Define function with includes

drucifer

Ok, I'm writing a fairly big database site and I hope to use the model again in the future on other projects so am trying to 'include' a config file in which i am using 'define' to set a loads of contants across the site. Now I have this config.php included at the beginning of my default.php and if I 'echo' defined items in this file they come out fine - however, when I then include other files in the default.php after this that also reference the 'defined' constants they don't come out - it's like it works across one level but not beyond that yet I have seen examples of this working previously....can anyone explain why my constants are being 'forgotting'?

matto

did you forget to declare them global when being accessed from within functions?

$DBNAME = 'customers';

function getdata($astring)
{
  global $DBNAME;

  // ...
}

drucifer

Thought it might help to give examples of code i'm using so here goes.

THIS WORKS:

config.php has this code:
<?define('TITLE', 'MY DATABASE '); ?>

default.php has the code:
<? INCLUDE "config.php"; ?>
<? echo TITLE; ?>

HOWEVER THIS DOESN'T WORK:

default.php has the code:
<? INCLUDE "config.php"; ?>
<? INCLUDE "header.php"; ?>

header.php has the code:
<? echo TITLE; ?>

drucifer

Nopes, didn't do that, so form the example I just posted where does that work into it? Sorry, brain is a bit fried and want to make sure on how I apply this...

the_Igel

global applies to variables, not constants. Constants are global by definition.
The problem seems really strange. Are you sure you do includes in right order?..

drucifer

yeah, they're definitely in the right order, and like i say they are defining fine in the default page then as soon as I put them in another include it all fauls apart again.....it just reads the echo literally and actually outputs 'TITLE'....tearing my hair out as i thought constants were supposed to make everything simple..

the_Igel

And what about warnings? Set error_reporting(E_ALL), hope it'll show smth interesting.

drucifer

Done, and there were no warnings or errors

the_Igel

No ideas. Maybe you will post your sources or publish 'em somewhere, so that I (and everybody interested) can read them and try them.
Put I don't know, will I find the bug or not.

_SuperString

Sure is a strange one - what about using the constant() function to access them, its worth a try.

echo constant("TITLE");

drucifer

OK, well i've found that I can get it too work but i need to tell you the whole story as the code I submitted earlier was a simplified version and it is in this that the problem lays....I was actually defining the location of the second include file in the config file (see below) but i still don't see why this doesn't work, as it DOES work if I type the full source location...It is worth noting though that when using the constant to find header.php, it did still 'include' it with no errors, just didn't pass on the constants!?!?

This wasn't working:

config.php has this code:
<?define('TITLE', 'MY DATABASE '); ?>
<?define('INCLUDE_FILE, 'includes/header.php '); ?>

default.php has the code:
<? INCLUDE "config.php"; ?>
<? INCLUDE INCLUDE_FILE; ?>

header.php has the code:
<? echo TITLE; ?>

This does work:

config.php has this code:
<?define('TITLE', 'MY DATABASE '); ?>
<?define('INCLUDE_FILE, 'header.php '); ?>

default.php has the code:
<? INCLUDE "config.php"; ?>
<? INCLUDE "header.php"; ?>

header.php has the code:
<? echo TITLE; ?>

the_Igel

Are you sure header.php was really included? I didn't understand, is it located in includes/ folder or in the root.
And in first case you address to it as if it's in folder, in seconds - as if in root. And include() isn't require(), so it isn't considered that serious when include file isn't found.

drucifer

sorry, i realise I'm being very confusing....the include file is in another folder, but I have tried putting other things in the include file just to check and it definately includes it when the file is defined by the constant....which is why it's so odd that the constants are then not defned by the time it has been included...