Undefined variable troubles

liamrw

I've written a handful of php files that grab input in another page's form, then e-mail it or write to file, without problem.
Until now, and I don't understand why.
When trying to process the form, I get a browser full of lines like these:

Notice: Undefined variable: desc in e:\Inetpub\wwwroot\phptest\calprocess.php on line 2

Notice: Undefined variable: title in e:\Inetpub\wwwroot\phptest\calprocess.php on line 3

Here's the PHP for those lines:

<?php
$desctext = stripslashes($desc);
$title2 = $title;

Here's the HTML from the page it's pulling it from:

<form method="post" action="calprocess.php" name="form1" class="body">
<table width="315" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td width="120" class="body">EVENT TITLE:</td>
<td width="195"><input name="title" type="text" size="25"></td>
</tr>
<td><textarea name="desc" rows="4" id="textarea"></textarea></td>
</tr>

It all seems pretty straightforward. I don't understand why I get the errors.

Thanks for any help!!
Liam

mrmufin

Your script assumes that all variables ($title, $desc) are registered globally. This is a bad assumption to make.

Rather, use the variable from the $HTTP_POST_VARS array:

$desctext = stripslashes($HTTP_POST_VARS["desc"]);
$title2 = $HTTP_POST_VARS["title"];

If you're using PHP version 4.1 or higher, you can alternatively use $_POST instead of $HTTP_POST_VARS.

Have fun...

liamrw

OK, I understand that theory/concept.
Using 4.2.2, but tried it both ways and now get errors like this:

Notice: Undefined variable: desc in e:\Inetpub\wwwroot\phptest\calprocess.php on line 2

Notice: Undefined index: in e:\Inetpub\wwwroot\phptest\calprocess.php on line 2

Notice: Undefined variable: title in e:\Inetpub\wwwroot\phptest\calprocess.php on line 3

Notice: Undefined index: in e:\Inetpub\wwwroot\phptest\calprocess.php on line 3

Here's an example of how I did it:
<?php
$desctext = stripslashes($HTTP_POST_VARS[$desc]);
$title2 = $_POST[$title];

Thanks!
Liam

liamrw

I just noticed I still had strings in the variable lines. So I took 'em out and now get:

Notice: Use of undefined constant desc - assumed 'desc' in e:\Inetpub\wwwroot\phptest\calprocess.php on line 2

Notice: Use of undefined constant title - assumed 'title' in e:\Inetpub\wwwroot\phptest\calprocess.php on line 3

Updated PHP:
<?php
$desctext = stripslashes($HTTP_POST_VARS[desc]);
$title2 = $_POST[title];

Thanks again!
=)
Liam

edwardsbc

$desctext = stripslashes($HTTP_POST_VARS['desc']); 
$title2 = $_POST['title'];

Note the single quotes (double would work too). The warning you are getting means that without quotes desc is being interpreted as a constant (alias) for another value, but no constant definition can be found. Fortunately, PHP decides you must have meant it to be a string and treats it that way. But to get you to correct your coding it issues the warning. If you have warnings turned off, you wont see it.

liamrw

AH! The quotes! Of course!
OK, that worked. But, what I don't get, is I've had quite a few PHP pages that I didn't have to do that to that worked fine. Why would it change?

On a different issue, after fixing that problem (thanks guys!) it would print out weird gibberish that looked like machine code.
But that was when I had multiple items on the same line like this:

$info .= "<br>" & $POST['time'] & "<br>Room: " & $POST['room'];

After replacing the ampersands with new lines, all is well.
I guess I'm too used to ASP, but is there a way in PHP to do like the above instead of what I have to do to make it work?

$info .= $POST["time"];
$info .= "<br>Room: ";
$info .= $POST["room"];

Thanks!!!
Liam

frigidman

Your previous phps that worked, may have been on a server with notice warnings turned off? Just a thought. Because if "error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE" ... which is default setting for most PHP installs, then those notices do not show up. May want to check that.

frigidman

$info .= "<br>" & $POST['time'] & "<br>Room: " & $POST['room'];

After replacing the ampersands with new lines, all is well.
I guess I'm too used to ASP, but is there a way in PHP to do like the above instead of what I have to do to make it work?

$info .= $POST["time"];
$info .= "<br>Room: ";
$info .= $POST["room"];

You could do that as this too:

$info .= "<br>" . $POST['time'] . "<br>Room: " . $POST['room'];

The & symbol gets a bit ... tricky in places 😉