retrieve window.location.hash url in php

Question

I am using a jquery tabbed interface here http://www.imashdigital.com/#2 and would like to return the tab number in php.

Ideally I would like to run a javascript function (on a timer) that continually updates a global php variable with the current tab.

Based on this php value, 1 through to 4, I will then load a different sidebar.

I would be grateful for any help and some code examples as I am a novice.

Kind regards

Jonathan

Answer 1

I would suggest you do not run a timer but instead attach the $.post to the event "tab activation". This will make any tab change applied in real time and it won't trigger needless requests.

Answer 2

The part of an URI that comes after the hash is never sent to the server. There is no way that PHP can access it. Use a querystring parameter ($_GET) instead. Or use client side scripting (javascript).

Answer 3

I have used tabbed panels in a couple recent projects, and the solution I've used is the following:

HTML

<ul class="tabs">
  <li><a href="#en_en">English</a></li>
  <li><a href="#fr_fr">Français</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="panel" id="en_en"><!-- Content --></div>
<div class="panel" id="fr_fr"><!-- Content --></div>

jQuery

// the currently selected tab, or a default tab (don't forget to prepend the #)
var tab = location.hash || '#en_en';

// register a click handler on all the tabs
$('ul.tabs a').click(function(event){
    event.preventDefault(); // prevents the browser from scrolling to the anchor

    // hide all panels, then use the link's href attribute to find 
    // the matching panel, and make it visible
    // you can, of course, use whatever animation you like
    $('div.panel').hide().filter(  $(this).attr('href')  ).show();

).filter('[href*='+tab+']').click();
// above: in case of refreshing/bookmarking: find the tab link that contains
// the current location.hash, and fire its click handler

It works well because the server-side code doesn't need to know which tab is selected, but it also supports refreshing or bookmarking a specific tab without requiring the user select the tab again.