Undefined Index

Hagaroo

I'm a learner and keep running into problems in the book I can't get to run correctly. Here's my latest, it has something to do with the declaration of a variable used in an fopen function:

CODE:

  

$DOCUMENT_ROOT = $HTTP_SERVER_VARS['DOCUMENT_ROOT'];

ERROR:

Notice: Undefined index: DOCUMENT_ROOT in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\processorder.php on line 8

CODE:

   

$fp = fopen("$DOCUMENT_ROOT/../orders/orders.txt", 'a');

flock($fp, LOCK_EX);

ERRORS:

Warning: fopen(/../orders/orders.txt) [function.fopen]: failed to create stream: No such file or directory in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\processorder.php on line 63

Warning: flock(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\processorder.php on line 65

Any light one of you extremely smart and helpful PHP experts can shed on my problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Brian

Mordecai

Hmm, that should work; I'm not quite sure why it doesn't.

Try using $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"] instead, but I fear you'll get the same error.

alanzhao

$fp = fopen("$DOCUMENT_ROOT/../orders/orders.txt", 'a');

All the errors were caused by this, you can't open file like this.

// either, absolute directory
$fp = fopen("$DOCUMENT_ROOT/some_dir_here/orders/orders.txt", 'a');

// or relative directory
$fp = fopen("../orders/orders.txt", 'a');

Mordecai

Originally posted by alanzhao
...You can't open file like this.

Sure you can. Take this an example:
c:\folder..\folder..\folder..\folder.. = c:\
The ".." just means "to parent directory" and can be place anywhere in the location. It's just a relative path.

Hagaroo

If all else looks good then, can I assume that if I created a subdirectory under the Inetpub/wwwroot directories (C:/Inetpub/wwwroot/orders) entitled orders that this script should work? The script itself is located in the C:/Intepub/wwwroot directory. And if the directory setup is correct, is it right to assume that the script will create the file orders.txt itself, if it does not exist? Once again I appreciate any and all constructive comments or assistance. Thanks!

dalecosp

If the script is in wwwroot, and so is the 'orders' folder, the path would be "orders/whateverfile.txt", wouldn't it? No big problem to find the correct path for that.

As for fopen(), believe it or not I can't remember...just a sec....

dalecosp

Provided the server has permission, fopen tries to create a nonextant file when called with "w", "w+", "a", and "a+", but not with "r" or "r+"... about as you'd expect, I reckon.... 🙂