Passing Data to Another Page

Passing Parameters: Loading a Selected Image in a Boilerplate Page

This page shows you how to pass a parameter to another Web page. In this example, the user clicks an image, and then a full-size version of the selected image is loaded into a boilerplate page. Try it out:

Click an image to load the full-size version:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows 95

To pass data to another page, all you have to do is add a question mark (?) and the data to the end of the HREF attribute in a link. The images above link to boilerplate.asp. So to send the filename win95pre-full.jpg to that page, I set up my <A> tag like so:

<A HREF="boilerplate.asp?win95pre-full.jpg">

This means that the browser loads the boilerplate.asp file, but it also specifies the extra data in the URL. We can then use a short chunk of JavaScript code to extract the image name and load it. Here's the code I use in the boilerplate.asp file:

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"">
<!--
    //
    // Make sure there's some data
    //
    if (location.search) {
        //
        // Extract the name of the graphics file
        //
       var image_filename = location.search.substring(1)
        //
        // Write the <IMG> tag using the name of the graphics 
        // file (you may need to adjust the SRC text)
        //
        document.write('<IMG SRC="/graphics/' + image_filename + '">')
    }
//-->
</script>