Reference Out of Function Variable?

slevytam

Hi,

Could someone tell me how I could reference a variable that is outside a function?

I have these three lines of code
$pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',10);
$pdf->Cell(55,4,$name,'B',0,'L');
$pdf->Ln(10);

The problem is that when I put them in a function they not longer work because $pdf becomes a local instance...

ie.
function heading($name){
$pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',10);
$pdf->Cell(55,4,$name,'B',0,'L');
$pdf->Ln(10);
}

Thanks!

diego25

Use

function heading(&$pdf, $name) {
  // your code
}

And so every time you use heading(), you need to pass the $pdf variable as well.

The reason you need & before $pdf is because otherwise it's a copy of the object that's passed into the function (but I believe that's going to change in PHP 5)

Diego

maqmus

Why not ?

function heading($name){ 
global $pdf;
$pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',10); 
$pdf->Cell(55,4,$name,'B',0,'L'); 
$pdf->Ln(10); 
}

laserlight

diego25's suggestion is better, as it avoids polluting the namespace with mysterious global variables.

slevytam

Great! Thanks

I had tried the global method but due to a typo it didn't work. I think I'll use the function parameter method though... Seems to be cleaner.

Thanks,
SL