Pass variable from image to next page - php

Question

Hey I have dynamic image begin created with imagecreate(), and I have random values being produced, and I want to pass that random number, to a variable, and use that variable inside the page where Im using the image source.
The image is on random.php, and Im using <img src="random.php" /> on page index.php if that matters, and I want to pass from random.php (the image), to index.php. I already tried sessions and cookies but when I refresh, its always 1 step behind what the image is producing...
Im using a for loop to echo random numbers, I need to pass those numbers to a variable. Basicly how do I get numbers outside an image, in real time, not 1 step back.

Answer 1

What about using a temporary session variable?
On your first page,
<?php
session_start();
$_SESSION['mykey'] = 'myrandomval';
session_write_close(); // Helpful if you're using a header redirect
?>
and on the second page
<?php
session_start();
$value = $_SESSION['mykey'];
?>

Answer 2

The problem you are having is that index.php is requested, then the browser realizes that random.php is needed, so- yes, random.php will be a step AFTER index.php...
If you switch your "random creation" logic around, (have index create the key stored in a session, which can then be read from random.php) it may solve your problem.

Answer 3

Instead of passing variables from the page to the image, you could set the random number generator seed to the same value on both scripts. Here is a full sample:
<?php
function randomcolor()
{
srand( $_SERVER['REQUEST_TIME'] );
$colors = array('red', 'green', 'blue', 'black', 'orange');
return $colors[ array_rand($colors) ];
}
$color = randomcolor();
if(isset( $_GET['image'] ))
{
header('Content-type: image/png');
$im = imagecreate(75, 50);
imagecolorallocate($im, 0xee, 0xee, 0xee);
$black = imagecolorallocate($im, 0, 0, 0);
imagestring($im, 2, 10, 10, $color, $black);
imagepng($im);
exit;
}
?>
<p>color: <?php echo $color; ?></p>
<img src="test5.php?image=1" />
This is two separate requests being seeded with the REQUEST_TIME, which means array_rand will return the same value both times.