PHP: $_SERVER["HTTP_REFERER"] question

Mr. Loverman

Hello all

I have a domain, let's call it domain1.com.

If you type domain1.com into your browser it will redirect to domain2.com. The redirect is a .htaccess 301 redirect.

Problem: $_SERVER["HTTP_REFERER"] does not pick up that the user came from domain1.com

How can I find out that the user came from domain1.com?

Basically I need to do X if the user came from domain1.com, and Y if he came from domain2.com.

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Freddio

this is a quote from the PHP bible

'HTTP_REFERER' - "The address of the page (if any) which referred the user agent to the current page. This is set by the user agent. Not all user agents will set this, and some provide the ability to modify HTTP_REFERER as a feature. In short, it cannot really be trusted."


http://php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.server.php

I dont know if it makes a difference if you put an index page on server A that redirects using headers instead, but its worth a try

<?php
header("Location: http://serverB");
?>

Liam Byrne

Does it show you the page that you were at BEFORE domain1?

That's what I'd expect it to do.

Try setting a GET parameter on the redirect, e.g http://www.domain2.com/via=domain1

Mr. Loverman

Freddio wrote: »

this is a quote from the PHP bible

'HTTP_REFERER' - "The address of the page (if any) which referred the user agent to the current page. This is set by the user agent. Not all user agents will set this, and some provide the ability to modify HTTP_REFERER as a feature. In short, it cannot really be trusted."


http://php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.server.php

I dont know if it makes a difference if you put an index page on server A that redirects using headers instead, but its worth a try

<?php
header("Location: http://serverB");
?>

Thanks for the advice. Same problem unfortunately...

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Does it show you the page that you were at BEFORE domain1?

That's what I'd expect it to do.

Try setting a GET parameter on the redirect, e.g http://www.domain2.com/via=domain1

Yeah.

If you go to domain0.com you will see a link to domain1.com. If you click on this link you will be redirected to domain2.com.

The referer shows the page which had the link on it.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Try setting a GET parameter on the redirect" - I don't want anyone to see via=domain1 after the domain.

Thanks for the advice though.

Webmonkey

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. Same problem unfortunately...



Yeah.

If you go to domain0.com you will see a link to domain1.com. If you click on this link you will be redirected to domain2.com.

The referer shows the page which had the link on it.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Try setting a GET parameter on the redirect" - I don't want anyone to see via=domain1 after the domain.

Thanks for the advice though.

How about pass a get variable like Liam said in the 301 redirect.

Collect this variable and set a session var (to remember later or if you just want to log at that moment somewhere do) and then do another forward to itself again without the variable. This will all happen behind so you shouldn't see it in the browser at any stage.

Worth a shot.