Please help. PHP works intermittently.

[jpbellavance]

I am trying to learn PHP on my own by creating a card game we all know as WAR. For right now I can get the code to randomly pick a number and then assign that number to a card within the deck. After that the card is assigned a numerical value to be weighed against the computer's card. It seems to work correctly but when I draw repeatedly from the deck it may work, it may not. When I use Safari it works better than when I use Explorer or Firefox. Also sometimes the banner gets deleted and only the Alt Text is displayed. I have added the code below and hope someone will be able to look at it. I have deleted some of the code related to the assigning of values to the card as it is only repeated over and over again.

I am sorry I submitted this twice but I have changed the code a fair amount compared to the first post and I was not able to delete my other one.

THanks,
JPB

<?php
  include ('header.html');
  if (isset($_POST['submitted'])){//User did click. 

  $twocards = create_newdeck();
  echo '
  <table width = "400" align="center">
  <tr>
  <td width="200" align="center"><b>Computers Card</b></td>
  <td width="200" align="center"><b>Users Card</b></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td width="200" align="center">' . $twocards[0] . '</td>
  <td width="200" align="center">' . $twocards[2] . '</td>
  </tr>
      <tr>
  <td width="200" align="center">Card Value: ' . $twocards[1] . '</td>
  <td width="200" align="center">Card Value: ' . $twocards[3] . '</td>
  </tr>
  </table>';


  }else{ // USER DID NOT CLICK.
   echo '<p align="center"><b>Please draw a card.</b></p>';



  }//END OF if (isset($_POST['submitted'])) statement



?>
  <form method = "post" = "war.php">
  <table width="770" align="center" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5">
  <tr>
          <td align="center"><input type="submit" name="submit" value="Draw"/></td>
  </tr>
  </table>

  <input type="hidden" name="submitted" value="TRUE"/>
  </form>';


  <?php
    include('footer.html');

?>

  <?php
   function create_newdeck(){

   $randomcard1 = rand(1,56);
   $randomcard2 = rand(1,56);
   $deck =  array(1=> '1C', '2C', '3C', '4C', '5C', '6C', '7C', '8C', '9C', '10C', 'JC', 'QC', 'KC', 'AC',
   '1S', '2S', '3S', '4S', '5S', '6S', '7S', '8S', '9S', '10S', 'JS', 'QS', 'KS', 'AS',
   '1H', '2H', '3H', '4H', '5H', '6H', '7H', '8H', '9H', '10H', 'JH', 'QH', 'KH', 'AH',
   '1D', '2D', '3D', '4D', '5D', '6D', '7D', '8D', '9D', '10D', 'JD', 'QD', 'KD', 'AD');

   //MAKE SURE THE SAME CARD CANNOT BE DRAWN.
            while ($randomcard1 == $randomcard2){//GET NEW CARD
                       $randomcard2 = rand(1,56);

            }
                $usercard = $deck[$randomcard1];
                $usercardvalue = getcardvalue($usercard);

                $computercard = $deck[$randomcard2];
                $computercardvalue = getcardvalue($computercard);


                $cardarray = array($usercard, $usercardvalue, $computercard, $computercardvalue);
                return $cardarray;


            }//END OF FIRST IF.



 function getcardvalue($card) {


     //ASSIGN VALUE TO CARD
                 switch ($card) {                      

                 case '1C':
                 $value = 1;
                 return($value);
                 break;    

                 case '1S':
                 $value = 1;
                 return($value); 
                 break;

                 case '1H':
                 $value = 1;
                 return($value); 
                 break;

                 case '1D':
                 $value = 1;
                 return($value); 
                 break;

                 case '2C':
                 $value = 2;
                 return($value);
                 break;    

                 case '2S':
                 $value = 2;
                 return($value); 
                 break;

                 case '2H':
                 $value = 2;
                 return($value); 
                 break;

                 case '2D':
                 $value = 2;
                 return($value); 
                 break;

                 case '3C':
                 $value =3;
                 return($value);
                 break;    

                 case '3S':
                 $value = 3;
                 return($value); 
                 break;

                 case '3H':
                 $value = 3;
                 return($value); 
                 break;



                        }//END OF SWITCH
                }//END OF FUNCTION                   
?>

[sneakyimp]

You haven't described what doesn't work about it.

Also, I feel the need to point out that you put the usercard in first in your function:

$cardarray = array($usercard, $usercardvalue, $computercard, $computercardvalue);

But then you put items 0 and 1 in the column labeled 'computer card' in your html. You've got them reversed.

[jpbellavance]

Thank you for the response. I figured out what was wrong.

What was happening is that after I submitted a drawing of the cards more than twice the process would just halt and I could not draw any more cards. What is also interesting is that it also depended on the browser. Using Firefox and IE the drawing could be done once or twice. While using Opera and Safari I could keep drawing however the results would periodically be wrong.

What I realized on a fluke was maybe because I am using a free hosting service to test this on which puts an ad banner at the top of it, may be interfering with the PHP code. Not sure how though. So when I ran the PHP from a normal hosting plan I have, it worked flawlessly. Again I dont know why.

Thanks for the help and letting me know about the order of the columns.

JPB