passing variables as arguments

[achilles]

Hello,

having trouble passing variables and functions as arguments to php functions eg

I define the function below which writes a table the table has a header in the first row which contains the $title, and $article in the next row that provides the article or content.

The code is as follows.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
function print_right_holder($title , $article )
{

	$art_holder = "<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"5\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100\">
		<tr>
			<td height=\"20\" bgcolor=\"000033\" class=\"right_headers\" align=\"center\"><p><font color=\"ffffff\" size=\"2\" face=\"verdana,arial,helvetica\">" . $title . "</font></p></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td height=\"100\"  background=\"zimages/rgt_bg.gif\" class=\"right_body\" valign=\"top\" align=\"center\">"
			 . $article . "</td>
		</tr>
	</table>";

	print($art_holder);

}

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The function accepts normal arguments however when we try to pass variables as arguments we have a problem eg
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
print_right_holder("Virus Downloads", "" );
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

works perfectly, but passing the external variable (external to the function) $joinus_01 doesn't work ie
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
print_right_holder("Join Us", $joinus_01 );
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Why not, how will it and if not what are my work arounds?

[[deleted]]

Do you get any errors of just an empty field where the value of $joinus_01 should be?

[achilles]

just an empty field where the contents of $joinus_01 should be.

[[deleted]]

And ofcourse you have printed the $joinus_01 variable before you pass it to the function and directly after passing it to the function to see if the variable itself contains anything?

in pseudo code:

<?

do stuff

$joinus_01="hello there";
echo "JOINUS BEFORE: $joinus_01";
the_function($joinus_01);

do more stuff

?>

and in the function:

function the_function(a)
{
echo "JOINUS AFTER: $a";

do the rest

};