[SOLVED] why dont my global vars persist in process_form()

[Lodius2000]

in the following script for some reason my global vars ($id,$title, and probably $db(dont know how to test it)) dont work in process_form(). process form, upon submission only prints the link to go back, and I need it to make a couple sql queries and then print the link

 

<?php

//this page edits articles
require ('../../../install/PEAR/DB.php');
require ('../../../../dbfiles/db_login.php');
require ('../requires/formhelpers.php');
require ('../requires/timearrays.php');
$db->setErrorHandling(PEAR_ERROR_DIE);
$db->setFetchMode(DB_FETCHMODE_ASSOC);

//grabs article_id for later query
$id = $_GET['id'];


if ($_SESSION['username']){

if($_POST['_submit_check']){
	if($form_errors = validate_form()){
		show_form($form_errors);
	} else {
		process_form();
	}
} else {
	show_form();
}
} else {
print '<a href="../index.php">Log In dummy</a>';
}


function show_form($errors = '') {
global $db, $id;

$items = $db->getRow('SELECT article_title, article FROM text_cms WHERE article_id = ?',
array($id));

$title = stripslashes($items['article_title']);
$article = stripslashes($items['article']);


//If form has been submitted, get defaults from submitted variables
if ($_POST['_submit_check']){
	$defaults = $_POST;
} else {
	$defaults = array('title' => $title,
					  'body'  => $article);
}

if ($errors){
	print 'Please correct these errors: <ul><li>';
	print implode('</li><li>', $errors);
	print '</li></ul>';
}

print '<form name="edit" method="POST" action="'.htmlentities($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']).'">';
//begin the unique form

print '<br />';
print "Article Title";
print "<br />\n";
input_title('title', $defaults);
print "<br /><br />\n";
print 'Article Body';
print "<br />\n";
input_textarea('body', $defaults);

print "<br /><br />\n";

input_submit('submit', 'Edit Article');

print '<input type="hidden" name="_submit_check" value="1" />';
print "\n";
print '</form>';
}

function validate_form(){

if (trim(strlen($_POST['title'])) > 255){
	$errors[] = 'Article title is too long, please shorten it';
}

return $errors;

}

function process_form(){
global $db,
$id,
$title;

$edited_title = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['title']);
$edited_article = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['body']);

//normally there would be sql statements here but i changed it to just test the global vars
       //regardless, all of the vars inside process_form() here are all that will be inside the function when it actually works
print $id;
print $title;

print '<a href="../managearticle/index.php">Go back to article management</a>';


}
?>

[kenrbnsn]

Instead of using the global statement, just pass the values you need to the function. You already do that with some of the variables, why not all of them.

 

Ken

[Lodius2000]

I know it is inside a function so i could just pass the values to the variables, but the variables are already defined elsewhere in the script and they work fine, i dont understand why I would need to redefine them instead of just using global

[Lodius2000]

edit to last post, also $db cant be redefined unless i can put a require inside a function

[kenrbnsn]

When you pass variables to a function they are not redefined.

 

For example:

 

<?php
function test1($a,$b,$c="This is variable C") {
    echo "---------------------<br>\n";
    echo '$a = ' . $a . "<br>\n";
    $a = "A different value";
    echo '$b = ' . $b . "<br>\n";
    $b = 'Another different value';
    echo '$c = ' . $c . "<br>\n";
    echo "---------------------<br>\n";
}

$a = 'This is $a';
$b = 'This is $b';
$c = 'This is $c';
test1($a,$b,$c);
echo '$a is now <span style="font-weight:bold">' . $a . "</span><br>\n";
echo '$b is now <span style="font-weight:bold">' . $b . "</span><br>\n";
echo '$c is now <span style="font-weight:bold">' . $c . "</span><br>\n";
test1('A different value for $a','Something else');
echo '$a is still <span style="font-weight:bold;color:red">' . $a . "</span><br>\n";
echo '$b is still <span style="font-weight:bold;color:red">' . $b . "</span><br>\n";
echo '$c is still <span style="font-weight:bold;color:red">' . $c . "</span><br>\n";
?>

 

As you can see if you run the above code, the values of $a, $b and $c do not change outside the function. You need to read up on the scope of variables.

 

Ken

[Lodius2000]

Ken, this still doesnt answer why i can use global $db, $id; in show_form(), but the same line in process_form() doesnt work

 

all I want to do is use the same variables with the same values in 2 functions but for some reason php wont let me, this is not the first time that i have used the same vars in 2 functions but it is the first time that it doenst work

[kenrbnsn]

I took your code, striped out everything that wasn't relevant,put in some debugging "echos" and ran it. It ran fine. Are you sure you're even getting to the process_form() function call?

 

This line:

<?php
if($form_errors = validate_form()){
?>

is bothering me because, whether or not it detects errors, the "if" will evaluate as "true" because the assignment succeeds and you will never get to the process_form() call.

 

Ken

[Lodius2000]

ken, I solved the problem, the problem is, upon form submission the GET portion of the url disapeared so $id wasnt working anymore, which didnt allow my query in show form to work since it was dependent on the id number

 

it kinda all clicked in my head at once, after 3 solid weeks of staring at it

 

now I know