomain.com/index.html"> or whatever page you want it to go to.

The zero is how many seconds you want it to wait before it switches.

Trey Walter · 01-23-2010, 04:18 PM

Hi Jeff,

you can also use URL rewriting to do that. (I think this would be the best solution if there are a lot of different coupon codes.)

Here's how to do it:
mod_rewrite: A Beginner's Guide to URL Rewriting [Apache & IIS Configuration]

Trey

Jeff Scott · 01-23-2010, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjs1954

Jeff,

When I want a browser to leave one site and go to another I just put this code in the meta tags of the index page, <meta HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" content="0; url=http://www.yourdomain.com/index.html"> or whatever page you want it to go to.

The zero is how many seconds you want it to wait before it switches.

Yes, that is how I typically do simple redirects, but what I'm trying to do is a bit more complicated than that.

m4rx · 01-23-2010, 11:30 PM

Well I would with what Trey said.
You could use mod_rewrite to redirect your page.

Make a file called .htaccess and have the contents be:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^yourURL$ /page.php?coupon=yourURL [R]

and whenever someone types in yoursite.com/yourURL they will be redirected to the page.php?coupon=yourURL

You can see a demo by typing m4rx.com/coupon and it will so you the redirect to cat.php?coupon=coupon

This is just like when companys do this. You could modify it to show R=301(Found). This is the industry standard and works well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_302
Don't use 301(Moved Permanatly) as then the URL becomes useless when crawled, and because I would rarely use it(except after major remodeling ;] ).

Any help configuring it, PM me.
--m4rx

customertools · 01-25-2010, 08:20 AM

m4rx has the solution I would choose. unless you want to modify the php code. (which would be very easy to do)

rukki · 01-25-2010, 08:59 AM

Nice idea with Paypal. It might be useful sometimes...

Jeff Scott · 01-25-2010, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trey Walter

Hi Jeff,

you can also use URL rewriting to do that. (I think this would be the best solution if there are a lot of different coupon codes.)

Here's how to do it:
mod_rewrite: A Beginner's Guide to URL Rewriting [Apache & IIS Configuration]

Trey

Hey Trey,

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction...mod rewrites seems like the way to go. I'll PM you for your Paypal address to send you the $5!

- Jeff

01-23-2010, 03:54 PM	#1
Jeff Scott FirebirdSEO.com War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 285 Thanks: 3 Thanked 51 Times in 34 Posts Social Networking	Answer this PHP question and I'll Paypal you $5 The first person to post the solution to this, I'll PM you to get your Paypal address and I'll send you $5 QUESTION: I'm trying to figure out the best way to redirect a vistitor who types in my URL with a coupon code (see below) to another url with a variable populated. For example, when someone types the following: http://www.mysite.com/A101 they are redirected to: http://www.mysite.com/page.php?coupon=A101** (PREFERRED SOLUTION) or to: http://www.mysite.com where a form field is prepoulated with the A101 code so they only need to click a submit button Right now the mysite.com/A101 is treated as a 404 and I tried to do a custom PHP to get the URL using SERVER_NAME and PHP_SELF but it's just showing the 404.php page. I don't want to have to create files/directories for A101 anywhere, it needs to dynamically do it. I'm running on Apache/PHP Thanks in advance!
	Professional SEO: How we dominate SEO for hundreds of clients regardless of keywords !! FREE VIDEO: Watch as we use linkwheels to dominate the search engines.

01-23-2010, 04:08 PM	#2
tjs1954 HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Port Charlotte, Florida Posts: 204 Thanks: 45 Thanked 20 Times in 18 Posts	Re: Answer this PHP question and I'll Paypal you $5 Jeff, When I want a browser to leave one site and go to another I just put this code in the meta tags of the index page, <meta HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" content="0; url=http://www.yourdomain.com/index.html"> or whatever page you want it to go to. The zero is how many seconds you want it to wait before it switches.

01-23-2010, 04:18 PM	#3
Trey Walter Thinker Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 61 Thanks: 54 Thanked 9 Times in 7 Posts Social Networking	Re: Answer this PHP question and I'll Paypal you $5 Hi Jeff, you can also use URL rewriting to do that. (I think this would be the best solution if there are a lot of different coupon codes.) Here's how to do it: mod_rewrite: A Beginner's Guide to URL Rewriting [Apache & IIS Configuration] Trey
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01-23-2010, 11:30 PM	#5
m4rx PHP Programmer Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: /dev/null Posts: 136 Thanks: 5 Thanked 12 Times in 12 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Answer this PHP question and I'll Paypal you $5 Well I would with what Trey said. You could use mod_rewrite to redirect your page. Make a file called .htaccess and have the contents be: RewriteEngine on RewriteRule ^yourURL$ /page.php?coupon=yourURL [R] and whenever someone types in yoursite.com/yourURL they will be redirected to the page.php?coupon=yourURL You can see a demo by typing m4rx.com/coupon and it will so you the redirect to cat.php?coupon=coupon This is just like when companys do this. You could modify it to show R=301(Found). This is the industry standard and works well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_302 Don't use 301(Moved Permanatly) as then the URL becomes useless when crawled, and because I would rarely use it(except after major remodeling ;] ). Any help configuring it, PM me. --m4rx
	We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a HABIT. ~Aristotle Bored. Check out my blog. Last edited by m4rx; 01-23-2010 at 11:33 PM. Reason: Added redirect type code

01-25-2010, 08:20 AM	#6
customertools Customer Tools War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 96 Thanks: 0 Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts Social Networking	Re: Answer this PHP question and I'll Paypal you $5 m4rx has the solution I would choose. unless you want to modify the php code. (which would be very easy to do)
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01-25-2010, 08:59 AM	#7
rukki Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Warsaw, Poland Posts: 11 Thanks: 7 Thanked 4 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Answer this PHP question and I'll Paypal you $5 Nice idea with Paypal. It might be useful sometimes...
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