question about globals

sfullman

Hi There,

I have designed a recursive function that takes a fairly array and directs the output of the next page. It returns a processID value which corresponds to a page. This page is then included.

I really need to make EVERY variable available to this function. I don't want to hand code:

global $variable1;
global $variable2;
..
..
global $variable 100;

because I'll be coming up with new variables.

1) How do I make ALL global within only one function.

2) will this globalize the vairables for all of the other functions? (which I obviously don't want to do).

Sincerely,
Sam Fullman
Compass POint Media

eriksmoen

try creating a file just for variables. eg vars.(inc|txt|etc).

include("vars.txt");

into your script. ANY of these variables that are going to be changed within a function should be set to global. eg:

vars.txt:
$this = "this";
$that = "that";

$num = 0;

test.php:

<?
include("vars.txt");

halb(); // this ONLY changes the variable within the function.
echo "this -> $this<BR>that -> $that<BR>num -> $num";
//returns "this -> this
// that -> that
// num -> 0

blah(); // this changes the variable for the rest of the script.
echo "this -> $this<BR>that -> $that<BR>num -> $num";
//returns "this -> hoo ha!
// that -> that
// num -> 0

function halb(){
$this = "hoo ha!";
}

function blah(){
global $this;
$this = "hoo ha!";
}

hope that helps explain things... if not, well... i tried...

Sxooter

You should rethink your design. Maybe an array would help?

$val[]=val;
$val[]=val2;
...
$val[]=$val99;

function bubba(){
global $val;
}

tomhath

Two good suggestions so far. Here's another (judge for yourself whether it's good 😉 )

Put all the variables and functions into a class and create an object. That way the variables are "global" to the class methods (using $this->variable1). And you don't have to worry about other side effects or variable name collisions. Encapsulating data and logic is one of the main ideas behind OOP:

http://www.phpbuilder.com/manual/language.oop.php

Sxooter

Yes on the OO recommendation. I've found it much easier to keep track of large data sets in an object than in simple arrays.