Altering an object via a user-defined function

[mmoranuk]

I'm trying to make changes to an object via a user-defined function but it doesn't appear to update the object.

I have my main code which creates a pdf object (using ezpdf etc). I am writing generic graphing functions to include in my pdf. Therefore I want to build a library /lib/graph_functions.php to be used in the main script via a 'require'. Here is a snippet of the main script:

require ('../lib/graph_functions.php');
$pdf =& new Cezpdf(); 
$all = $pdf->openObject(); 
$pdf->saveState(); 
build_graph_type1($pdf);

My function snippet is:

function build_graph_type1 ($pdf) {
$pdf->addText(10, 10,12,"Hello");
}

The pdf works fine but anything I do to the pdf in the function build_graph_type1() doesn't appear to have an effect on the original pdf object. What I want to do is pass the pdf variable as a reference to the original object and then make changes to it in my function. Is this possible? Am I making a copy of the object by mistake? Do I need to assign a reference to a new variable?

Any help would be great....

[mrhappiness]

Originally posted by mmoranuk
What I want to do is pass the pdf variable as a reference to the original object and then make changes to it in my function. Is this possible?

Yes 😉

[mmoranuk]

Bingo!

function build_graph_type1 ($pdf) { 
$pdf->addText(10, 10,12,"Hello"); 
$GLOBALS["pdf"] =& $pdf;
}

Works fine now - thanks for the pointer 😉

[mrhappiness]

i mysqlf thought youwould use

function build_graph_type1 (&$pdf) {
$pdf->addText(10, 10,12,"Hello");
}

since this works even if the var outside the function is not named $pdf 😉

[mmoranuk]

even better - everyday is a schoolday!