Why doesn't $_SESSION[$index] evaluate correctly?

[aebuell]

New here - I hope someone can help.

I want to compare $OptionID and $_SESSION[$index].

This is in a loop, where $index is equal to 'OptionID0', 'OptionID1', etc.

My if statement wasn't returning true when it should have. I have this debugging output from the loop:

    $_SESSION['OptionID0'] is 1
    $index is 'OptionID0'
    $_SESSION[$index] is
    $OptionID is 1


Since $OptionID is 1, and $_SESSION['OptionID0'] is 1, and $index = 'OptionID0', you would think $_SESSION[$index]  should be 1. But its output is blank. Anyone know why this doesn't work? Got a workaround?

Thanks a bunch.

-Abby

[trq]

Post your code.

[PFMaBiSmAd]

The following code works for me -
[code]<?php
session_start();
$_SESSION['OptionID0'] = 1;
echo "direct: {$_SESSION['OptionID0']}<br />";
$index = 'OptionID0';
echo "var index: {$_SESSION[$index]}<br />";

$OptionID = 1;
if($OptionID == $_SESSION[$index])
{
echo '$OptionID is = to $_SESSION[$index]<br />';
}
?>[/code]thorpe beat me to it, but post the actual code you are using that gives a blank output.

[aebuell]

see the display here:
http://retain.iusb.edu/studebaker/visitor/work_in_progress

problem is that options do not remain checked once form is submitted. I want to store a session variable for each option selected. Having a little difficulty since there is no way of telling how many options the user will select.

code:


// get_option_data() returns the 'OptionID' and 'Name' fields for each result.

$option_results = get_option_data($_SESSION['MakeID'], $_SESSION['ModelID'],
                                   $_SESSION['Year'], $_SESSION['FrameID'],
                                   $_SESSION['ColorID'], $_SESSION['InteriorID'],
                                   $_SESSION['PackageID']);
                                   
  echo "<table border = \"0\" cellpadding = \"8\">";
 
  if(sizeof($option_results) > 0)
   {
       $i = 0;
       while($i < sizeof($option_results))
       {  
         echo "<tr>";
           for ($j = 0; $j < 2; $j++)  // Options are displayed in a table with 2 columns
           {
             echo "<td width = \"225\">";
             
             if ($i < sizeof($option_results))    // Need to check this again within the for loop
             {
               $OptionID = $option_results[$i]['OptionID'];  
               $OptionName = $option_results[$i]['Name'];    
             
               $name = "\"option_select" . $i . "\"";  
               $index = "'OptionID" . $i . "'";        
               
              // ***********  D E B U G G I N G  S T A T E M E N T S ************
               //echo "\$_SESSION['OptionID0'] is " . $_SESSION['OptionID0'];
               //echo "<br />";
               //echo "\$index is " . $index;
               //echo "<br />";
               //echo "\$_SESSION[\$index] is " . $_SESSION[$index];
               //echo "<br />";
               //echo "\$OptionID is $OptionID";
               //echo "<br />";
             // *******************************************************
               
               echo "<input type = \"checkbox\" name = $name value=\"$OptionID\"";
               if($OptionID == $_SESSION[$index])  
                 echo " checked ";
               echo ">$OptionName";  
             }
             
             echo "</td>";
             
             $i++;
       }
         echo "</tr>";
       }
     }

[aebuell]

Some of the html in my code didn't display correctly. In the debugging statements there is an  echo "<br>" between each line. How do I display code anyway?

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Your form produces -
[code]<input type = "checkbox" name = "option_select0" value="1">Air Conditioning
<input type = "checkbox" name = "option_select1" value="2">Automatic Transmission
<input type = "checkbox" name = "option_select2" value="5">Navigation System[/code]
For this to work -
$_SESSION['OptionID0'] would need to be 1
$_SESSION['OptionID1'] would need to be 2
$_SESSION['OptionID2'] would need to be 5

Either the values don't match or the $_SESSION variables are not getting set. In the form code, you can use the following to display all the session variables -
[code]<?php
echo "<pre>";
print_r($_SESSION);
echo "</pre>";
?>[/code]
Beyond this, you would need to post your form processing code that sets the $_SESSSION variables for the option checkboxes.

[aebuell]

I have confirmed that the $_SESSION variables contained the correct values,  but now I'm thinking that I am probably setting them in the wrong place. I had a loop to check all possible values to see if they were set, but here's an example I used immediately after the above code I had posted, just to see if I could get one to work:

if(isset($_POST['option_select0']))
      {
        $_SESSION['OptionID0'] = $option_results[0]['OptionID'];                                                     
      }


I did that because it worked for my drop-down boxes, but the drop-down boxes are using the onChange='this.form.submit()' attribute whereas the check boxes are not.  I didn't want the screen to re-load every time the user checks an option although that would have been a lot easier to program.

So the $_SESSION variables are being set correctly, I think it's just that at the point of being compared they have not yet been set. I'll go try some things.

Thanks a bunch for your help.