Notice: Undefined variable

Anon

before you tell to RTFM or to set the php.ini variable "error_reporting" to E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE, hear me out first.

changing the following php.ini variable does NOT solve the problem. sure, i can turn off "Notice" Warnings and those messages will go away, but my variables have no value to them!

i can't even perform the very trial task of printing out browser information. the following code...

<?php
echo $HTTP_USER_AGENT;
?>

produces this message:

Notice: Undefined variable: HTTP_USER_AGENT in C:\Program Files\Abyss Web Server\htdocs\car.php on line 10

i believe i have php installed on my webserver correctly because some other things in PHP will work. for instance, i've tested pages that will "require" variables from other files. that works. and printing phpinfo() works too.

i've tried using apache, IIS, and all other sorts of third-party web servers like BadBlue, PHPTriad and Abyss Web Server (using this now).

if some could please help, i'd be very thankful. i've been pouring myself through any kind of documentation, but none of the advice seems to work.

Anon

sorry... i figured it out. it was register_globals variable in php.ini

i set it to on, and it started working.

(helps to read the comments in php.ini 😉
; Whether or not to register the EGPCS variables as global variables. You may
; want to turn this off if you don't want to clutter your scripts' global scope
; with user data. This makes most sense when coupled with track_vars - in which
; case you can access all of the GPC variables through the $HTTP*VARS[],
; variables.
;
; You should do your best to write your scripts so that they do not require
; register_globals to be on; Using form variables as globals can easily lead
; to possible security problems, if the code is not very well thought of.

Anon

register globals is a bad idea. you should turn it off. it is off by default in all current versions of php, so relying on it being turned on may result in your scripts failing when you upload to your hosting company's server.

Anon

I've just installed PHP on my Windows box and I'm getting the same error. If register globals is a bad idea can someone point me in the right direction for a solution please ;-)

Anon

After RTFM I've come across this page:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.variables.predefined.php

which describes "In PHP 4.2.0 and later, the default set of predefined variables which are available in the global scope has changed. Individual input and server variables are by default no longer placed directly into the global scope; rather, they are placed into the superglobal arrays."

Therefore the line

<?php echo $HTTP_USER_AGENT; ?>

which is sujested in this site's online tutorial should now be

<?php echo $_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"]; ?>

This is true for my local set up at least Win2K, IIS 5.0, PHP 4.2.1

I am new to PHP so please correct me if I am wrong ;-)

Anon

Sorry it's not this site online tutorial at all. I mean the tutorial at:

http://www.php.net/tut.php

Anon

John,

do you have any suggestions on alternatives to "register Globals". I have the same problem and can only solve it by switching globals on.

Thanks for your help

Anton

Anon

I have the same problem. When i try to get information out of a earlyer form i get the message:
<b>Notice: Undefined variable: aanhef_ERROR in c:\php_includes\contact.php4 on line 42</b>

Please someone help me, because i am getting sick of it!

Thanks