parse error coding question.

el_kab0ng

Without going into too much detail right out of the barn, I'd like to explain an error I'm getting (for what appears to be no logical reason) in the hopes someone can help a brutha out.

I have an intro page that includes both a header and a footer in the form of:

<?
include("./inc/header.php");
?>
page contents
<?
include("./inc/footer.php");
?>

The header file contains require statements and some mysql code that I use to ensure that if a $visitor exists in the db, they can see the intro page.. if not, they get redirected to the login page.

require("/path/to/config.php");
require("/path/to/html.php");

if ($visitor){
mysql code here ending with the following statement:
$row = mysql_fetch_array($sql_result);
?>

Then html header content such as title, styles, etc.

The bottom of my intro page (the footer.php) has the redirect statement in the form of:

<? } else {
header( "Location: https://www.mydomain.com/login.php");
exit; // don't output anything else
}
?>

The problem I'm seeing is a parse error expecting a } on line 154 of the header page. If you put all three pages back together without the include statements, the thing works fine. Why would breaking them apart into 3 separate pieces cause an unexpected $end error?

bpat1434

Okay, you're probably missing either a closing bracket, or line ending. You'd need to post the code of the header file for us to see....

el_kab0ng

Here's the header file:

<?
if ($visitor){
$sql = "select * from users where user='$visitor'";
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost", "db", "secret")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server.");
$db = mysql_select_db("db", $connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database.");
$sql_result = mysql_query($sql)
or die("Couldn't execute query.");
$row = mysql_fetch_array($sql_result);
?>

<html>
<head>
<title>W00t!</title>
<body>
Content goes here

That's pretty much it.. As you can see, the if $visitor sets up the conditional which does not get closed until the footer.

bpat1434

okay, so what is line 154, and what's aroudn it?

if 154 is the end of the file, you need to close the if() statement.... otherwise that error will show up.

el_kab0ng

Right..but maybe I'm not making myself clear.

I have 3 pages...

header.php
content.php
footer.php

content.php calls both header.php and footer.php via include statements.

header.php has the if $visitor conditional, whereas footer.php closes the if loop.

It seems as though because I broke the pieces out into three pages, the "if" loop that started in the header.php file expects to be closed in the header.php file rather than reading in content and footer for instructions.

Does this make sense?

rane500

Okay, I went digging through most of the code I have archived for various projects and I can say that I have broken code out into headers and footers before but never split code over headers or footers the way you have. I can't say for sure, but to me that seems the most likely answer. I typically use a master file with the header and footer contained in it and use includes for the content...dunno if that would be a good solution for you or not.

el_kab0ng

I might add that I'm running php 5.1.1

el_kab0ng

rane500 wrote:
Okay, I went digging through most of the code I have archived for various projects and I can say that I have broken code out into headers and footers before but never split code over headers or footers the way you have. I can't say for sure, but to me that seems the most likely answer. I typically use a master file with the header and footer contained in it and use includes for the content...dunno if that would be a good solution for you or not.

Good point. I might reverse my logic and go that route to see if that works. Thanks for the suggestion! I'll let you know how it turns out.

el_kab0ng

Reversing the logic worked!

I combined header and footer into one file and called the content.php file via include. All is well with the universe once again.

Thanks!

thread_PHP

<? 
if ($visitor){
$sql = "select * from users where user='$visitor'";
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost", "db", "secret")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server.");
$db = mysql_select_db("db", $connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database.");
$sql_result = mysql_query($sql)
or die("Couldn't execute query.");
$row = mysql_fetch_array($sql_result);
} // you have to end the brackets here if statement is ending
?>

<html>
<head>
<title>W00t!</title>
<body>

el_kab0ng

If I were to close the loop after the query, the contents which should only be displayed should the condition be true will be displayed regardless.

Basically:

if visitor is found
then {
show html
} else {
go somewhere else.
}

Is the logic I was attempting to achieve.

Weedpacket

Well, there's your logic then.

<include config stuff>
<include stuff to look for visitor>
if visitor is found
then {
<include html stuff>
} else {
<include redirection stuff>
}

If they're being redirected, then there's no need for any html to be sent. At the moment you're trying to use the header include for two unrelated purposes (user validation and output generation) despite the fact that sometimes you want to do one without doing the other.