Variable Variables - Not Working

[twilson]

Here's the code I'm working with:

$I = 1;
    while ($I <= $_SESSION[zip_fields]) {
            echo "<TR>
               			<TD ALIGN=CENTER>
               				#$I
               			</TD>
               			<TD ALIGN=CENTER COLSPAN=2>";

           			$Name = "ot[Zip$I]";
           			$Value = "${$Name}";

           			Form_Text($Name,$Value,11,11);

           		echo "$Value</TD>
           			<TD ALIGN=CENTER>";

           			$Name = "ot[Total$I]";
           			$Value = ${$Name};

           			Form_Text($Name,$Value,5,20);

           		echo "</TD>
           		</TR>
           		<TR>
           			<TD COLSPAN=4 BGCOLOR=#AAAAAA>
           			</TD>
           		</TR>";

           		$I++;
}

The Form_Text function just makes a standard form text field. The $Name part is working, but when I fill it out and submit it, it does not refill the value. Other fields outside of this loop are working correctly.

I got the idea of doing it this way from this page:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.variables.variable.php

If anyone knows what the hell I'm doing wrong I'd be very appreciative.

Thanks,
Tom

[HalfaBee]

This is your problem.

$Value = "${$Name}";

It shouldn't be in a string.

$Value = $$Name;

[twilson]

I thought that also right after I posted, but it doesn't work either. Just a side note, if I echo out $ot[Zip1] after I submit the form, it does show up.

To quote notes from the PHP site:

$varname = "foo"; 
$foo = "bar"; 

print $$varname;  // Prints "bar" 
print "$$varname";  // Prints "$foo" 
print "${$varname}"; // Prints "bar"

Thanks,
Tom

[jshowe]

I am having similar problems with variable variables...

Can you not do this? :

$varname = "foo";

$foo = "bar";

$foobar = "FOOBAR";

print $$varname; // Prints "bar"
print "$$varname"; // Prints "$foo"
print "${$varname}"; // Prints "bar"
print "$foo{$foo}"; //

Can you have the second variable resolve to be apart of the first's name?

[jshowe]

Well,

print "$foo{$foo}"; //Prints barbar....

so I found that If I want to evaluate it as $foobar and have it print FOOBAR, I need to do the following:

$varname = "foo";
$foo = "bar";
$foobar = "FOOBAR";

$newvar = foo. $foo //it gets $foo and adds it to the end of foo

(i.e. foobar) and stores it in $newvar!

print $$newvar; //It evaluates $newvar and returns foobar then evaluates $foobar and returns FOOBAR! COOL!

-Scott

[kevinsequeira]

cleaning up ure code a bit

<?php
$I = 1;
while ($I <= $_SESSION[zip_fields]) {
  echo "<TR><TD ALIGN=CENTER>#".$I."</TD><TD ALIGN=CENTER COLSPAN=2>";
  $Name = "ot[Zip".$I."]";
  $Value = $$Name;
		echo $Name." is ".$Value." ,";
  Form_Text($Name,$Value,11,11);
  echo $Value."</TD><TD ALIGN=CENTER>";
  $Name = "ot[Total."$I."]";
  $Value = $$Name;
		echo $Name." is ".$Value."<BR>";		
  Form_Text($Name,$Value,5,20);
  echo "</TD></TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=4 BGCOLOR=#AAAAAA></TD></TR>";
  $I++;
}
?>

what happens ?
reg
kevin

[YappyDog]

Looks like the real problem is a missing dollar sign ($) on the following line (it's in there twice). You shouldn't need the quotes around your array either.

$Name = "ot[Zip".$I."]";

So it should be:

$Name = $ot["Zip".$I];

[twilson]

Kevin: Nope 🙁 You basically re-wrote exactly what I have at the moment. It was worth a try though...

Yappy: That would make $Name equal to the value of $ot[Zip1] but $Name is supposed to be "ot[Zip1]" and $Value is supposed to equal the value of $ot[Zip1].

I need $Name to be the name of the field, and $Value to be the current value of the field if the person submitted it with a value in it.

I think I'm going to write someone over at PHP.net and see if this is even possible to do with an array.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated though.

Thanks,
Tom