$_GET now required ???

dmayo2

Good day.
Suddenly my scripts became broken and I narrowed it down to the way vars are accessed. Here's the issue:

file.php?ID=12

I know it's not the best coding practice, but I'd reference this var in my code as:
$ID
I no longer can. It has to be:
$_GET["ID"]

That's fine and dandy going forward, but I just did a search and I have over 257 pages to touch to fix. Uggg. It doesn't appear that the Apache nor PHP packages have been updated recently nor has the php.ini file.

What could have changed to cause this new strict var referencing?

And more importantly, how can I relax that requirement so I at least have some time to go fix all the pages.

Thanks.

maybl8r03

It's more difficult to debug (because the variable scope rules are vague) a script as well as a security risk to use global variables - good example is if you have global variables set to true, and you have a $bAuthenticated flag that gives the user the level he or she belongs to, the user could easilly slip in a ?bAuthenticated=9 which will populate your security variable if you are not careful with the program logic.

But if you need something to hold you during your transitional period, try "register_globals" - search for it in the PHP manual.

dalecosp

Originally posted by dmayo2
It doesn't appear that the Apache nor PHP packages have been updated recently nor has the php.ini file.

Seems strange. You should, at the very least, read a tad about register_globals, because you almost have to make the change at some point. However, if the server config hasn't been touched, you do have quite a riddle on your hands, as well as the problem of a broken site.

What could have changed to cause this new strict var referencing?

If php.ini hasn't changed, and PHP itself hasn't changed, the other places I'd look are httpd.conf and any .htaccess files in your webdirs. But I'd think you'd know about this ... what does phpinfo() say now?

And more importantly, how can I relax that requirement so I at least have some time to go fix all the pages.

Thanks.

Well, as mentioned, this is the register_globals issue (FAQ). But it still seems strange that it's happened to you if your statements above are correct.

Hmm, do you use auto_prepend or have a common include()d file on all pages? Include something like this at the top of each page ...

foreach ($_REQUEST as $key=>$value) {
   echo $$key=$value;
   }

or use one of the several other tricks out there...

HTH,