Re: Persistent state applications

1) PHP applications are built on the concept of shared-nothing. Every page request is, and should be, entirely independent of another. That is by design. It's weird if you're used to stateful programming (desktop, JSP, etc.), but it is actually very powerful. 2) If you really need to persist something, keep it small and use sessions[1]. They exist for that purpose. 3) 95% of the time, persistent connections to SQL servers are more trouble than they're worth. If you're using MySQL or SQLite in particular, the connection cost is tiny. In practice it's better to just let the connection die at the end of the request and re-open it at the start of the next request. The web has been optimized over the past decade for that usage pattern. [1] http://www.php.net/sessions On Saturday 17 May 2008, James Colannino wrote: > Hey everyone! I'm very new to PHP, and had a somewhat general question > (forgive me if it's too broad in scope.) Basically, I'd like to be able > to have a single PHP application that remembers its state as users click > on links. When the user clicks on a link, though, the user unavoidably > re-requests the URL from the web server, which forces the PHP > application to reload. I'm therefore uncertain as to how I should keep > the program in a state in which it remembers things like login > information when the users have to click on links in order to navigate > the application. > > This is especially an issue for me when it comes to maintaining things > like persistent connections to SQL servers. > > Thanks! > > James -- Larry Garfield AIM: LOLG42 larry@garfieldtech.com ICQ: 6817012 "If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it." -- Thomas Jefferson