[Resolved] variable problem in template

robsgaming

I've created a simple two-part template system. The template file, template.php and the page file, whatever.php. I'm having problems with a variable however. I'm trying to set $pageTitle... example of my coding is below:

template.php

<? 
function head(){ 
?> 
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">


<html>

<head>
<LINK REL=StyleSheet HREF="main.css" TYPE="text/css" MEDIA="screen">

<title><?=$pageTitle?></title>
<?
}
?>

and then file.php

<?
$pageTitle = "Hi there";
include("template.php");
head();
?>

<!--- BEGIN MODIFY --->
any text here is fine
<!--- END MODIFY --->

My question is, why doesn't $pageTitle, which i'm setting in file.php echo out in the template. It's not being set. If it's something to do with globals, how do I do it? I've tried everything.

Thanks in advance for any help.

zhabala

Because you are trying to print it out in the function body.
So you can define it as a global variable in the head function

global $pageTitle;

or you can print out

$GLOBALS['pageTitle']

or you have to pass it into as an parameter.

Zdenek

robsgaming

Thanks for the reply. The only thing I changed was the template.php file to this:

function head(){ 
$GLOBALS['pageTitle'];
echo "<title><?=$pageTitle?></title>";
}

....

But it still does not work.

zhabala

function head(){ 
    echo "<title>{$GLOBALS['pageTitle']}</title>"; 
}

robsgaming

just figured out thats what i need to do.

works fine.

is this a good method of coding?

zhabala

I think, that it is. Or you can use this one

echo "<title>{$GLOBALS['pageTitle']}</title>";

It depends on what is more readable for you.

robsgaming

Ok thanks a ton for the help. I really appreciate it.