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Old Dec 6th, 2007, 7:11 AM   #1
davil
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Opposite of global in functions
Hi all,,

Another stupid question from me...

I know that in order to use a variable from your main php within a function you need to use
global $variable

but I was wondering how you can set a variable within a function and get it to carry out into the main PHP. now I know a bit about return but I'm unsure how to return what I need... I thought about returning an array with 1 and my variable instead of true... but it's hard to evaluate when coming out of the function.

Here's my code. all my functions are stored in an 'include' file but I have simplified what's going on:
php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
  1. $redfont = "<font color='#FF0000'>";
  2.  
  3.  
  4. //example datestamp... usually it would pull loads of these in this form from a MySQL database.
  5. $datestamp="2007-12-25";
  6.  
  7. //--------------------------------------------
  8. // Fix Report date for Irish people etc.
  9. $irishdate=FixDateStamp($datestamp,1);
  10. $usdate=FixDateStamp($datestamp,2);
  11. // --------------------------------------------------
  12.  
  13. // how old is report?
  14. if (CheckDateOld($datestamp,60)){$reportdatefont=$redfont;}
  15.  
  16. $todaysdate = date('l dS \o\f F Y');
  17.  
  18.  
  19. echo "REPORT DATE = <B>$reportdatefont$irishdate [ Report is $daysold days old ]</b><br>";
  20. echo "TODAYS DATE = $todaysate";
  21.  
  22.  
  23.  
  24.  
  25. //end of Primary PHP
  26.  
  27. //------------------------------------ FUNCTIONS -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  28.  
  29. function FixDateStamp($dategiven,$type)
  30. {
  31. if ($type==1){
  32. 	$reportdat = explode ("-",$dategiven);
  33. 	$reportyear = $reportdat[0];
  34. 	$reportmonth = $reportdat[1];
  35. 	$reportday = $reportdat[2];
  36. 	$reportdate = implode ("-",$reportdat);
  37. 	$reportdateus =  $reportmonth. "/" . $reportday."/" .$reportyear;
  38. 	$reportdatefixed =  strtotime($reportdateus);
  39. 	$datefixedone = date('l dS \o\f F Y', $reportdatefixed);
  40. 	return $datefixedone;
  41.               }
  42. elseif ($type==2){
  43. $reportdat = explode ("-",$dategiven);
  44. 	$reportyear = $reportdat[0];
  45. 	$reportmonth = $reportdat[1];
  46. 	$reportday = $reportdat[2];
  47. 	$reportdate = implode ("-",$reportdat);
  48. 	$reportdateus =  $reportmonth. "/" . $reportday."/" .$reportyear;
  49. 	return $reportdateus;
  50. 		 }
  51. else{
  52. 	return "-na-";
  53.     }
  54. }
  55. //--------------------------------------------------
  56. function CheckDateOld($date,$howlong)
  57. {
  58. 	$reportdat = explode ("-",$date);
  59. 	$reportyear = $reportdat[0];
  60. 	$reportmonth = $reportdat[1];
  61. 	$reportday = $reportdat[2];
  62. 	$reportdate = implode ("-",$reportdat);
  63. 	$usdate =  $reportmonth. "/" . $reportday."/" .$reportyear;
  64. 	$daysold = floor((time() - strtotime($usdate))/86400);
  65. 	if ($daysold > $howlong){return true;}
  66. }
  67.  
  68.  
  69. //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

and this code works fine except for the $daysold bit... it works within the function but outside of the function it does not work... so I thought maybe something like this:

(I HAVE LEFT OUT MOST OF THE PHP FOR READABILITY AND ONLY SHOWN THe PARTS I THOUGHT I WOULD EDIT)
php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
  1. // how old is report?
  2. if (CheckDateOld($datestamp,60)[0]==1){$reportdatefont=$redfont;}
  3.  
  4. //and
  5.  
  6. echo "Report is ".CheckDateOld($datestamp,60)[1]." days old";
  7.  
  8. //--------------------------------------------------------------------
  9. function CheckDateOld($date,$howlong)
  10. {
  11. 	$daysarray=array();
  12. 	$reportdat = explode ("-",$date);
  13. 	$reportyear = $reportdat[0];
  14. 	$reportmonth = $reportdat[1];
  15. 	$reportday = $reportdat[2];
  16. 	$reportdate = implode ("-",$reportdat);
  17. 	$usdate =  $reportmonth. "/" . $reportday."/" .$reportyear;
  18. 	$daysold = floor((time() - strtotime($usdate))/86400);
  19. 	$daysarray[1]=$daysold;
  20. 	if ($daysold > $howlong){$daysarray[0]=1;}
  21. 	return $daysarray;
  22. }

but I presume it would be much easier if I could just set a variable for $daysold within the function like in my first bit of code but have it stay outside the function... I have googled "php functions global" and a load of variations but I cannot find what I need.
So is there a command I can use to set a variable within my function and get it to stay out in my main code, or should I use an array and call the function twice, as in my second bit of code?
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Old Dec 7th, 2007, 12:03 AM   #2
Sane
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Re: Opposite of global in functions
Nope, sorry. That's the whole point of return. To give value(s) obtained from inside a function back to the calling scope.

If you REALLY wanted some way around that, you could define a global and assign it a value from inside the function. Then use this global normally outside the function. So the inverse of what you wanted, except it would behave how you require.

There are also more complicated data structures that can make returning multiple values, or passing multiple values between functions easier. But that would just make this whole situation that much more unecessarily complicated for you.
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Old Dec 7th, 2007, 3:58 AM   #3
davil
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Re: Opposite of global in functions
Thanks for your concise reply. I get it now.
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Old Dec 7th, 2007, 4:07 AM   #4
davil
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Re: Opposite of global in functions
Although I have just tried what you said and it doesn't seem to work.
here's my code
php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
  1. $daysold="";
  2.  
  3. if (CheckDateOld($datestamp,60)){$reportdatefont=$redfont;}
  4. echo "days old=$daysold";
  5. //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  6. function CheckDateOld($date,$howlong)
  7. {
  8. 	global $daysold;
  9. 	$reportdat = explode ("-",$date);
  10. 	$reportyear = $reportdat[0];
  11. 	$reportmonth = $reportdat[1];
  12. 	$reportday = $reportdat[2];
  13. 	$reportdate = implode ("-",$reportdat);
  14. 	$usdate =  $reportmonth. "/" . $reportday."/" .$reportyear;
  15. 	$daysold = floor((time() - strtotime($usdate))/86400);
  16. 	if ($daysold > $howlong){return true;}
  17. }

$daysold echoes out blank.

I suppose I'll just use return to get the info back out
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Old Dec 7th, 2007, 7:54 AM   #5
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Re: Opposite of global in functions
Try this. I've never had to do this before though, because I always do it the other way. This is untested.

(Toggle Plain Text) 
global $daysold;
$daysold="";

if (CheckDateOld($datestamp,60)){$reportdatefont=$redfont;}
echo "days old=$daysold";
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function CheckDateOld($date,$howlong)
{
	$reportdat = explode ("-",$date);
	$reportyear = $reportdat[0];
	$reportmonth = $reportdat[1];
	$reportday = $reportdat[2];
	$reportdate = implode ("-",$reportdat);
	$usdate =  $reportmonth. "/" . $reportday."/" .$reportyear;
	$daysold = floor((time() - strtotime($usdate))/86400);
	if ($daysold > $howlong){return true;}
}
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Old Dec 7th, 2007, 11:01 AM   #6
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Re: Opposite of global in functions
By the way... is there any reason you can't just do something like this?

php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
  1. define('INVALID_DATE', -1);
  2.  
  3. function CheckDateOld($date,$howlong)
  4. {
  5. 	$reportdat = explode ("-",$date);
  6. 	$reportyear = $reportdat[0];
  7. 	$reportmonth = $reportdat[1];
  8. 	$reportday = $reportdat[2];
  9. 	$reportdate = implode ("-",$reportdat);
  10. 	$usdate =  $reportmonth. "/" . $reportday."/" .$reportyear;
  11. 	$daysold = floor((time() - strtotime($usdate))/86400);
  12.         if ($daysold > $howlong) {
  13.             return $daysold;
  14.         }
  15.         else {
  16.             return INVALID_DATE;
  17.         }
  18. }
  19.  
  20. $daysold = CheckDateOld($datestamp,60)
  21. if ($daysold != INVALID_DATE){
  22.     $reportdatefont=$redfont;
  23.     echo "Days Old: $daysold";
  24. }
  25. else {
  26.     // Do something else?
  27. }
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Old Dec 12th, 2007, 7:51 AM   #7
davil
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Re: Opposite of global in functions
Thanks that does exactly what I need!! I just never thought of it that way
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Old Dec 19th, 2007, 5:40 AM   #8
davil
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Re: Opposite of global in functions
In fact when I checked your code there's no need now for the $howlong paramater passing to the function... so here's my new code..

Thanks again...

php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
  1. function CheckDateOld($date)
  2.  
  3. {
  4. $reportdat = explode ("-",$date);
  5. $reportyear = $reportdat[0];
  6. $reportmonth = $reportdat[1];
  7. $reportday = $reportdat[2];
  8. $reportdate = implode ("-",$reportdat);
  9. $usdate = $reportmonth. "/" . $reportday."/" .$reportyear;
  10. $daysold = floor((time() - strtotime($usdate))/86400);
  11. return $daysold;
  12. }
  13.  
  14.  
  15.  
  16.  
  17. $redfont="<font color='#FF0000'><b>";
  18. $redfont="<font color='#0000FF'>";
  19.  
  20. $daysold = CheckDateOld($datestamp);
  21. if ($daysold>60){$reportdatefont=$redfont;}else{ $reportdatefont=$bluefont; }
  22. echo "$reportdatefont$daysold</b>";
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