Setting and using newly set Cookie value - php

Question

Working on a site that displays different content based on a cookie value. For example:
http://peewee.betaforming.com/
vs.
http://peewee.betaforming.com/?cu=10010
That value can be set on any page because I have a functions include on every page. If the cookie is set or already saved, the information for that CU is loaded. If no cookie value is set or a value is passed that doesn't exist in the DB, he site displays default information.
Here's the problem. If you go from no cookie value set to requesting the site with "?cu=10010" attached to any page, the current page doesn't load the current data until it is refreshed.
From what I've read, I need to refresh the page using header("location.... but I'm not sure where I do that given all that I need to do based on that cookie value.
Here's the relevant code in the functions file for setting/retrieving the cookie.
// CU cookies
if (isset($_GET["cu"]) && is_numeric($_GET["cu"])) {
$pass_cu = $_GET["cu"];
// See if passed value returns an active CU record
mysql_select_db($database_peewee, $peewee);
$query_rs_valid_cu = "SELECT * FROM tbl_cus WHERE cu_id = $pass_cu";
$rs_valid_cu = mysql_query($query_rs_valid_cu, $peewee) or die(mysql_error());
$row_rs_valid_cu = mysql_fetch_assoc($rs_valid_cu);
$totalRows_rs_valid_cu = mysql_num_rows($rs_valid_cu);
if ($totalRows_rs_valid_cu != 0) {
// Set cookie
$peewee_cu_querystring = $_GET["cu"];
$expire_month = time()+60*60*24*30; //30 days
//kill current cookie
setcookie("peewee_cu", "", time()-10);
//set new cookie
setcookie("peewee_cu", $peewee_cu_querystring, $expire_month, "/");
}
mysql_free_result($rs_valid_cu);
}
// See of cookie exists
if ((isset($_COOKIE['peewee_cu'])) && $_COOKIE['peewee_cu'] != "") {
$cu_cookie_value = $_COOKIE['peewee_cu'];
// Set values for getting CU record
$colname_rs_cu_data = $cu_cookie_value;
$load_custom_cu = 'true';
} else {
// Set defualt CU value
$colname_rs_cu_data = 10000;
$load_custom_cu = 'false';
}
// Get and Set CU Information (CU specific or default)
mysql_select_db($database_peewee, $peewee);
$query_rs_cu_data = "SELECT * FROM tbl_cus WHERE cu_id = $colname_rs_cu_data";
$rs_cu_data = mysql_query($query_rs_cu_data, $peewee) or die(mysql_error());
$row_rs_cu_data = mysql_fetch_assoc($rs_cu_data);
$totalRows_rs_cu_data = mysql_num_rows($rs_cu_data);
$cu_sidebar_image = $row_rs_cu_data['cu_logo'];
$cu_sidebar_name = $row_rs_cu_data['cu_name'];
$cu_sidebar_link = $row_rs_cu_data['cu_link'];
$cu_sidebar_address = $row_rs_cu_data['cu_address'];
$cu_sidebar_city = $row_rs_cu_data['cu_city'];
$cu_sidebar_state = $row_rs_cu_data['cu_state'];
$cu_sidebar_postal = $row_rs_cu_data['cu_postal'];
$cu_sidebar_phone = $row_rs_cu_data['cu_phone'];
$cu_sidebar_toll = $row_rs_cu_data['cu_phone_toll_free'];
$cu_meta_title = $row_rs_cu_data['cu_name'];
$cu_tab_title = $row_rs_cu_data['cu_name'];
mysql_free_result($rs_cu_data);
// Set default error page for all pages except home page
$default_error_page = 10007;
$default_error_page_home = 10005;
Thanks
Brett

Answer 1

Reloading the page just to read in a cookie whose value you know (because you've just set it) seems a bit redundant.
Instead, all you need to do is set a variable to either the current cookie value as sent by the browser ($_COOKIE['peewee_cu']) or the value you're assigning to that cookie on the current page ($peewee_cu_querystring).
For a really simple way (but note: I don't particularly recommend writing to superglobals, it's better to have your own variable and manage scope properly) see PHP sets COOKIE, changed with JQUERY COOKIE plugin, cannot be edited with php?
Incidentally, you shouldn't need to kill off the old cookie before setting the new one, as any new cookie with the same name, domain, and path will overwrite it automatically.