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 <a href="process_user.php?user=<user>>, 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.

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It looks like Rob is on to something with "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"

Answer 1

You could use a form styled as a link. No JavaScript is required:

<form action="/do/stuff.php" method="post">     <input type="hidden" name="user_id" value="123" />     <button>Go to user 123</button> </form> 

CSS:

button {     border: 0;     padding: 0;     display: inline;     background: none;     text-decoration: underline;     color: blue; } button:hover {     cursor: pointer; } 

See: http://jsfiddle.net/SkQRN/

Answer 2

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 <form>. 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.