Is it ok to use error_reporting(0) to get rid of error msg?

[varois83]

Hi

I am in the process of creating a guestbook for my site, I am a newbie
and used several tutorials and customized them to what I need using the
little knowledge I got.
I get the following error in my code:

Notice: Undefined variable: stars in c:\program
files\easyphp1-7\www\guestbook\add.php on line 60

Which I got to disappear with this locally in my code (PHP.ini still
set to 2047):

<?PHP
error_reporting(0);
?>

Is it ok to do that? Or is it a cheap quick fix? I want to learn PHP
the right way.

Thanks a bunch

Patrick

[steve]

"varois83" wrote:

Hi

I am in the process of creating a guestbook for my site, I am a newbie and used several tutorials and customized them to what I need using
the
little knowledge I got.
I get the following error in my code:

Notice: Undefined variable: stars in c:\program
files\easyphp1-7\www\guestbook\add.php on line 60

Which I got to disappear with this locally in my code (PHP.ini still set to 2047):

<?PHP
error_reporting(0);
?>

Is it ok to do that? Or is it a cheap quick fix? I want to learn PHP the right way.

Thanks a bunch

Patrick

Patrick, it is recommended that you keep as much error reporting as
possible, to make sure you have sufficiently debugged your code.

As far as undefined variables, it is always better to define them.
But I have found that I can work with undefined variables as well as
long as I am totally consistent about it. So it is the programmers
choice IMHO.

there are some great discussions in the comments section of
http://ca.php.net/manual/en/function...-reporting.php well worth
reading.

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[Geoff Berrow]

I noticed that Message-ID: <41**********@alt.athenanews.com> from steve
contained the following:

Posted using the http://www.dbforumz.com interface, at author's request
Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet standards

OBTopic: Putting a space before the quoting character is not showing
conformance.

--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

[Michael Fesser]

.oO(varois83)

I get the following error in my code:

Notice: Undefined variable: stars in c:\program
files\easyphp1-7\www\guestbook\add.php on line 60

Which I got to disappear with this locally in my code (PHP.ini still
set to 2047):

<?PHP
error_reporting(0);
?>

Is it ok to do that?
No.
Or is it a cheap quick fix? I want to learn PHP
the right way.

Set error_reporting to E_ALL in the php.ini on your development box and
fix the things PHP complains about. Even if it's just a notice -- it's
bad code and might lead to bugs which are hard to find. For example if
you write $fooBar one time and $foobar another: it's just a little typo,
but a real error because variables are case-sensitive. With E_ALL PHP
will show you a notice.

Some other things:

* Before using a variable for a read-access make sure it is set,
initialize it with an empty value if neccessary:

$aString = '';
$anInt = 0;
$anArray = array();

* Before using user-submitted variables like GET parameters always check
if they exists at all with isset():

if (isset($_GET['foo'])) ...

Micha

[varois83]

Patrick, it is recommended that you keep as much error reporting as
possible, to make sure you have sufficiently debugged your code.

As far as undefined variables, it is always better to define them.

Hi

Thanks for the help. Could you tell me how to define a variable in PHP?
Thanks a lot

Patrick

[steve]

"user2424" wrote:

I noticed that Message-ID: <41ef3143 [e-mail]> from steve
contained the following:

Posted using the http://www.dbforumz.com interface, at author’s request

Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet standards

OBTopic: Putting a space before the quoting character is not

showing conformance.

Thanks, Geoff. Can you provide a reference on this.

[steve]

"varois83" wrote:

Patrick, it is recommended that you keep as much error

reporting as

possible, to make sure you have sufficiently debugged your

code.

As far as undefined variables, it is always better to define

them.

Hi

Thanks for the help. Could you tell me how to define a
variable in PHP?
Thanks a lot

Patrick

The point is you can say

if ($a ==1) $b = 2;

here, $b is defined only if the condition is met. If then later on,
you call on $b (and the condition was not met) then you get a
"undefined" warning from php. So defensive programming would call
for:

if ($a ==1) {
$b = 2;
}
else {
$b = ’’;
}

There are also shorthand ways of doing that. There is obviously more
code to write, but the result would be more solid.

On the other hand, you can just accept undefined as a value, and turn
the warning reporting off. But the first way is recommended.

--
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Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet standards
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[Andy Hassall]

On 20 Jan 2005 13:44:11 -0500, steve <Us************@dbForumz.com> wrote:

"user2424" wrote:

I noticed that Message-ID: <41ef3143

[e-mail]>

from steve
contained the following:

Posted using the http://www.dbforumz.com interface, at

author’s request

Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet standards

OBTopic: Putting a space before the quoting character is not

showing

conformance.

Thanks, Geoff. Can you provide a reference on this.

There's this draft:

http://www.karlsruhe.org/rfc/draft-i...-useage-00.txt
"
3.2.2.1. Quoting and Attributions

[...]

When a followup agent incorporates the "precursor" as a quotation, it
MUST be distinguished from the surrounding text in some way, and
SHOULD be so dintinguished by prefacing each line of the quoted text
(even if it is empty) with the character ">" (or perhaps with "> " in
the case of a previously unquoted line). This will result in multiple
levels of ">" when quoted content itself contains quoted content, and
it will also facilitate the automatic analysis of articles.
"

Although as the document notes, "It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as
reference material". I don't know off the top of my head any official document
that defines quoting prefixes. ">", no leading space, is certainly the de facto
standard.

--
Andy Hassall / <an**@andyh.co.uk> / <http://www.andyh.co.uk>
<http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space> Space: disk usage analysis tool

[steve]

"Andy Hassall" wrote:

On 20 Jan 2005 13:44:11 -0500, steve
<Us************@dbForumz.com> wrote:

"user2424" wrote:

&nbsp;> > I noticed that Message-ID: &lt;41ef3143

[e-mail]&gt;

&nbsp;> > from steve
&nbsp;> > contained the following:
&nbsp;> >
&nbsp;&nbsp;> > >Posted using the http://www.dbforumz.com
interface, at
&nbsp;> > author’s request
&nbsp;&nbsp;> > >Articles individually checked for conformance
to usenet standards
&nbsp;> >
&nbsp;> > OBTopic: Putting a space before the quoting
character is not

showing

&nbsp;> > conformance.
&nbsp;> >

Thanks, Geoff. Can you provide a reference on this.

There's this draft:

http://www.karlsruhe.org/rfc/draft-i...-useage-00.txt
"
3.2.2.1. Quoting and Attributions

[...]

When a followup agent incorporates the "precursor" as a
quotation, it
MUST be distinguished from the surrounding text in some
way, and
SHOULD be so dintinguished by prefacing each line of the
quoted text
(even if it is empty) with the character "&gt;" (or perhaps
with "&gt; " in
the case of a previously unquoted line). This will result
in multiple
levels of "&gt;" when quoted content itself contains quoted
content, and
it will also facilitate the automatic analysis of articles.
"

Although as the document notes, "It is inappropriate to use
Internet-Drafts as
reference material". I don't know off the top of my head any
official document
that defines quoting prefixes. ">", no leading space, is
certainly the de facto
standard.

--
Andy Hassall / <an**@andyh.co.uk> / <http://www.andyh.co.uk>
<http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space> Space: disk usage
analysis tool

Thanks, Andy and Geoff. I guess using multiple forward slashes to
indent quotes, and then also using spaces to tab is redundant.

[Geoff Berrow]

I noticed that Message-ID: <o2********************************@4ax.com>
from Andy Hassall contained the following:

Although as the document notes, "It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as
reference material". I don't know off the top of my head any official document
that defines quoting prefixes. ">", no leading space, is certainly the de facto
standard.

Agreed.

--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

[Chung Leong]

"steve" <Us************@dbForumz.com> wrote in message
news:41**********@alt.athenanews.com...

Patrick, it is recommended that you keep as much error reporting as
possible, to make sure you have sufficiently debugged your code.

I wouldn't go so far as to imply that keeping error_reporting high can
somehow improve the quality of your code. It doesn't. A PHP script that
doesn't print out error messages is like a C program that successfully
compiles. The computer might not see any problem, but the computer is also
stupid as hell. It has absolutely no clue how your program is supposed to
work. To its assertion that a piece of code is error-free I wouldn't attach
any value.

Error_reporting is a tool for fixing bugs, that's all. Most of the time it's
useful. If you decide not to use it, that's fine too.

[varois83]

The point is you can say

if ($a ==1) $b = 2;

here, $b is defined only if the condition is met. If then later on,
you call on $b (and the condition was not met) then you get a
"undefined" warning from php. So defensive programming would call
for:

if ($a ==1) {
$b = 2;
}
else {
$b = '';
}

Hi Steve and everybody who was kind to answer.

Thanks to your example Steve I got it now. I am a newbie and some
concepts are sometimes hard to grasp at first.
I haven't fixed my code but I know where the error comes from now.
I have a portion of my guestbook code used for language filter.
When the code processes a bad word it doesn't send the error message as
the variable in charge of replacing the bad word with **** has a value,
but when it compares a good word, a portion of the code isn't processed
so now the variable in charge of assigning the **** which replace the
bad word has no value so the error pops up.
Thanks a bunch to everybody

Patrick