[RESOLVED] trying to use classes for first time, not quite getting it

[peanutgallery83]

I'm trying to build a script that will eventually be incorporated into a template editor. The script will take inserted "place-holder" variables, and properly find and convert the "place-holders" into values from a table. That's down the road. Right now I'm trying to build a static script to simulate this process by feeding it values that it will eventually pull from a table in a database.

On one page I have the following script, attempting to simulate values for the "place-holder" variables. The script is sending them through the class script (2nd below), and should print out the proper value in place of the variable.

However, when I open Email_Template.php, all I'm getting is a blank white screen. No error messages, nothing.

What am I missing?!

Any help is MUCH appreciated! Thanks!

Email_Template.php

<?
include "EmailTemplate.class.php"; 	// Email Template class

$tmp=new EmailTemplate(1);
$tmp->setParam('FirstName','John');
$tmp->setParam('LastName','Smith');
$tmp->setParam('PurchasePrice','$1.99');
print $tmp->getText();

?>

EmailTemplate.class.php

<?
class EmailTemplate {
  var $params;
  var $fields=null;
  var $text=null;

  function EmailTemplate($templateID){
      // connect to db and retrieve template (this will occur down the road and is not actively performing any role right now)
      $db_name ="db";
       $sql = "
       SELECT 
	*
        FROM 
	email_templates
         WHERE
	ID='$_GET[templateID]'
          ORDER BY
	Name
       ";

  if($row=$recordset->FetchRow()){
     $this->fields=preg_split('/|/',$row['FieldList'], -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
  } else {
     trigger_error('Invalid Email Template ID',E_USER_NOTICE);
  }
  }

 function setParam($name,$value){
     if(!isset($this->fields[$name])){
       // trigger error
     }
     $this->params[$name]=$value;
 }

 function getText(){
   // this should be the function that find the proper text value (ie: John for FirstName) and prints it
     print($value);
}

} // end class

?>

Thanks again for any help. Trying my best to learn new things, and this is getting a bit frustrating!

[Betard]

at quick glance one problem is within your getText() method you have: print($value); and if I am not mistaken it should be:

 function getText(){
   // this should be the function that find the proper text value (ie: John for FirstName) and prints it
     return $this->value;
} 

not sure if getText() will be doing something more in the future, but at this point there really isn't a need for that method if all its doing is returning the value... your setParam could also simply return that value.

Another issue I just noticed is in your setParam method you are doing 2 things that seem out of whack...

1) you are assigning the value of $value to $this->params[$name], if this is what you intended, than where is the $value getting it's value from??

2) where is the value of $names coming from?

aside from needing the $this-> inside your getText method, it also appears to me that $this->value doesn't have a value to show anyways.

[NogDog]

To help debug, for now you might want to add the following to the top of the main script:

<?php
ini_set('display_errors', 1);  // turn off for production version
error_reporting(E_ALL);

Also, it does not look like you ever actually execute your SQL?

[peanutgallery83]

Thank you guys for the reply. Worked on it and made some significant progress. It's now looping through the specified variables properly, however it is giving me "undefined variable" errors as it does so.

I figure it's just a matter of me not properly defining a variable somewhere, but again, still struggling to figure this all out.

Here's the new code:

_email_template.php

<? 
include("EmailTemplate.class.php");  // Email Template Class

$etmp = new EmailTemplate(1);
$etmp->setParam('FirstName',John);
$etmp->setParam('LastName','Smith');
$etmp->setParam('PurchasePrice','$9.95');

//$etmp->name="FirstName";
//$etmp->value="John";
print $etmp->getText();
?>

EmailTemplate.class.php

<?
ini_set('display_errors', 1);  // turn off for production version
error_reporting(E_ALL); 


class EmailTemplate {
  var $params;
  var $name;
  var $value;
  var $fields=null;
  var $text=null;

function LoadEmailTemplate($templateID){
	// FIND AND CREATE THE ARRAY OF FIELDLIST ENTRIES
	//set up table and database names
	$db ="dbname";
	$sql = "
	SELECT 
		*
	FROM 
		email_templates
	WHERE
		ID='$_GET[templateID]'
	ORDER BY
		Name
	";

$result = @mysql_query($sql,$connection)or die(mysql_error());

  if($row=$recordset->FetchRow()){
     $this->$fields=preg_split('/|/',$row['FieldList'], -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
  } else {
     trigger_error('Invalid Email Template ID',E_USER_NOTICE);
  }
  }

function setParam()
 {
     $this->params[$name]=$fields;
	 return $this->value=$params;
 }

 function getText()
 {
   // this should be the function that find the proper text value and prints it
     return  "<b>" .$this->name. "</b> : " .$this->value. "<br>";
 }

} // end class


?>

This is the error I'm recieving (lines 39 and 40 refer to the setParam function in the code above:

Notice: Undefined variable: name in website.com\site\modules\email_templates\EmailTemplate.class.php on line 39

Notice: Undefined variable: name in website.com\site\modules\email_templates\EmailTemplate.class.php on line 39

Notice: Undefined variable: name in website.com\site\modules\email_templates\EmailTemplate.class.php on line 40

Notice: Undefined variable: name in website.com\site\modules\email_templates\EmailTemplate.class.php on line 39

Notice: Undefined variable: name in website.com\site\modules\email_templates\EmailTemplate.class.php on line 39

Notice: Undefined variable: name in website.com\site\modules\email_templates\EmailTemplate.class.php on line 40

Notice: Undefined variable: name in website.com\site\modules\email_templates\EmailTemplate.class.php on line 39

Notice: Undefined variable: name in website.com\site\modules\email_templates\EmailTemplate.class.php on line 39

Notice: Undefined variable: name in website.com\site\modules\email_templates\EmailTemplate.class.php on line 40

Thank you again for any help!! It's very much appreciated

[laserlight]

The problem lies here:

function setParam()
{
     $this->params[$name]=$fields;
     return $this->value=$params;
}

Without having examined the code closely, I am guessing that $name should be $this->name.

[NogDog]

Looks like you also need to change $fields and $params to $this->fields and $this->params.

[peanutgallery83]

Alright, good news is I got the errors to go away...but found another sticking point...

My code is now printing out the following:

ArrayArrayArray
Array

This code is supposed to (when it's in full action) take a place holder (such as: FirstName which is listed in the FieldNames column in email_templates table) and replace it with the proper value of "first name" pulled from a table of names and email addresses. For this particular sample, I'm trying to simulate a tabe entry of John Smith with a purchase of $9.95, and display those values properly.

In other words, according to this test, I'm trying to print John Smith $9.95

I cannot figure out why it's not displaying the values properly...I'm trying to use preg_split to break a string on the "|" character, but I'm not having any luck with it. Is there a better way to do this...or am I just doing something wrong. I followed the tutorial on php.net and this seems to be the proper way to do it so I'm confused.

Ideas?

Code of both pages is below...

Thanks so much for all the help!

<?
$_GET['templateID'] = "1";
include("EmailTemplate.class.php");  // Email Template Class

$etmp = new EmailTemplate(1);
print $etmp->setParam('FirstName','John');
print $etmp->setParam('LastName','Smith');
print $etmp->setParam('PurchasePrice','$9.95');

print $etmp->getText();

?>

<?
ini_set('display_errors', 1);  // turn off for production version
error_reporting(E_ALL); 


class EmailTemplate {
  var $params;
  var $name;
  var $value;
  var $fields=null;
  var $text=null;

function LoadEmailTemplate($templateID){
	// FIND AND CREATE THE ARRAY OF FIELDLIST ENTRIES
	//set up table and database names
	$db ="dbname";
	$sql = "
	SELECT 
		*
	FROM 
		email_templates
	WHERE
		ID='$_GET[templateID]'
	ORDER BY
		Name
	";

$result = @mysql_query($sql,$connection)or die(mysql_error());

  if($row=$recordset->FetchRow()){
     $this->fields=preg_split('/|/',$row['FieldList'], -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
  	//$this->FieldListArray = explode(" | ", $FieldList);


  } else {
     trigger_error('Invalid Email Template ID',E_USER_NOTICE);
  }
  }

function setParam($name,$value)
 {
     $this->params[$this->name]=$this->fields;
	 return $this->value=$this->params;
 }

 function getText()
 {
   // this should be the function that find the proper text value and prints it
     return  "<b>" .$this->name. "</b> <br> " .$this->value. "<br>";
 }

} // end class


?>

[laserlight]

It looks like $name and $value are intended to be local variables, not member variables. As such, you would write:

function setParam($name, $value)
{
    $this->params[$name] = $value;
}

function getText()
{
    return $this->params['FirstName'] . ' '
         . $this->params['LastName'] . ' '
         . $this->params['PurchasePrice'];
}

I still do not entirely comprehend what exactly you are trying to do, so I left my getText() example as naively assuming that the array elements exist.