[Resolved] problems with arrays

[JLW]

I am trying to store information into an array but it is a little more complicated than just that. I have a shopping cart, part of it is in Flash, the user can customize the item/s they are ordering, then there items are added to the shopping cart which is written in PHP. I have a file that posts the variables from the flash file. From there I want to call a function that will store the information into an array.
This is where it is getting complicated for me. There is no way of knowing how many items they are adding.
Each time I call the function I need it to go through the items in the array until it reaches the end and then add the item to the end of the array.
So, what if nothing has been stored in the array? If it is the first item then the array has nothing in it, so how do I check for this? And also since I do not know the values I can't declare the array equal to something or give it a set size. Do I need to initialize the array?

[stolzyboy]

set an array

$name = array();

then you can use [man]array_push[/man] to add items to the end of an array

[JLW]

Thanks so much for your help! I think I am on the right track.

I just have another question. I want to print out the items in the array, but I think array_pop() removes the items, so should I use the current() and next() functions to iterate through the array or should I use each()?
Thanks again,
June

[stolzyboy]

yes array_pop does just that, pops an element off the end of an array, and yes, i would probably use the current and next methods over the each method...

[drawmack]

that's a matter of style

assuming you have a multidimensional array
foreach method:

<?php
foreach(array_keys($cart) as $id) {
  //print each  element referring to the elements
  //as $cart[$id]['item'];
} //end foreach
?>

assuming you have a multidimensional array
current --> next method

<?php
while(current($cart) !== false) {
   $cur_item = current($cart):
  //print each element referring to the elements
  //as $cur_item['item']
  next($cart);
} //end while
reset($cart);

I'd use the first method, I think it's less overhead.

[JLW]

I tried this:

$ItemList = array();

and I get an error it says call to undefined function.

What could this be?

[JLW]

Please disregard the last question, my webhost was having issues. Thanks guys, you've been a great help. Have a great day!!