How do I run PHP code when a user clicks on a link?

Question

I want to have a page run some PHP code when a user clicks on a link, without redirecting them. Is this possible with

<a href=""></a> 

or with the javascript onclick event?

Answer 1

Yeah, you'd need to have a javascript function triggered by an onclick that does an AJAX load of a page and then returns false, that way they won't be redirected in the browser. You could use the following in jQuery, if that's acceptable for your project:

<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> function doSomething() {     $.get("somepage.php");     return false; } </script>  <a href="#" onclick="doSomething();">Click Me!</a> 

You could also do a post-back if you need to use form values (use the $.post() method).

Answer 2

As others have suggested, use JavaScript to make an AJAX call.

<a href="#" onclick="myJsFunction()">whatever</a>  <script> function myJsFunction() {      // use ajax to make a call to your PHP script      // for more examples, using Jquery. see the link below      return false; // this is so the browser doesn't follow the link } 

http://docs.jquery.com/Ajax/jQuery.ajax