Undefined variable: page_title in C:/foo

design

I have been frustrated by an error on my testing server. I am running PHP Version 4.3.4 on Apache and Windows XP. I have tried turning register_globals on and off, but that makes no difference. It may be due to a new version of PHP and the way it handles variables, but a solution has not been forthcoming on my own so here is the code:

On the index page:

<?php
$page_title = "Web Development Services - Design Delineations";
include ("http://" . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . "/foo/header.inc");
?>

In the header file:

<?php
if (!isset($page_title) || $page_title == "") { $page_title = $page_title['Design Delineations']; }
?>
<head><title><?php echo $page_title; ?></title>

What simple portion of the equation am I missing? Does anyone want to share the solution?

rachel2004

It looks like you may have written your code assuming register_globals = on which would explain why this part:

if (!isset($page_title) || $page_title == "") { $page_title = $page_title['Design Delineations']; }

isn't working.

If you haven't already, turn off register_globals in your php.ini.

Then use the superglobal $POST with your form submissions:

if (!isset($_POST['page_title']) || $_POST['page_title'] == "") { $page_title = $_POST['Design Delineations']; }

I don't know for sure if "page_title" or "Design Delineations" are form variables without looking at your actual form.

design

First, thanks Rachel for getting back so quickly! I think the globals issue is at the root of this. However, I'm still not getting it. Below is the revised code.

In the index.php file:

<?php

$page_title = "Web Development Services - Design Delineations";
@include ("http://" . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . "/foo/foo2.inc");
?>

In the header file:

<?php

if (!isset($POST['page_title']) || $POST['page_title'] == "") { $page_title = $POST['Design Delineations'] } else { $page_title = $POST['page_title']; }

?>
<head><title><?php echo $page_title; ?></title></head>

The above results in the same error as before.

It must be another small coding error is all I can imagine. Is the $_POST superglobal the correct one to use since I am not posting the data but merely calling it? Or do I need to add an action to post the data on all my main pages so that the header file can use it?

Thanks in advance!

LordShryku

Where is page title getting posted to? As far as I can see, you're setting it staticly. The "undefined variable" error stems from trying to do something with a variable that has not been defined. I think that's probably in your "or" statement. If it's not set, you'd be getting undefined variable when doing the check for == "". Try doing this instead, and see if it helps.

// replace this whopper
if (!isset($_POST['page_title']) || $_POST['page_title'] == "") { $page_title = $_POST['Design Delineations'] } else { $page_title = $_POST['page_title']; }

// with this
if(empty($page_title)) { 
   $page_title = 'Design Delineations';
}

rachel2004

Originally posted by design
Is the $POST superglobal the correct one to use since I am not posting the data but merely calling it?

If you're not posting, then I am steering you in the wrong direction with $POST. Thanks for catching that.

Okay, try the following in place of what you have right now:

if (!isset($page_title) || $page_title == "")
{
    echo"Inside of if conditional";
} 
else 
{
    echo"Inside of else coditional";
}

Let's find out if it's even doing a boolean of your $page_title variable.

design

Rachel:

The boolean must not be working since there is nothing echoed on the page other than the Undefined error. What next?

Thanks!

rachel2004

LordShryku made a worthy suggestion of checking where you've defined $page_title. I had assumed it was in the body of some other code, I wanted to verify first that with the echo statements. Where do you have it defined? Second question, in the area where it is defined, are you calling it in a different include() or require() statement. Your index.php or header.php need to be able to see the value that has been assigned to $page_title.

design

The body of index.php contains this which "should" define the variable and make it available to the include file. In fact, it does work on my production server, just not my testing server.

<?php
$page_title = 'Web Development Services - Design Delineations';
@include ("http://" . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']  . "/foo/header.inc");
?>

Then the header file calls the variable and echoes it in the title tag.

Thanks for helping me out on this enigma. Both of you have been very helpful!

rachel2004

Okay, I started typing up a suggestion, but see that LordShryku had already done it in his post.

Follow his suggestin on code replacement.

Post back what you see.

design

I have tried the Lord's suggestion but it had no effect. Then, I defined the variable and called it on the same page like this:

<?php $page_title = 'design delineations'; ?>
<title><?php echo $page_title; ?> </title>

I still get the same error. I'm sorry to have wasted your time. I'll have to look into how my PHP is set to handle variables. I'm completely confused but thank you profusely for your help!