Syntax issue

capitalalist

Hi all,

As always thanks in advance. My php skills are still at a beginner level but I'm trying to get there!

What I'm trying to do:
Send data to the Mailchimp api (specifically email, name, birthday)

What it currently does do:
Sends and stores email and name

What I cant get it to do:
Send and store the birthday from $birthday string.

First I load the form data:

//Load form data
$day = $_POST['Day'];
$month = $_POST['Month'];
$year = $_POST['Year'];

//Create Birthday in mm/dd format for mailchimp
$birthday = $month."/".$day;

Then I pass it later on to mailchimp:

$mergeVars = array('FNAME' => $parsedName['first'], 'LNAME' => $parsedName['last'], 'BDAY'=>"$birthday");

EVERYTHING in my script works perfectly except for the birthday bit.

So I tried this instead which DOES work, but doesn't use the form data defeating the whole point!

$mergeVars = array('FNAME' => $parsedName['first'], 'LNAME' => $parsedName['last'], 'BDAY'=>"04/04");

I thought it may be the $birthday string wasn't in the mm/dd setup. But after echo'ing it everything is fine.

I get the feeling I'm doing something stupid here. And I think it's syntax based around the ''BDAY'=>"$birthday" part.

Any help will be greatly appreciated! This is driving me INSANE.

Thanks,

Derokorian

One thing I see is that,

$birthday = $month."/".$day;

Won't do what the comment says if I put in say 3 and 5, because you end up with 3/5 instead of 03/05. You might instead use [man]sprintf/man:

$birthday = sprintf('%02d/%02d',$month,$day);

What %02d means is: % means special string for sprintf, 02 means 0 padded for 2 digits, and d means digit, when sprintf sees this it takes the remaining arguments (in this case $month and $day) and places them in different place holder in the same order they appeared.

Also like your other variables you don't need to put $birthday in double quotes, just 'BDAY'=>$birthday

capitalalist

That's a good point.

But I should have mentioned that the form providing the data is an option drop down selection only setup.

So The months can only be 01 to 12 and the days can only be 01 to 31

And also if I correct the code to

$mergeVars = array('FNAME' => $parsedName['first'], 'LNAME' => $parsedName['last'], 'BDAY'=>$birthday);

as you suggested it still doesnt work.

Any other ideas?

bradgrafelman

What does $birthday contain? Have you tried printing out its value with something like [man]var_dump/man to make sure it looks like what you expect?

capitalalist

Yeah I have tried that and it contains exactly what it should in the right format.

It contains a date in the MM/DD format provided by a selection dropdown form.