My Variable Becomes Null After Pressing the Search Button!!

Stevenm2k3

I'm creating a search without using mySQL, partly becuz i dont feel like taking the time to figure it out, and another part is that its easier for me to edit my information my way. Well. I finally got my search working..... on my computer... well i go to upload it and then when I search for something one of my variables comes up null instead of what it is suposed to be.

here is my code... i know its a lil shabby and rough... but im still workin on it (the problem is in red):

[FONT=courier new]<?php

$ftitle = "html/title.jss";
$fsidebar = "html/sidebar.jss";
$fbody = "html/body.jss";
$ffooter = "html/footer.jss";

$topen = fopen($ftitle, "r");
$title = fread($topen, filesize/COLOR);

$sopen = fopen($fsidebar, "r");
$sidebar = fread($sopen, filesize/COLOR);

$bopen = fopen($fbody, "r");
$body = fread($bopen, filesize/COLOR);

print "<html>";
print $title;
print $sidebar;

$file = "inventory/item.file";
$open = fopen($file, "r");
$contents = fread($open, filesize/COLOR);
$item = explode( "\n", $contents);
$itemcount = count/COLOR;
$searchwords = $_GET[ "keywords"];

$p=0;
$s=0;

for ($a=0;$a<$itemcount;$a++)
{
$x=0;
$value[$a] = explode( ":", $item[$a]);
$keywordcount = count/COLOR;

    [B]for[/B] ($[COLOR=teal]b[/COLOR]=[COLOR=blue]0[/COLOR];$[COLOR=teal]b[/COLOR]<$[COLOR=teal]keywordcount[/COLOR];$[COLOR=teal]b[/COLOR]++)
    {
            $[COLOR=teal]keywords[/COLOR][$[COLOR=teal]a[/COLOR]] = [COLOR=teal]explode[/COLOR]([COLOR=darkred] ";"[/COLOR], $[COLOR=teal]value[/COLOR][$[COLOR=teal]a[/COLOR]][[COLOR=blue]5[/COLOR]]);
    }

    $[COLOR=teal]keywordscount[/COLOR] = [COLOR=teal]count[/COLOR]($[COLOR=teal]keywords[/COLOR][$[COLOR=teal]a[/COLOR]]);

    [B]for[/B] ($[COLOR=teal]c[/COLOR]=[COLOR=blue]0[/COLOR];$[COLOR=teal]c[/COLOR]<$[COLOR=teal]keywordscount[/COLOR];$[COLOR=teal]c[/COLOR]++)
    {
            $[COLOR=teal]userentry[/COLOR] = [COLOR=teal]explode[/COLOR]([COLOR=darkred] " "[/COLOR], $[COLOR=teal]searchwords[/COLOR]);
            $[COLOR=teal]userentrycount[/COLOR] = [COLOR=teal]count[/COLOR]($[COLOR=teal]userentry[/COLOR]);

            [B]for[/B]($[COLOR=teal]d[/COLOR]=[COLOR=blue]0[/COLOR];$[COLOR=teal]d[/COLOR]<$[COLOR=teal]userentrycount[/COLOR];$[COLOR=teal]d[/COLOR]++)
            {
                 [B]if[/B] ([COLOR=teal]preg_match[/COLOR]([COLOR=darkred] "/\b$userentry[$d]\b/i"[/COLOR], $[COLOR=teal]keywords[/COLOR][$[COLOR=teal]a[/COLOR]][$[COLOR=teal]c[/COLOR]]))

// $keywords is the variable that becomes null, ironicly the most improtaint variable in the whole code.

$x++;
}
}

    [B]if[/B] ($[COLOR=teal]p[/COLOR]>[COLOR=blue]1[/COLOR])
    {
    	[B]print[/B] [COLOR=darkred] "</table><table width=100% border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td width=200 background=html/images/sidebg.gif valign=top align=left rowspan=4> "[/COLOR];
    	$[COLOR=teal]p[/COLOR]=[COLOR=blue]0[/COLOR];
    }

    [B]if[/B] ($[COLOR=teal]x[/COLOR]>[COLOR=blue]0[/COLOR])
    {
            $[COLOR=teal]pattern[/COLOR][[COLOR=blue]0[/COLOR]] =[COLOR=darkred]  "/%%invnum%%/"[/COLOR];
            $[COLOR=teal]pattern[/COLOR][[COLOR=blue]1[/COLOR]] = [COLOR=darkred] "/%%category%%/"[/COLOR];
            $[COLOR=teal]pattern[/COLOR][[COLOR=blue]2[/COLOR]] =[COLOR=darkred]  "/%%name%%/"[/COLOR];
            $[COLOR=teal]pattern[/COLOR][[COLOR=blue]3[/COLOR]] = [COLOR=darkred] "/%%description%%/"[/COLOR];
            $[COLOR=teal]pattern[/COLOR][[COLOR=blue]4[/COLOR]] =[COLOR=darkred]  "/%%price%%/"[/COLOR];
            $[COLOR=teal]pattern[/COLOR][[COLOR=blue]5[/COLOR]] = [COLOR=darkred] "/%%keywords%%/"[/COLOR];
            [COLOR=teal]ksort[/COLOR] ($[COLOR=teal]pattern[/COLOR]);
            [COLOR=teal]ksort[/COLOR] ($[COLOR=teal]value[/COLOR]);

            $[COLOR=teal]replacebody[/COLOR] = ([COLOR=teal]preg_replace[/COLOR]($[COLOR=teal]pattern[/COLOR], $[COLOR=teal]value[/COLOR][$[COLOR=teal]a[/COLOR]], $[COLOR=teal]body[/COLOR]));
            [B]print[/B] $[COLOR=teal]replacebody[/COLOR];

            $[COLOR=teal]p[/COLOR]++;
            $[COLOR=teal]s[/COLOR]++;
    }

    [B]if[/B] ($[COLOR=teal]p[/COLOR]>[COLOR=blue]1[/COLOR])
    {
            [B]print[/B] [COLOR=darkred] "<td width=* valign=top align=left rowspan=4><p>&nbsp;</p></td>"[/COLOR];
    }

}

if ($p>0)
{
print "<td width=* valign=top align=left rowspan=4><p> </p></td>";
}

$fopen = fopen($ffooter, "r");
$footer = fread($fopen, filesize/COLOR);
print $footer;
print "</html>";
?>[/FONT]

All I need is the answer to my problem, please do not critisize my code or tell me what I can do better. Thanx

racing_fire

To start off, is $keywords a variable from the form that was submitted?

cgraz

You call $_GET['keywords']

then just $keywords

That seems like there's a little interference going on. If one is in the URL and you're calling it using $_GET, why are you calling the other one using just $keywords. Is this the same variable? Or is the second one from your form? What is the method on yoru form set to? GET or POST?

As racing_fire mentioned, we have no idea which variables are coming from your form, but make sure you use the superglobals $GET and $POST. This may be why you're losing the values.

Cgraz

Stevenm2k3

The problem isn't in that. $keywords is an array in information that comes from my item.file. My code does as follows:

Ignoring most of the code at the begining (all it does it print my html that i have set in seperate files, its easier for editing.)

when you get the the line $file = "item.file", from there it opens the item file which looks something like this.

Example:
0001:item:item 1:This is a test item:15.95:cat, dog, cats, dogs
0002:item:item 2:This is a test item:14.32:bird, mouse, birds, mice

What it stands for:
COLOR=teal : ($category) : ($name) : ($description) : ($price) : ($keywords)[/COLOR]

It then takes the item.file and explodes the information into the array $item. It them explodes each item in an the array $value, resulting in $value[item][value]. It then takes the 5th array(which is the keywords) in $value for each item and sets it to the array $keywords, resulting in $keywords[item][keywords](this is the information that isnt being set). It then takes the $searchwords (which was defined earlyer as $_GET["keywords"]. Ignore the fact that it says keywords... it could be boobs for all i care.) The code then explodes $searchwords in to $userentry(this was my solution for mutiple word searches). It then takes each $userentry and comparies it to each $keywords, if i finds a match it prints all the informantion on the page by replacing stings i have set in one of my html pages.

So utimatly its searches the item.file for words in the seach and then it prints the results on to the page displaying the name, the description, a picture, and the price.