short hand variable loading

[Q695]

Someone showed me a while ago this trick for loading variables, but it creates an error when you go to the page initially:

$fname = $_POST['fname'] ? $_POST['fname'] : null;

How do I write the short hand to run correctly?

[Jacques1]

You need to check if the parameter even exists:

$fname = isset($_POST['fname']) ? $_POST['fname'] : null;

However, this whole practice of putting external input into separate variables doesn't make a lot of sense. You already have a variable with the value: $_POST['fname']. What's the point of creating this extra $fname variable? Only to save 10 characters when writing it down? That's not really a valid reason in the times of auto-completion.

[Q695]

Someone points their form without data required for the PDO to the page the form is on.  When it's not set, it automatically sets the value to null.

 

Sorry about the redundant posting, it was a slow server that I'll blame ;)

[Jacques1]

Someone points their form without data required for the PDO to the page the form is on.  When it's not set, it automatically sets the value to null.

 

This doesn't require an extra variable. Just set the value to null when needed, e. g.,

$stmt = $database->prepare('
    ... some query ...
');
$stmt->execute(array(
    'fname' => isset($_POST['fname']) ? $_POST['fname'] : null
));