in reply to Passing flags between invocations of a cgi script

If they are separate invocations, why would you expect the variables to jump from one thread or process to another?

It seems to me that you want the first invocation to return a page containing a modified version of the form: entry fields containing a default value equal to what the user sent the first time, or perhaps a hidden field containing a session ID so that the second invocation can pull the desired historical values from disk.

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Re^2: Passing flags between invocations of a cgi script
by Herbert37 (Novice) on May 17, 2010 at 19:06 UTC
    It is a single user invoking the form, selecting an answer, and, then, depending on whether it is the "right" answer, either getting the same version of the form with his/her answer left intact and an admonition to respond again, or being told s/he answered correctly and being given a "new" question. I load the question and the possible answers from a database. In the "wrong" answer case, I want to leave the database alone. In the "right" answer case, I want to visit it again and get a new question. Thank you for considering this question, which clearly contains a moderate share of ignorance.
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      The thing to keep in mind is that your script is started, deals with a request and then terminates. Nothing should survive except what you have written to disk, and what the user knows.

      But you can't trust the user, so don't believe anything they say or the sister of bobby tables will tell you that her name is "admin", authenticated=1 and/or score=1000000 ;)

      Instead of real info, only give them a session ID that is really hard to guess (say, 32 random hex characters), and delete session info that is older than 30 minutes. Use the string they reply with to find and load the user's session info (last question/score/login name/etc). If it doesn't exist, send them to the login screen.

      Edit: Fixed link
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        I think I have managed to make this seem more difficult than it is (which would not be a first). The user's replies are in the form of radio button clicks. Never, never, never anything more. No text fields. No nothing. They are being tested on their ability to translate English medical terms correctly. This is strictly multiple choice. It's just that if they choose wrong, I would like to leave the wrong choice up there and have them take another go at it before giving them the next word. And that is the rub. I just can't figure out a way to give them a second go. Giving them a new question is pretty straightforward. I'm not interested in their score either. They can keep score themselves. Sorry for all the bother.
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