Routing visitors

This is my 'wished for' scenario: That visitors wishing to see this section
of my site first have to provide some basic info about themselves. On the
redirect of the submit, they are then given access to the main page of the
section.

I'd like to restrict access to that section only through that form page, but
have no idea how to do that. I've been looking at using .htaccess in that
particular directory, but I don't want to use passwords at all.

I also realize people can simply look at the url once they're in and either
bookmark it or remember it for future direct access - which is fine - if I
already received their info on their first visit.

What I'm trying to avoid though, is having a direct entry off a search
engine or any other way without that initial form completion - I'm thinking
cookies but those are so annoying to some people and I really don't want to
ask people to complete this form multiple times if they clear their cookies
regularly.

Am I dreaming? Or is this possible?

Thanks for any and all help!

Mary

Mary wrote:
> This is my 'wished for' scenario: That visitors wishing to see this section
> of my site first have to provide some basic info about themselves. On the
> redirect of the submit, they are then given access to the main page of the
> section.
>
> I'd like to restrict access to that section only through that form page, but
> have no idea how to do that. I've been looking at using .htaccess in that
> particular directory, but I don't want to use passwords at all.
>
> I also realize people can simply look at the url once they're in and either
> bookmark it or remember it for future direct access - which is fine - if I
> already received their info on their first visit.
>
> What I'm trying to avoid though, is having a direct entry off a search
> engine or any other way without that initial form completion - I'm thinking
> cookies but those are so annoying to some people and I really don't want to
> ask people to complete this form multiple times if they clear their cookies
> regularly.
>
> Am I dreaming? Or is this possible?
>
> Thanks for any and all help!
>
> Mary
>
>

Mary,

You can do it with either sessions or cookies. Set a session or cookie variable
from the form, then check for its presence in each of the protected pages. If
it doesn't exist, redirect them back to the form.

You will need a server-side programming language to do this, such as PHP, Perl,
ASP, etc., depending on your OS and what your host has installed.


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JDS Computer Training Corp.
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