php 5 and uninitialized variables

[steve]

i've setup a include page that's responsible for building the basic layout
of my web pages (header, menus, etc.). each page includes this
"sysheader.php" .

the first page i've built with this header is having odd results. its job is
to add users to the system. the variables i expect to be there are: id,
userName, password...stuf f like that. after the require_once
"sysheader.php" , i've put an "exit;" statement. the header shows perfectly.
if i try and access or set one of the expected variables, only part of the
header shows...crappin g out around the time it is building the company
logo - so that i see "<img src="http://www" and nothing else.

i've tried to set my own variable order and initialze the variables myself
like this:

$id = (isset($_POST['id']) ? $_POST['id'] : $_GET['id']);

but that doesn't work either. i've been running similarly constructed pages
successfully under php < 5...what am i missing now that i'm moving to php 5?

tia,

steve

[John Bokma]

steve wrote:

i've setup a include page that's responsible for building the basic
layout of my web pages (header, menus, etc.). each page includes this
"sysheader.php" .

the first page i've built with this header is having odd results. its
job is to add users to the system. the variables i expect to be there
are: id, userName, password...stuf f like that. after the require_once
"sysheader.php" , i've put an "exit;" statement. the header shows
perfectly. if i try and access or set one of the expected variables,
only part of the header shows...crappin g out around the time it is
building the company logo - so that i see "<img src="http://www" and
nothing else.

i've tried to set my own variable order and initialze the variables
myself like this:

$id = (isset($_POST['id']) ? $_POST['id'] : $_GET['id']);

REQUEST[ 'id' ] if my memory serves me correctly has either POST or GET
--
John MexIT: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/
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[Janwillem Borleffs]

steve wrote:

i've tried to set my own variable order and initialze the variables
myself like this:

$id = (isset($_POST['id']) ? $_POST['id'] : $_GET['id']);

but that doesn't work either. i've been running similarly constructed
pages successfully under php < 5...what am i missing now that i'm
moving to php 5?

You could also do something like:

$id = @$_REQUEST['id'];

This will catch the id when it's posted or passed as a GET parameter or
create an empty variable without warnings, whichever is appropriate.

Anyways, I'm almost certain that your code relies on register_global s being
enabled, while with PHP 5 it's disabled by default as it should.

Enable the register_global s directive in your php.ini file and check if the
code works. When it does, you will have to convert all code that relies on
register_global s, which also includes the session system.
JW

[steve]

| REQUEST[ 'id' ] if my memory serves me correctly has either POST or GET

thank for the info...didn't fix the problem though. any other ideas on how
to handle expected, yet uninitialized, variables? can i change something in
the php.ini file?

[Janwillem Borleffs]

steve wrote:

thank for the info...didn't fix the problem though. any other ideas
on how to handle expected, yet uninitialized, variables? can i change
something in the php.ini file?

Use isset() to check if they exist or prepend the @ sign to surpress error
messages. Don't mess with the error_reporting settings, because surpressing
notices and warnings at this level will only cause errors to be harder to
find.
JW

[steve]

| You could also do something like:
|
| $id = @$_REQUEST['id'];
|
| This will catch the id when it's posted or passed as a GET parameter or
| create an empty variable without warnings, whichever is appropriate.
|
| Anyways, I'm almost certain that your code relies on register_global s
being
| enabled, while with PHP 5 it's disabled by default as it should.
|
| Enable the register_global s directive in your php.ini file and check if
the
| code works. When it does, you will have to convert all code that relies on
| register_global s, which also includes the session system.

thanks for the input...it doesn't take care of the problem though. i have
register_global s=Off and did not have it set otherwise in previous versions
of php. enabling that setting in php 5 sends it merrily running on and on
until i have to kill the process manually.

i do get output but the buffer only spews until it hits the line of code
where a variable is utilized (set/get) but not initialized.

any further input is greatly apprecieated.

[steve]

| Use isset() to check if they exist or prepend the @ sign to surpress error
| messages. Don't mess with the error_reporting settings, because
surpressing
| notices and warnings at this level will only cause errors to be harder to
| find.

i have tried using isset() and the @ sign previously...bu t to no avail.
should i just turn on logging and see what php reports?

[Janwillem Borleffs]

steve wrote:

thanks for the input...it doesn't take care of the problem though. i
have register_global s=Off and did not have it set otherwise in
previous versions of php. enabling that setting in php 5 sends it
merrily running on and on until i have to kill the process manually.

i do get output but the buffer only spews until it hits the line of
code where a variable is utilized (set/get) but not initialized.

Okay, then it's time to try changing the error_reporting level. This will
only be a test, ensure to restore it to its original level when done
testing.

Go to the ini file and check that the error_reporting directive looks as
follows:

error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE

Then check if the scripts work now.
JW

[Janwillem Borleffs]

steve wrote:

i have tried using isset() and the @ sign previously...bu t to no
avail. should i just turn on logging and see what php reports?

Ah, so you don't see any error output, but the script just stops? Yes, then
you definitely need to enable logging.

You can enable the display_errors directive in the ini file for easy
debugging.
JW

[steve]

| Ah, so you don't see any error output, but the script just stops? Yes,
then
| you definitely need to enable logging.
|
| You can enable the display_errors directive in the ini file for easy
| debugging.

right...but this is also part of my quandry. display_errors is set to On
*and* i don't see any errors in my browser prior to the script crapping out.