How do you debug a "parse error"?

Gil

Is there a better way to debug "parse errors". It's seems such a vague error where the line number displayed is of no help. This is php 3.2.3/Apache/Mysql

Thank you,
Gil

// ------------------------ :
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xhtml1-20000126/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>
<title>Edit Quotes</title>

</head>
<body>

<?php

// Include the MySQL information:
require_once ("../db.php");
require_once ("../common.php");

if (!isset($ID)

{

$result = mysql_query("select * from tblQuotes LIMIT 80");

while($r = mysql_fetch_array($result))

{

	$ID=$r['quotes_id'];

	$author=$r['quotes_author'];

	$quote=$r['quotes_quote'];

	$lastModified=$r['quotes_lastModified'];

	<?php } ?>

<?php } ?>

<?php

if($cmd=="edit")

{

if (!$submit)

{

    $sql = "SELECT * FROM tblquotes WHERE quotes_ID=$ID";

    $result = mysql_query($sql);        

    $myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result);

num:<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" quoteID="num" VALUE="<?php echo $myrow["author"]; ?>" SIZE=30><br>

userName:<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" quoteID="userName" VALUE="<? echo $myrow["quote"]; ?>" SIZE=30><br>

password:<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" quoteID="password" VALUE="<?php echo $myrow["lastModified"]; ?>" SIZE=30><br>

</form>

<?php
}

	if($submit)

	{

			$sql = "UPDATE tblQuotes SET  quotes_ID='$ID',quotes_author='$author',quotes_quote='$quote',quotes_lastModified='$lastModified' WHERE quotes_ID=$ID";

			$result = mysql_query($sql);

			echo "Thank you! Information updated.";

	}

}

?>
</body>
</html>
// -----------------end---------------- :

cschotch

What's the parse error and what does it say exactly (ie line number too)

cgraz

Keep in mind that since you're using

// Include the MySQL information: 
require_once ("../db.php"); 
require_once ("../common.php");

, the line number php returns counts both of these included files. That's why the line number isn't helping you. You have to count the number of lines those two files have.

-- include.php --
a
b
c

d

page.php -
<?
hello

include ("include.php")

if the error is on line 6, that would be "c" from include.php.

But if you want help from the forum on discovering your parse error, you'll need to post the error, the line number, and all of your code (including any included files). I just glanced over your code quickly, but my guess is your parse error is in one of those included files.

Hope that helps.

Cgraz

Gil

I am just starting to put it together. So it is literally "every" line, blank, comments, html, php ...

Thanks for bearing with me on some very basic items.

Gil

// ------------db.php-------------- :
<?php // db.php

DEFINE (DB_USER, "webuser");
DEFINE (DB_PASSWORD, "ra11576902");
DEFINE (DB_HOST, "localhost");
DEFINE (DB_NAME, "thiscompany");
DEFINE (DB_CO, "Your Logo by LeftHand Productions, Inc.");

// Connect to MySQL
$db_Connection = mysql_connect(DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD)
or die('No Connection to database: ' . mysql_error());

// Select the Database
mysql_select_db(DB_NAME)
or die('Database not selected: ' . mysql_error());

?>
// ------------end-------------- :
// ------------common.php-------------- :
<?php // common.php

function error($msg) {
?>
<html>
<head>
<script language="JavaScript">

</script>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
<?
exit;
}
?>
// ----------------end---------------- :
// ----------------display.php---------------- :
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xhtml1-20000126/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>
<title>Edit Quotes</title>

</head>
<body>
<form action="display.php" method="post">
<?php

// Include the MySQL information:
require_once ("../db.php");
require_once ("../common.php");

if (!isset($ID)

{

$result = mysql_query("select * from tblquotes");

while($r = mysql_fetch_array($result))

{    

    $ID=$r["quotes_ID"];

    $author=$r["quotes_author"];

    $quote=$r["quotes_quote"];

    $lastModified=$r["quotes_lastModified"];

<?php } ?>

<?php } ?>

<?php

if($cmd=="edit")

{

if (!$submit)

{

    $query = "SELECT * FROM tblquotes WHERE quotes_ID=12";

    $query_result = mysql_query($query);        

    $myrow = mysql_fetch_array($query_result, MYSQL_ASSOC);

<font face="Vandana, Helvetica" size=4 color="blue"><center>Edit this Quotation:</center></font><br>

Author:<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="Author" VALUE="<?php echo $myrow['quotes_author']; ?>" SIZE=20><br>

Quotation: <textarea name="quote" rows="5" cols="40"><?php echo stripslashes($myrow['quotes_quote']);?>
</textarea> <br>

Updated:<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="lastModified" VALUE="<?php echo $myrow['quotes_lastModified']; ?>" SIZE=20><br>
</font>

<?php
} 

if($submit)

{

    $sql = "UPDATE tblquotes SET  quotes_author='$Author',quotes_quote='$quote' WHERE quotes_ID=$ID";

    $result = mysql_query($sql);

    echo "Thank you! Information updated.";

}

}

</body>
</html>
// -------------end------------ :

cgraz

and what is the parse error (with line number included)?

Cgraz

Gil

Parse error Parse error in /company_stuff/display.php on line 15

cgraz

Hmm. . .

Try changing db.php to

<?php // db.php 

$db_user = "webuser"; 
$db_password = "ra11576902"; 
$db_host = "localhost"; 
$db_name = "thiscompany"; 
$db_co = "Your Logo by LeftHand Productions, Inc."; 

// Connect to MySQL 
$db_Connection = mysql_connect($db_host, $db_user, $db_password) or die("No Connection to database: " . mysql_error()); 

// Select the Database 
mysql_select_db($db_name) or die("Database not selected: " . mysql_error()); 

?>

Not sure on this: can you concatenate using ' . ' . or must it be double quotes? " . " .

You had single, that may have been the problem, but I'm not sure on single vs. double quotes in that situation. I changed all the DEFINE part to straight variables to see if that fixes it.

Let me know how it goes. Might take some playing around.

Cgraz

anasazi

I'm getting: Parse error: parse error, expecting ','' or')'' in /web/web/doc/internal/wo-200/wo-240/CRUP/update.php on line 38 with update.php as
<?
if (!isset($valid_user))
{
header("Location: problem.php");
}

require("bookmark.php");
include("css.inc");
?>
snip
problem.php as
<?
require("bookmark.php");
include("css.inc");
bookmark.php as
<?
// We can include this file in all our files
// this way, every file will contain all our functions
require_once("config.php");
require_once("functions.php");
require_once("output.php");
?>
config.php as
<?
$dbuser = 'dwmartin'; // Database username

$dbhost = 'xxxx.blm.gov'; // Database hostname

$dbpass = 'CxxxxxX'; // Database password

$dbname = 'permit'; // Database name

$security_hash = "gfdhedgrgdffccgas45r45r43tsdgf"; // Change this string to something random

$prompt_for_delete = 1; // 0 = NO or 1 = YES
?>
and functions.php as
<?

function dbconnect()
{

     include("config.php");

     // Create Connection
     $connection = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);

     // Test Connection

My problem is I don't know what counts as a line so I don't know where 38 gets me.

Thanks,

Dan😕

cgraz

Geez! You include within your includes. 😉

<? 

function dbconnect() 
{ 

include("config.php"); 

// Create Connection 
$connection = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass); 

// Test Connection 
My problem is I don't know what counts as a line so I don't know where 38 gets me.

Where's your closing bracket for the function?

If that's not it, here's my suggestion. Replace

<? include("filename.php"); ?>

With the actual file. Copy and paste the code where the include would be, but comment it so you know which file is which (that way you can put everything back the way it was later. Then, run the whole script again, you'll get a parse error, then check that line and the surrounding lines for the parse error.

If that still doesn't work, email me through the forum (include your email) and I'll try to help.

Cgraz

ahundiak

cgraz is doing a fine job of debugging your script so I won't try to butt in.

However, I do want to say that it's a mistake to try and get several hundred lines of code scattered across several files to work in one gulp. Eventually, the syntax errors will be resolved but more than likely the program itself will not function as desired. There will be errors in the code itself.

I would suggest that you start a new file with just a few lines of code in it. Make sure you understand the code and make sure it runs. Then add a few more lines and test again. It may sound horribly inefficeint but at the end, you will have working code and an understanding of how it works.

Duey

Parse errors usually are difficult to debug as the error is little it could range from having a missing ";" or missing brackets ( either ")" or "}") if this is the case the line that it says the error has occured on is about 100% Incorrect as it thinks theres no "new line" there because it thinks the line has not finish when the error occures so you must look for the error with your eyes what i suggest it keeping all your scripts in small different files so you can easily locate the errors.

anasazi

Thanks greatly for the help and ideas from Cgraz, ahundiak, and Duey. I don't have it figured out quite yet. I will send the whole files. It is obvious, of course, just how new I am to this. I must confess that this is inherited code that I am attempting to rework and learn as I go. I had made the assumption that this was sound code because it worked. The MySQL data base ported from an "MS-Access" file was all in a single table and not even normalized to the first form. I've re-created a MySQL relational file with 7 tables. I believed that all I had to do was plug in the new table structure to the solid PHP code. I understand now that this PHP code is really rough. This is an actual prototype product that I'm wanting to use for RAD development with the end-users. I hope that I am not deceiving myself that I am learning alot!?!? Here is some of the pieces of the code that I think is relevant ( am hitting the 10000 character limit):

update.php

<?
if (!isset($valid_user))
{
header("Location: problem.php");
}

require("bookmark.php");
include("css.inc");
?>

<html>
<head>
<title>Inserting the data</title>
</head>

<? do_html_header();

$result6 = mysql_query("select * from applicant_tbl,
blm_office,
curation_tbl,
permit_table,
staff_tbl,
status_tbl,
stips_tbl where SERIALNO='$SERIALNO'");

if (mysql_num_rows($result6) < 1)
{
echo "<p>The serial number you provided does not exist in the database.</p>";
display_user_menu();
do_html_footer();
exit;
}

else
{
list($applicant_tbl.appID1, --snip, snip---
$stips_tbl.Report1, $stips_tbl.Report_date1) = mysql_fetch_row($result6));
$results10 = mysql_query("select permitid from applicant_tbl,
blm_office,
curation_tbl,
permit_table,
staff_tbl,
status_tbl,
stips_tbl where SERIALNO='$SERIALNO'");
list($permitid) = mysql_fetch_row($results10);

<table width="600" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" border="1" bgcolor="#6699CC" align="center">
<tr>
<td nowrap>
<label for="SERIALNO"><b>Serial No.</b></label>
</td>
<td>
<input type="text" size="40" name="SERIALNO" id="SERIALNO" value="<? echo $SERIALNO1; ?>">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap>
<label for="type"><b>Type</b></label>
</td>
<td>
<input type="text" size="40" name="permit_table.type" id="permit_table.type" value="<? echo $permit_table.type1; ?>">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap>
<label for="issued"><b>Date Issued</b></label>
</td>
<td>
<input type="text" size="40" name="permit_table.issued" id="permit_table.issued" value="<? echo $permit_table.issued1; ?>">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap>
<label for="fy"><b>FY</b></label>
</td>
<td>
<input type="text" size="40" name="permit_table.fy" id="permit_table.fy" value="<? echo $permit_table.fy1; ?>">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap>
<label for="applicant_tbl.First_Name"><b>Applicant First Name</b></label>
</td>
--snip, snip---
<tr>
<td nowrap>
<label for="stips_tbl.Report_date"><b>Report Due Date</b></label>
</td>
<td nowrap>
<input type="text" size="40" name="stips_tbl.Report_date" id="stips_tbl.Report_date" value="<? echo $stips_tbl.Report_date1; ?>">
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center" valign="center">
<input type="submit" value="Submit">   
<input type="reset" value=" Clear ">
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<input type="hidden" name="username" value="<? echo $username; ?>" />
<input type="hidden" name="permitid" value="<? echo $permitid; ?>" />
</form>

<?
}

// give menu of options
display_user_menu();
do_html_footer();
?>

</body>
</html>
--bookmark.php----

<?
// We can include this file in all our files
// this way, every file will contain all our functions
require_once("config.php");
require_once("functions.php");
require_once("output.php");
?>
--config.php--

<?
$dbuser = 'dwmartin'; // Database username

$dbhost = '127.0.0.1'; // Database hostname

$dbpass = 'xxxxxxxxxx'; // Database password

$dbname = 'permit'; // Database name

$security_hash = "gfdhedgrgdffccgas45r45r43tsdgf"; // Change this string to something random

$prompt_for_delete = 1; // 0 = NO or 1 = YES
?>

--functions.php--

function dbconnect()
{

// include("config.php");

/This below is the actual config.php file to replace the includethat is commented out above/
?>
<?
$dbuser = 'dwmartin'; // Database username

$dbhost = '127.0.0.1'; // Database hostname

$dbpass = 'xxxxxxx'; // Database password

$dbname = 'permit'; // Database name

$security_hash = "gfdhedgrgdffccgas45r45r43tsdgf"; // Change this string to something random

$prompt_for_delete = 1; // 0 = NO or 1 = YES
}
?>
/This above is the actual config.php file to replace the include that is commented out above/

     // Create Connection
     $connection = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
	 }

     // Test Connection
     if (!$connection)
     {
          echo "Error: Could not connect to database. Please try again later.";
          exit;
     }

     // Select Database
     $db = mysql_select_db($dbname, $connection);

     // Test Selection
     if (!$db) {
     echo "Couldn't select database!";
     exit;
     }

}

dbconnect();

function add_info($serial, $type, $issued, $fy, $activity, $applicant, $phone, $address, $city_state, $resp_person, $key_1, $key_2, $key_3, $key_4, $key_5, $start, $expiration, $denied, $repository, $rae, $rep_phone, $rep_address, $rep_city_state, $extention, $extended, $ext_expires, $authorized, $fo_1, $fo_2, $conditions, $reports, $report_date, $notified, $comments, $username)
{

     $result5 = mysql_query("select firstname,lastname,date from users where username='$username'");
     list($firstname,$lastname,$date) = mysql_fetch_row($result5);

     $addinfo = mysql_query("insert into permit_table values ('', '$serial', '$type', '$issued', '$fy', '$activity', '$applicant', '$phone', '$address', '$city_state', '$resp_person', '$key_1', '$key_2', '$key_3', '$key_4', '$key_5', '$start', '$expiration', '$denied', '$repository', '$rae', '$rep_phone', '$rep_address', '$rep_city_state', '$extention', '$extended', '$ext_expires', '$authorized', '$fo_1', '$fo_2', '$conditions', '$reports', '$report_date', '$notified', '$comments')");
     echo "<table align=\"center\" width=\"528\" border=\"3\">
       <tr>
         <td width=\"516\"><b>Message:</b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<b><font color=\"blue\">$firstname</font></b>, the information was entered successfully.</td>
       </tr>
     </table><br>";

}

function update_info($permitid, $serial, $type, $issued, $fy, $activity, $applicant, $phone, $address, $city_state, $resp_person, $key_1, $key_2, $key_3, $key_4, $key_5, $start, $expiration, $denied, $repository, $rae, $rep_phone, $rep_address, $rep_city_state, $extention, $extended, $ext_expires, $authorized, $fo_1, $fo_2, $conditions, $reports, $report_date, $notified, $comments, $username)
{
$updateinfo = mysql_query("update permit_table set serial='$serial', type='$type', issued='$issued', fy='$fy', activity='$activity', applicant='$applicant', phone='$phone', address='$address', city_state='$city_state', resp_person='$resp_person', key_1='$key_1', key_2='$key_2', key_3='$key_3', key_4='$key_4', key_5='$key_5', start='$start', expiration='$expiration', denied='$denied', repository='$repository', rae='$rae',
rep_phone='$rep_phone', rep_address='$rep_address', rep_city_state='$rep_city_state', extention='$extention', extended='$extended', ext_expires='$ext_expires', authorized='$authorized', fo_1='$fo_1', fo_2='$fo_2', conditions='$conditions', reports='$reports', report_date='$report_date', notified='$notified', comments='$comments' where permitid='$permitid'");
if ($updateinfo)
{
echo "<table width=\"528\" border=\"3\">
<tr>
<td width=\"516\"><b>Message:</b>    \"<font color=\"red\">$applicant</font>\" Information with serial #\"<font color=\"#FF0000\">$serial</font>\" has been updated!</td>
</tr>
</table><br>";
return 1;
}
else
return 0;
}

function delete_user($username)
{
include("config.php");
if($prompt_for_delete)
{
echo "Are you sure you want to delete the user \"<font color=\"#FF0000\">$username</font>\"?<br />";
echo "<a href=\"admin.php?op=deleteuserconf&username=$username\">Yes</a> <a href=\"admin.php\">No</a>";
}
else

Again thanks for bearing with this newbie, wanabe PHP programmer. So far I've been impressed by the PHP capabilities, but even more impressed with the PHP community.

Dan Martin :rolleyes:

Duey

im guessing you have run out of space but hers an error

function delete_user($username)
{
include("config.php");
if($prompt_for_delete)
{
echo "Are you sure you want to delete the user \"<font color=\"#FF0000\">$username</font>\"?<br />";
echo "<a href=\"admin.php?op=deleteuserconf&username=$username\">Yes</a> <a href=\"admin.php\">No</a>";
}
else

this function is not closed off with a "}"