header location not working - but definitely being passed over - php

Question

Annoyingly my log in check script is not redirecting where I tell it to.
I know it hits the if statements correctly because I put in echos to check it did.
It is blatantly skipping to header as during the first circumstance it echos "- blanks" as it should then also "Did it even get this far?"
So on that basis I know it hits the header - its just plain ignoring it and I can not for the life of me fathom why.
Im sure its simple and I'm missing something ridiculously obvious but I just cant see it.
Any suggestions?
// makes sure they filled it in
if($_POST['frmLogin-username'] == "" || $_POST['frmLogin-password'] == ""){
echo " - blanks";
header('Location: ?page=landing&action=login&message=1');
echo "Did it even get this far?";
die;
}
else{
// checks it against the database
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM shops WHERE shopUsername = '".$_POST['frmLogin-username']."'");
//Gives error if user dosen't exist
$count = mysql_num_rows($query);
if ($count == "0"){
echo " - no user";
header('Location: ?page=landing&action=login&message=2');
die;
}
else{
while($row = mysql_fetch_array( $query )){
//gives error if the password is wrong
if ($_POST['frmLogin-password'] != $row['shopPassword']){
echo " - wrong pass";
header('Location: ?page=landing&action=login&message=3');
die;
}
else{
// if login is ok then we add a cookie
$hour = time() + 3600;
setcookie(shopusername, $_POST['frmLogin-username'], $hour);
setcookie(shopid, $row['shopId'], $hour);
//then redirect them to the shop panel
header("Location: ?page=shop");
die;
}
}
}
}
EDIT: The issue was to do with the way I load all my pages within index.php by calling includes which I am now investigating
I have moves this process page to its own php file and it now works fine

Answer 1

First of all: you can not send headers after having output anything using echo like Sam said in his comment.
Secondly, to send a redirect, the URL after the Location: must be absolute, like http://localhost/page/to/redirect/to.php.
EDIT
Corbin actually beat me to my answer for about 10 seconds ;-)

Answer 2

The issue was to do with the way I load all my pages within index.php by calling includes which I am now investigating I have moved this process page to its own php file and it now works fine

Answer 3

You can use window.location, just echo it within PHP.