Passing Arraya IN and Out of Functions

[venturemc]

Another head banger for this newb. (Seems that everything is a head banger with this language!)

 

I've created a function that creates an array. WHen I try to pass the array back to the calling script I get every result but an array that contains the array in the function. I've tried passing in a variable as a reference and tried not passing a variable in at all, letting the function return the variable. I've tried messing with serializing/unserializing and even breifly nessed with using a $_SESSION variable. Nothing seems to give me results.

 

Here's the parent php file as it is right now:

 

<?php
include_once("mc_lib.php");

$db = "sampledb";
$tbl = "sample";
//$rda = array('index', 'fldname','fldtype','flag','length','inval','outval');

$rda = array_values(unserialize(rd_bld_array($db, $tbl, $rda)));

foreach($rda as $rec => $r){
echo 'x' . $r['index'] . ' ' . $r['fldname'] . ' ' . $r['fldtype'] . ' ' . $r['flag'] . ' ' . $r['length'] . '<br>';
}
$html = rd_bld_form($rda, $html);

echo $html;

?>

Here's the function in question: 
<?php
function rd_bld_array($db, $tbl){
// $db = database name, $tbl = table name, $rda = recdata array

// init variables
// flag to indicate that the loop has past the index indicator
$gdata = false;
$ctr = 1;
$li = 'login';
$pw = 'password';
$dbloc = 'xxx.xxx.x.xxx';

$dbc = mysql_connect($dbloc, $li, $pw);
mysql_select_db($db,$dbc);

$q = 'SELECT * FROM ' . $tbl;

$result = mysql_query($q, $dbc) or die('Error' . mysql_error($dbc));

$fields = mysql_num_fields($result);

$rd = array('index', 'fldname','fldtype','flag','length','inval','outval');

             for ($ctr = 1; $ctr < $fields; $ctr++){
	//if ($gdata == true) {
	$rd['index'] = $ctr;
   		$rd['fldname'] = mysql_field_name($result, $ctr);  		
	$rd['fldtype'] = mysql_field_type($result, $ctr);
	$rd['flag'] = mysql_field_flags($result, $ctr);
	$rd['length'] = mysql_field_len($result, $ctr);
            $rd['inval'] = '';
	$rd['outval'] = '';	
	//}	     

                          //if (mysql_field_name($result, $ctr) == 'rk') {
    		//$gdata = true;
	//	    }
echo $ctr . ' ' . $rd['index'] . ' ' . $rd['fldname'] . ' ' . $rd['fldtype'] . ' ' . $rd['flag'] . ' ' . $rd['length'] . '<br>';		
}
mysql_free_result($result);
mysql_close($dbc);
$rd = serialize($rd);
return $rd;
}

Here's the results back from the debug echoing (the 'x' lines are after the array has been passed back to the parent page)

?>

1 1 name string not_null binary 50
2 2 occupation string not_null binary 50
3 3 age int not_null 20
x 
xa a a a a
xi i i i i
xn n n n n
x 
x 
x 

 

The first three lines are what I expect. You can see that not only am I getting giberish back, I'm getting abunch of extra cells. I expect to be seeing:

x 1 name string not_null binary 50

x 2 occupation string not_null binary 50

x 3 age int not_null 20

 

after the return of the array.

 

Can somebody point this idiot in the right direction?

 

 

[venturemc]

Can't edit post, but I see the extra parameter in the function call in my code. Not the issue here....

[PFMaBiSmAd]

$rd = array('index', 'fldname','fldtype','flag','length','inval','outval'); creates an array that looks like this -

 

Array
(
    [0] => index
    [1] => fldname
    [2] => fldtype
    [3] => flag
    [4] => length
    [5] => inval
    [6] => outval
)

 

And when your code adds values like - $rd['index'] = $ctr; ...

 

You end up with an array that looks like this -

 

Array
(
    [0] => index
    [1] => fldname
    [2] => fldtype
    [3] => flag
    [4] => length
    [5] => inval
    [6] => outval
    [index] => 1
    [fldname] => 
    [fldtype] => 
    [flag] => 
    [length] => 
    [inval] => 
    [outval] => 
)

 

Your for() loop also just keeps setting the same elements in $rd over and over but with each succeeding set of values in each iteration through the loop.

 

 

[venturemc]

OK. Thanks.

 

Any suggestions on how to poulate the array properly?

[PFMaBiSmAd]

That depends. Are you trying to make an array of strings or an array of arrays?

[sasa]

try

<?php
function rd_bld_array($db, $tbl){
// $db = database name, $tbl = table name, $rda = recdata array

// init variables
// flag to indicate that the loop has past the index indicator
$gdata = false;
$ctr = 1;
$li = 'login';
$pw = 'password';
$dbloc = 'xxx.xxx.x.xxx';
$out = array();
$dbc = mysql_connect($dbloc, $li, $pw);
mysql_select_db($db,$dbc);

$q = 'SELECT * FROM ' . $tbl;

$result = mysql_query($q, $dbc) or die('Error' . mysql_error($dbc));

$fields = mysql_num_fields($result);

$rd = array('index', 'fldname','fldtype','flag','length','inval','outval');

             for ($ctr = 1; $ctr < $fields; $ctr++){
	//if ($gdata == true) {
	$rd['index'] = $ctr;
   		$rd['fldname'] = mysql_field_name($result, $ctr);  		
	$rd['fldtype'] = mysql_field_type($result, $ctr);
	$rd['flag'] = mysql_field_flags($result, $ctr);
	$rd['length'] = mysql_field_len($result, $ctr);
            $rd['inval'] = '';
	$rd['outval'] = '';	
	//}	     

                          //if (mysql_field_name($result, $ctr) == 'rk') {
    		//$gdata = true;
	//	    }
echo $ctr . ' ' . $rd['index'] . ' ' . $rd['fldname'] . ' ' . $rd['fldtype'] . ' ' . $rd['flag'] . ' ' . $rd['length'] . '<br>';	
           $out[] = $rd;	
}
mysql_free_result($result);
mysql_close($dbc);
//$rd = serialize($rd);
           $out = serialize($out);
return $out;
}

[venturemc]

That depends. Are you trying to make an array of strings or an array of arrays?

 

I'm building a multi-dimensional array which is where I went wrong with getting the array set up properly.

 

In the spirit of sharing learning experiences....

I tricked myself into believeing that the array was populating as I expected when I did my echo statement inside the loop. Once it was pointed out that I was only repopulating the same array over and over (which explained one of the function's returns I was getting), I built a loop after the collection loop to echo my array before passing it back to the parent script and saw exactly what PF told me. Seeing that, I banged my head a few times before realizing what I was doing wrong. Once I built it as a multi dimensional array, I got the passing of the array figured out. I initially tried to pass in an array and have it modified by the function, but I couldn't get that working, but I was able to get the array back out of the function. The corrected code is below.

 

parent document calling function

<?php
//.....

$rda = array(array('index', 'fldname','fldtype','flag','length','inval','outval'));

$rda = array_values(rd_bld_array($db, $tbl));

//foreach($rda as $rec => $r){
//echo 'x' . $r['index'] . ' ' . $r['fldname'] . ' ' . $r['fldtype'] . ' ' . $r['flag'] . ' ' . $r['length'] . '<br>';
//}

 

 

function to build array....

 

	
<?php 
//..........

             $result = mysql_query($q, $dbc) or die('Error' . mysql_error($dbc));

$fields = mysql_num_fields($result);

//$rd = array('index', 'fldname','fldtype','flag','length','inval','outval');
for ($ctr = 1; $ctr < $fields; $ctr++){
	//if ($gdata == true) {
	$rd[$ctr]['index'] = $ctr;
   		$rd[$ctr]['fldname'] = mysql_field_name($result, $ctr);  		
	$rd[$ctr]['fldtype'] = mysql_field_type($result, $ctr);
	$rd[$ctr]['flag'] = mysql_field_flags($result, $ctr);
	$rd[$ctr]['length'] = mysql_field_len($result, $ctr);
                	$rd[$ctr]['inval'] = '';
		$rd[$ctr]['outval'] = '';	
	//}	     
	if (mysql_field_name($result, $ctr) == 'rk') {
    			$gdata = true;
		    }
//vvvvvv this is the debug echo that tricked me   vvvvvvvvv

//echo $ctr . ' ' . $rd[$ctr]['index'] . ' ' . $rd[$ctr]['fldname'] . ' ' . $rd[$ctr]['fldtype'] . ' ' . $rd[$ctr]['flag'] . ' ' . $rd['length'] . '<br>';		
}


//vvvvvvvvv this is the revised debug echo vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

//foreach($rd as $rec => $r){
//echo 'v' . $r['index'] . ' ' . $r['fldname'] . ' ' . $r['fldtype'] . ' ' . $r['flag'] . ' ' . $r['length'] . '<br>';
//}
mysql_free_result($result);
mysql_close($dbc);
$rd = array_values($rd);
return $rd;

 

Thanks for the prod......