Calling a Variable inside a function

houston08

Hello! I have a quick question about calling a variable inside a function.

<?PHP

function inside() {
$a = "Test Works";
$b = 1;
}

if ($b=="1") {

echo $a;

}else{

echo "Test Failed";

};

?>

As you can see I want to get the value of $a but I cannot.

Below is code in question that I'm working with:

function index($user) {
     global $db, $prefix;

 //check if the user is logged in or not.
 if (is_logged_in($user)) {
      include("header.php");

      $cookie_read = explode("|", base64_decode($user));
      //define variables to hold cookie values.
	  $userid = $cookie_read[0];

I want to get the $userid outside of the function, who would I do that?

dagon

global, just like you already have: "global $db, $prefix; "

NogDog

Not 100% sure what you are asking here. Perhaps all you need is to [man]return[/man] $userid at the end of the function?

As far as declaring global variables within a function, this is usually not the best idea, as it tightly couples the function to the calling code, which creates maintenance, debugging, and re-usability issues. It's normally better to make them into function arguments, and then pass the appropriate values/variables as part of the function call in the calling code.

bradgrafelman

As NogDog suggests, a return would be your best bet in this situation (IMHO, anyway). If it's not just a simple single-valued return, you could also pass in variables by reference; taking your example code above:

<?php

function inside(&$msg, &$testval) {
  $msg = "Test Works";
  $testval = 1;
}

$a = "Foobar";
$b = 0;

inside($a, $b);

if ($b == 1)
    echo $a;
else
    echo "Test Failed";

// output is: Test Works
?>

EDIT: When I found that I was starting to see "global $var" creep into my functions, I decided it was long overdue that I learn OOP instead. It's definitely helped me clean up my code a lot!

houston08

I would do it like that, and I like the method, but the function continues to be an entire page, so it's no possible to do it like that. is there another option?

houston08

Ok, sorry for the mixup. I think I need to further clarify what I'm wanting to do.

Below is the main page in index.php
The Header.php and Footer.php files contain the html wrapping around the PHP code. (you'll see i still need improvement in some ways but I'm learning. 😉 )

<?PHP
include ("functions.php");

// the Default function.
//note for functions: if you want to include a value of some variables inside the funtions,
//then you have to GLOBAL it first.
function index($user) {
     global $db, $prefix;

 //check if the user is logged in or not.
 if (is_logged_in($user)) {
      include("header.php");

      $cookie_read = explode("|", base64_decode($user));
      //define variables to hold cookie values.

      global $userid;

      $userid = $cookie_read[0];
      $username = $cookie_read[1];
      $password = $cookie_read[2];
      $ipaddress = $cookie_read[3];
      $lastlogin_date = $cookie_read[4];
      $lastlogin_time = $cookie_read[5];
      if($ipaddress == "") $ipaddress = ""._NOT_YET."";


      //print wilcome message
      echo "<h3>"._WELCOME." <b>$username</b>!</h3>";
	  echo "<p>Here are the most recent additions to the public listings:</p>";		  

	  $searchstring = "WHERE `account` != '0'";
	  $table = "listings";
	  $order = "1";
	  $pagination = pagination($table, $order, $searchstring, $pre, $pos, $nav, $page, $pages);
	  $navigation = $pagination[0];
	  $result = $pagination[1];
	  $num = $pagination[2];
	  // echo"$navigation";

	  echo "<table class=\"hover\">";
	  echo "<tr>";
	  echo "<th>Contact</th><th>Last Years Percent</th><th>Location</th><th>Amount</th></tr>";

	  for($i; $i < mysql_num_rows($result); $i++)
	  {
	  $row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
	  echo ($i % 2 == 0) ? '<tr>' : '<tr class="altrow">' . "\n"; 
	  echo "<td>"; echo $row['ContactFirst']; echo " "; echo $row['ContactLast']; echo "</td>";
	  echo "<td>"; echo $row['LastYearsPercent']; echo "</td>";
	  echo "<td>"; echo $row['City']; echo ", "; echo $row['State']; echo "</td>";
	  echo "<td>"; echo $row['Amount']; echo "</td>";
	  }  

	  echo "</table>";
      navigation_menu();
      include("footer.php");		  
 }else{
     //if the user is not logged in then show the login form.
     //  header("Location: users.php?a=Login");  die();
     include("header.php");
     $login_needed = 1;
     include("footer.php");
}

}

index($user);
?>

Now I want to take the value from $userid; and put it into this function that will insert it into the database:

function do_AddListing(){

         include("header.php");
		 $ContactFirst = $_POST['ContactFirst'];
		 $ContactLast = $_POST['ContactLast'];
		 $Email = $_POST['Email'];
		 $Phone = $_POST['Phone'];
		 $Comments = $_POST['Comments'];
		 mysql_connect("localhost", "root", "") or die(mysql_error());
		 mysql_select_db("oillisting") or die(mysql_error());
		 mysql_query("INSERT INTO `listings` VALUES ('', '$userid', '$ContactFirst', '$ContactLast', '$Email', '$Phone', '$Comments')") or die("No Worky");
		 echo "Success!";
         include("footer.php");
}

So using the code of

index($user);

echo $userid;

Isn't good because it calls another entire page. What else can I do or would anyone suggest some modifications to my code? Thanks! Yall have been a great help already!

CoderDan

I think that if you have index() return the user id, and do_AddListing() take it as an argument, you should be most of the way there?

$userid = index( $user );
if ( $userid )
{
  do_AddListing( $userid );
}
// and...
function do_AddListing(){ 
// becomes instead:
function do_AddListing($userid){

my main question, however, is where do you plan to call do_AddListing() from?
it appears that index() displays an entire page, so the addlisting would be called instead of index, or on another page, in which case you may want to look at session variables.