Global variables not passed to include

[jcarver]

I've searched for a little while and even saw some Q&A's about it, but none satisfied me... Please take a look at this skeleton code and tell me what's wrong.
I'm trying to post a feedback form back to the same page, (The form and MySQL INSERT code are on the same include).

Here's the code: (I put some debug stuff in to see what was going on, I'll print out the output at the end)

[anypage.php]
<?
//UserID set up here...

yadda yadda: Whatever is on the page...

//DEBUG CODE
$fromAbove = "CAN";

//Feedback Form Include
include("http://www.bookbuoy.com/comment-submit.php?returnURL=$PHP_SELF");
//I'll explain the returnURL in the Included text
?>
[comment-submit.php]
<?

//DEBUG FOR SEVERAL LINES
//Is this global call wrong?
global $fromAbove;
if(!isset($fromAbove)) {
$fromAbove = "can't";
} //If the variable isn't passed to the include, set $fromAbove to "can't"
print "problem originated in $pointOfProblem<BR>";
print "I $fromAbove see variables inside includes...";

//FORM-PROCESS CODE
//Check if a feedback form was just submitted by seeing if a hidden variable from the form was set... And then insert into DB
if(isset($pointOfProblem) {
//Connect to database, this code is tried and true
include_once("http://www.bookbuoy.com/dbconnect.php");

$nextQuery = "INSERT INTO Comments (userID, CommentText, etc.) VALUES ('$uID', '$inquiryText', etc.)";

//DEBUG, this query seems to come out alright...
print $nextQuery;
mysql_query($nextQuery);

//Give the user confirmation of feedback
print "<BR><BR><I>Thank you for your feedback.</I>";

}

?>
<BR><BR>

<?//Some INPUT's screened?>
<FORM METHOD=post ACTION="http://www.bookbuoy.com<? echo $returnURL;?>">
<TABLE ALIGN=center BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><TEXTAREA WRAP=VIRTUAL NAME="inquiryText" COLS=28 ROWS=5></TEXTAREA><TD><INPUT TYPE=submit VALUE=Submit></TR>
</TABLE>
<?
/This is why I needed to pass that variable in, because when I just say PHP_SELF it gives me the comment-submit link instead of the original link... Better way to do this? Only a secondary problem... Because at least it works right now.../?>
<INPUT TYPE=hidden Name=pointOfProblem VALUE="<?echo $returnURL;?>">
<INPUT TYPE=hidden Name=refID VALUE=<?echo $uID;?>>
</FORM>

[DISPLAYED CODE AFTER SUBMIT]
yadda yadda page stuff...

problem originated in
I can't see variables inside includes...
/Meaning the variable wasn't passed to the included part, even after a global declaration.../

//And then, of course, the form is here...

/No entries have made it into the database... (except when I just open comment-submit.php on it's own, but then there's no include problem/

[kparker]

include("http://www.bookbuoy.com/....php?returnURL=$PHP_SELF");

Is this a local file? While it's possible to do this, it's usually not desirable, since the remote (or local, for that matter) server processes the file and all you get is the html inserted.

[jcarver]

Thanks for your reply!
It is local, I just wanted to make sure that I could copy this single include line into any page on the server and it would still point to the same page. Would it help to save it as a .inc file? I've never had to use one, what would the difference be? (I don't need to access the file directly as a php file)

[Anon]

you could always use the absolute file path if you want to do that...

[kparker]

See the manual page on include(): it shows you what works and what doesn't. Most of the time, you just want to include the php file as php code:

include('/full/path/to/file.php');

Any variables that exist already are visible to the include-file if you do this. More specifically, the php script acts as if it had been loaded from one big file. Nothing changes regarding variable scope: if a variable already exists, and you're not inside a function, the variable is visible to your code. Once you're inside a function definition, you have to include a 'global' statement to access any global variables, and this is true whether the function is defined inside the main file or inside the include-file.

[jcarver]

Thank you,
It sure seemed like I was doing everything you said above, but I was still having trouble. However, when I switched to a .inc file, it seemed to work fine. Is there a reason I wouldn't want to do this?

[kparker]

If you're accessing the file directly out of the filesystem (i.e. NOT via http) there is no difference. However, if you want to name it with an .inc extension, make sure you either (a) store it outside the webroot, or (b) configure your webserver to refuse to serve up files with the extension .inc. If you don't, then anybody else can also retrieve the source code for that file.

[jcarver]

Thanks! I'll do that 🙂. That's very helpful.