Hey.

I feel completely idiotic asking this, but are there any special conditions that need to be taken into account when writing functions with PHP? I took the following code right out of the center of my script (except for the echo "Test#"), so it should be all correct, but when I try to execute the function, all it does is echo the "Test_end".

PHP Code:

function newProd(){
    $new_prod = false;
    $new_prod_heading = false;
    $loop_break_new = false;
    
    for($np=0;$np<count($product_array);$np++){
        echo "Test1";
        if(!$loop_break_new){
            while($product_array[$np]->cat != $cat_id){
                $np++;
            }
            if($product_array[$np]->cat == $cat_id){
                echo "Test2";
                if($product_array[$np]->age == 1){
                    echo "Test3";
                    $new_prod = true;
                    if(!$new_prod_heading){
                        echo "Test4";
                        echo "<p class=\"title_newprod\">New Products</p>
                        <hr class=\"new_prod\" />";
                        $new_prod_heading = true;
                    }
                    // Output prod_row
                    echo "<div class=\"prod_row\">";
                    $new_prod_div = true;
                                    
                    // Output prod_box's
                    for($p=0; $p<5; $p++){
                        echo "Test5";
                        if($p == 0 && $product_array[$np-1]->cat == $cat_id){
                            $np--;
                        }
                        // Checks to see if there is a category, and limits the output to that category
                        if($product_array[$np]->cat == $cat_id){
                            echo "Test6";
                            if($np<count($product_array) && $product_array[$np]->age == 1){
                                echo "Test7";
                                // Code for each of the prod_box's
                                echo "<div class=\"prod_box\"> 
                                    <div class=\"prod_image\">
                                    <a href=\"item.php?item_id=" . $product_array[$np]->id ."\">";
                                        if(file_exists($product_array[$np]->image)){
                                            // Product image generation (notice syntax)
                                            echo "<img src=\"image.php?image_name=".$product_array[$np]->image."&amp;image_height=100&amp;image_width=110\" height=\"100\" alt=\"" . $product_array[$np]->name . " - " . $product_array[$np]->id ."\" />";
                                            }
                                        else{
                                            // Product placeholder generation (notice syntax)
                                            echo "<img src=\"image.php?image_name=images/No_image.jpg&amp;image_height=100&amp;image_width=110\" height=\"100\" alt=\"" . $product_array[$np]->name ." - " . $product_array[$np]->id . "\" />";
                                            }
                                    echo "</a></div>
                                    <div class=\"prod_text\">
                                    <a href=\"item.php?item_id=" . $product_array[$np]->id ."\">
                                        " . $product_array[$np]->name . "<br/></a>";
                                        echo "
                                   </div>
                                </div>";
                            }
                        }
                        $np = $np + $product_array[$np]->variations;
                        if($product_array[$np]->cat != $cat_id && $product_array[$np]->group != $group_id){
                            $loop_break_new = true;
                            $p = 4;
                        }
                    }
                    echo "</div>";
                }
            }
        }
    }    
    echo "Test_end";
} 


What am I missing?

Thanks.

Nicky

Where is $product_array coming from? You are count()'ing it as part of your for loop condition, but there is no $product_array in the scope of the function.

Make sure to read about variable scope.

$product_array is included from a separate file, I could post the entirity of both the scripts, but there's a lot of code that I don't think would mean too much. What confuses me is how only the last line is actually displayed when the function executes.

Nicky

All vars outside of a function will not be made available to the function unless passed through the () of the function or declared global inside the function (unless the var is a super global).

Thank you SO much! I'm a little perplexed as to why this is true, but hey, as long as I know what's up, that's what counts. This makes my life so much easier.

Thank you!

Nicky

Nicky, it works that way because once upon a time, like when I learned to program in BASIC back in 1981, it was all too easy to accidentally change the value of a variable from anywhere in the program. Imagine having to step through hundreds of lines of code to find that one little typo that threw everything off. Having come from a place where there were no functions or variable scope (we used GOTOs, and every variable was global), this way makes it so much easier to work.