Curing the “Back Button Blues”

function scriptNext($script_id)
// proceed forwards to a new script
{
   if (empty($script_id)) {
      trigger_error("script id is not defined", E_USER_ERROR);
   } // if

   // get list of screens used in this session
   $page_stack = $_SESSION['page_stack'];
   if (in_array($script_id, $page_stack)) {
      // remove this item and any following items from the stack array
      do {
         $last = array_pop($page_stack);
      } while ($last != $script_id);
   } // if

   // add next script to end of array and update session data
   $page_stack[] = $script_id;
   $_SESSION['page_stack'] = $page_stack;

   // now pass control to the designated script
   $location = 'http://' .$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] .$script_id;
   header('Location: ' .$location);
   exit;

} // scriptNext

function scriptPrevious()
// go back to the previous script (as defined in PAGE_STACK)
{
   // get id of current script
   $script_id = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];

   // get list of screens used in this session
   $page_stack = $_SESSION['page_stack'];
   if (in_array($script_id, $page_stack)) {
      // remove this item and any following items from the stack array
      do {
         $last = array_pop($page_stack);
      } while ($last != $script_id);
      // update session data
      $_SESSION['page_stack'] = $page_stack;
   } // if

   if (count($page_stack) > 0) {
      $previous = array_pop($page_stack);
      // reactivate previous script
      $location = 'http://' .$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] .$previous;
   } else {
      // no previous scripts, so terminate session
      session_unset();
      session_destroy();
      // revert to default start page
      $location = 'http://' .$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] .'/index.php';
   } // if

   header('Location: ' .$location);
   exit;

} // scriptPrevious

function initSession()
// initialise session data
{
   // get program stack
   if (isset($_SESSION['page_stack'])) {
      // use existing stack
      $page_stack = $_SESSION['page_stack'];
   } else {
      // create new stack which starts with current script
      $page_stack[] = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];
      $_SESSION['page_stack'] = $page_stack;
   } // if

   // check that this script is at the end of the current stack
   $actual = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];
   $expected = $page_stack[count($page_stack)-1];
   if ($expected != $actual) {
      if (in_array($actual, $page_stack)) {// script is within current stack, so remove anything which follows
      while ($page_stack[count($page_stack)-1] != $actual ) {
            $null = array_pop($page_stack);
         } // while
         $_SESSION['page_stack'] = $page_stack;
      } // if
      // set script id to last entry in program stack
      $actual = $page_stack[count($page_stack)-1];
      $location = 'http://' .$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] .$actual;
      header('Location: ' .$location);
      exit;
   } // if

   ... // continue processing

} // initSession

if ($_POST) {
    process_input($_POST);
    header("Location: $_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]");
    exit;
}