I understand that I am able to use the POST method for URL parameters to display data according to a specific variable, I know how to make use of the GET method - but I am told that the POST method can be used to hide the part of the URL that is like this.
/data.php?parameter=1234
What is the actual difference of the two methods in terms of URL parameters?
Below is some code that fetches data from a database according to the id of a specific link
<?php
//This includes the variables, adjusted within the 'config.php file' and the functions from the 'functions.php' - the config variables are adjusted prior to anything else.
require('configs/config.php');
require('configs/functions.php');
//This is the actual interaction with the database, according to the id.
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM table WHERE id=" .$_GET['id'] . ";") or die("An error has occurred");
//This re-directs to an error page the user preventing them from viewing the page if there are no rows with data equal to the query.
if( mysql_num_rows($query) < 1 )
{
header('Location: 404.php');
exit;
}
//Here each cell in the database is fetched and assigned a variable.
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($query))
{
$id = $row['id'];
$title = $row['title'];
$month = $row['month'];
$day = $row['day'];
$photo = $row['photo'];
$text = $row['text'];
}
?>
On a separate page I generate links to the data.php file according to the ID like so:
<a href="post.php?id=<?php echo $content['id']; ?>"><?php echo $content['title']; ?></a>
Forgetting that there are potential SQL injections that can occur through the above code, how would I go about making use of the POST method in order to hide the URL parameters, or at least not display them like this:
http://example.com/data.php?id=1