PHP Forum

**loki_racer** · 09:15 AM

Here's the setup. I have 2 pages, the first is test.php and the second it functions.php. test.php is including functions.php.

I created a function in functions.php called date_arrays and have the code to create 3 arrays. 1 for days, 1 for months, 1 for years.

I am trying to call the date_arrays function from test.php and populate drop_down menus for a form. For some reason I don't believe the array is getting returned to the test.php page. If I move the code to create the array from the functions.php page to the test.php page, it all works fine. I know that it is an issue with getting the array from functions.php to test.php.

functions.php

Code:

<?
require('dbconn.php');

function date_arrays($months) {

	while ($d < 32) {
		$d++;
		$days[$d] = $d;
	}

	$months[1] = 'January';
	$months[2] = 'February';
	$months[3] = 'March';
	$months[4] = 'April';
	$months[5] = 'May';
	$months[6] = 'June';
	$months[7] = 'July';
	$months[8] = 'August';
	$months[9] = 'September';
	$months[10] = 'October';
	$months[11] = 'November';
	$months[12] = 'December';

	$y = 1940;
	while ($y < 2006) {
		$years[$y] = $y;
		$y++;
	}
	return $months;//, $days, $years;
}

?>

test.php

Code:

<form name="form1" method="post" action="">
  <select name="select" size="1">
    <option selected>Test 1</option>
    <option>Test 2</option>
    <option>Test 3</option>
    <option>Test 4</option>
  </select>
  <br><br>
  <select name="month" size="1">
  	<?
		$months = array();
  		date_arrays($months);	
		
		foreach ($months as $current_month) {
			echo "<option>$current_month</option>";
		}	
		
		/*$current_month = current($months);
		if ($current_month) {
			echo "<option>$current_month</option>";
			//echo "<option>Test</option>";
		}
		else {
		}*/
  	?>
  </select>
</form>

Any help is greatly appreciated. Also, if the code isn't done right, tell me. I won't mind, I promise.

**Vonna.com** · 08-12-2005, 09:39 AM

Took a quick look,

You did not include the complete code , but i think this is your problem:

$months = array(); ( in test.php )

This will delete the current $months array , so i think you need to do this before you make the "functions.php" include.

**0beron** · 09:48 AM

That's not the trouble, the function is called after the $months=array() assignment so the ordering is OK.

The problem is that you don't assign the return value to anything, or use references. You can either write the function like this:

PHP Code:


			
  function date_array() {
  //create $months array
  
  return $months;
  }

and call it with:
$months = date_array();

or create it like this:

PHP Code:


			
  function date_array(&$months) {
   //Note the & meaning a reference to $months
   //assign to $months
   //don't bother to return anything
  }

and call it with
$months = array();
date_array($months);

The assignments in the function affect the array you pass as an argument since in this case it is passed by reference.

**loki_racer** · 10:09 AM

Ok. I found a way to make it all work. I created a global variable at the start of the function. I am still trying to do it the first way, I got this error

Code:

<b>Fatal error: Call to undefined function:  date_array() in <b>/home/httpd/vhosts/thecoastalcompanies.com/httpdocs/dev/HR/includes/test.php</b> on line <b>26</b><br />

line 26 =

Code:

date_array($months);

So this is my code so far

test.php

Code:

<? 

include('functions.php');

?>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>

<body>
<form name="form1" method="post" action="">
   <br><br>
  <select name="month" size="1">
  	<?
		$months = array();
		date_array($months);	
		
		foreach ($months as $current_month) {
			echo "<option>$current_month</option>";
		}
  	?>
  </select>
</form>
<br>
<br>
</body>
</html>

functions.php =

Code:

<?

function date_arrays() {

	$months[1] = 'January';
	$months[2] = 'February';
	$months[3] = 'March';
	$months[4] = 'April';
	$months[5] = 'May';
	$months[6] = 'June';
	$months[7] = 'July';
	$months[8] = 'August';
	$months[9] = 'September';
	$months[10] = 'October';
	$months[11] = 'November';
	$months[12] = 'December';

	return $months;
}

?>

I got it to work using this code

test.php

Code:

<? 

include('functions.php');

?>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>

<body>
<form name="form1" method="post" action="">
   <br><br>
  <select name="month" size="1">
  	<?
		$months = array();
		month_array($months);	
		
		foreach ($months as $current_month) {
			echo "<option>$current_month</option>";
		}
  	?>
  </select>
</form>
<br>
<br>
</body>
</html>

functions.php

Code:

<?

function month_array() {
global $months;

	$months[1] = 'January';
	$months[2] = 'February';
	$months[3] = 'March';
	$months[4] = 'April';
	$months[5] = 'May';
	$months[6] = 'June';
	$months[7] = 'July';
	$months[8] = 'August';
	$months[9] = 'September';
	$months[10] = 'October';
	$months[11] = 'November';
	$months[12] = 'December';

}

?>

**Anacrusis** · 08-12-2005, 10:44 AM

That's one way to do it, but certainly not the best. It sort of defeats the purpose of having a function.

0beron showed you the correct way of using functions. You either pass a variable by value and return the result, or you pass the variable by reference and return nothing.

I think you need to read up some on how to write functions and use them.

**loki_racer** · 08-16-2005, 01:27 PM

Thanks for the help guys. I finally figured out how to pass information to and from functions correctly, not using the global feature