Illegal Offset & Other Assorted Errors

[ForumGuy22]

Got a couple of errors on a little script I'm trying to write. The error messages are:

Warning: Illegal offset type in /home/poison1/public_html/wp-content/themes/thesis_17/custom/custom_functions.php  on line 25
 
Warning: setcookie() expects parameter 1 to be string, object given in /home/poison1/public_html/wp-content/themes/thesis_17/custom/custom_functions.php on line 28

The function that's causing the trouble is:

function setcookielive($name="Believe_Adwords", $value=1, $expire=0, $path="/", $domain=".nickholliday.com", $secure=false, $httponly=false) {
    //set a cookie as usual, but ALSO add it to $_COOKIE so the current page load has access
    $_COOKIE[$name] = $value;
    $expire=time()+3888000;
    $value=$_GET['gclid'];
    return setcookie($name,$value,$expire,$path,$domain,$secure,$httponly);
} 

Line #25 is the line that starts with $_COOKIE and line #28 is the return line.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Atli]

Hey.

It would appear that you are passing the function an invalid value for the first parameter. If you add a var_dump($name) in there, what does it print?

It's always a good idea to verify input values in function like that. Especially if you plan to reuse them. It gives you better debug data, and spares the user having to see the errors.

[Dormilich]

the second error tells you what’s up, in both lines, you feed an object instead of the expected String.

[ForumGuy22]

Here's what I got when I did var_dump($name):

object(WP)#140 (9) {
 ["public_query_vars"]=>  array(47) {
  [0]=>  string(1) "m"
  [1]=>  string(1) "p"
  [2]=>  string(5) "posts"
  [3]=>  string(1) "w"
  [4]=>  string(3) "cat"
  [5]=>  string(12) "withcomments"
  [6]=>  string(15) "withoutcomments"
  [7]=>  string(1) "s"
  [8]=>  string(6) "search"
  [9]=>  string(5) "exact"
  [10]=>  string(8) "sentence"
  [11]=>  string(5) "debug"
  [12]=>  string(8) "calendar"
  [13]=>  string(4) "page"
  [14]=>  string(5) "paged"
  [15]=>  string(4) "more"
  [16]=>  string(2) "tb"
  [17]=>  string(2) "pb"
  [18]=>  string(6) "author"
  [19]=>  string(5) "order"
  [20]=>  string(7) "orderby"
  [21]=>  string(4) "year"
  [22]=>  string(8) "monthnum"
  [23]=>  string(3) "day"
  [24]=>  string(4) "hour"
  [25]=>  string(6) "minute"
  [26]=>  string(6) "second"
  [27]=>  string(4) "name"
  [28]=>  string(13) "category_name"
  [29]=>  string(3) "tag"
  [30]=>  string(4) "feed"
  [31]=>  string(11) "author_name"
  [32]=>  string(6) "static"
  [33]=>  string(8) "pagename"
  [34]=>  string(7) "page_id"
  [35]=>  string(5) "error"
  [36]=>  string(14) "comments_popup"
  [37]=>  string(10) "attachment"
  [38]=>  string(13) "attachment_id"
  [39]=>  string(7) "subpost"
  [40]=>  string(10) "subpost_id"
  [41]=>  string(7) "preview"
  [42]=>  string(6) "robots"
  [43]=>  string(8) "taxonomy"
  [44]=>  string(4) "term"
  [45]=>  string(5) "cpage"
  [46]=>  string(9) "post_type"
 }
 ["private_query_vars"]=>  array(19) {
  [0]=>  string(6) "offset"
  [1]=>  string(14) "posts_per_page"
  [2]=>  string(22) "posts_per_archive_page"
  [3]=>  string(9) "showposts"
  [4]=>  string(8) "nopaging"
  [5]=>  string(9) "post_type"
  [6]=>  string(11) "post_status"
  [7]=>  string(12) "category__in"
  [8]=>  string(16) "category__not_in"
  [9]=>  string(13) "category__and"
  [10]=>  string(7) "tag__in"
  [11]=>  string(11) "tag__not_in"
  [12]=>  string(8) "tag__and"
  [13]=>  string(12) "tag_slug__in"
  [14]=>  string(13) "tag_slug__and"
  [15]=>  string(6) "tag_id"
  [16]=>  string(14) "post_mime_type"
  [17]=>  string(4) "perm"
  [18]=>  string(17) "comments_per_page"
 }
 ["extra_query_vars"]=>  array(0) { }
 ["query_vars"]=>  array(0) { }
 ["query_string"]=>  NULL
 ["request"]=>  string(0) ""
 ["matched_rule"]=>  NULL
 ["matched_query"]=>  NULL 
 ["did_permalink"]=>  bool(false) 
} 

"the second error tells you what’s up, in both lines, you feed an object instead of the expected String."

Unfortunately I don't understand what that means. As far as I can tell, I'm setting $name to be the string "Believe_Adwords"

I'm pretty new to script writing so you'll have to pardon my lack of context!

[Dormilich]

As far as I can tell, I'm setting $name to be the string "Believe_Adwords"

see the first word in the output? it says "object" (and it further says, it’s of the WP class)

[ForumGuy22]

@Dormilich
Right, I understand that. What I'm saying is I don't understand why it would be an object when I did what my tutorials said would set a variable.

I don't even know what an object is. When I google it, all I get is stuff about object-oriented programming.

[Dormilich]

I don't even know what an object is. When I google it, all I get is stuff about object-oriented programming.

well, that’s why it is called object-oriented programming …

how do you call the setcookielive() function?

do you use Wordpress?

[ForumGuy22]

Yes, I'm using Wordpress. I call the function from my "custom_function.php" file. I add it as an action to the "send_headers" part of a Wordpress page.

I previously just called the setcookie() function in this same context and everything worked great -- except that the page had to be refreshed before I could access the new cookie value.

Here's my whole custom_functions.php. It includes the old function (commented out) that worked with no problem:

<?php
 
// Using hooks is absolutely the smartest, most bulletproof way to implement things like plugins,
// custom design elements, and ads. You can add your hook calls below, and they should take the 
// following form:
// add_action('thesis_hook_name', 'function_name');
// The function you name above will run at the location of the specified hook. The example
// hook below demonstrates how you can insert Thesis' default recent posts widget above
// the content in Sidebar 1:
// add_action('thesis_hook_before_sidebar_1', 'thesis_widget_recent_posts');
 
// Delete this line, including the dashes to the left, and add your hooks in its place.
 
 
/* Function from http://believedesign.net/php/how-to-track-customer-phone-calls-generated-through-adwords 
function add_cookie() {
if ($_GET['gclid']) {
$expire=time()+3888000;
setcookie("Believe_Adwords",$_GET['gclid'],$expire,"/",".nickholliday.com");
}
}
 
add_action('send_headers','add_cookie'); */
 
 
 
/* Function to make cookie go live on the first load of page */
function setcookielive($name="Believe_Adwords", $value=1, $expire=0, $path="/", $domain=".nickholliday.com", $secure=false, $httponly=false) {
    //set a cookie as usual, but ALSO add it to $_COOKIE so the current page load has access
    $_COOKIE[$name] = $value;
    $expire=time()+3888000;
    $value=$_GET['gclid'];
    return setcookie($name,$value,$expire,$path,$domain,$secure,$httponly);
} 
 
add_action('send_headers','setcookielive'); 
 
 
/* Function from http://believedesign.net/php/how-to-track-customer-phone-calls-generated-through-adwords */
function get_phone_number($atts) {
    echo (isset($_COOKIE['Believe_Adwords'])) ? '555-0968-5566' : '555-8979-4567';
}
 
add_shortcode('get-phone-number','get_phone_number');
?>

[Dormilich]

what does the add_action() function do?

[ForumGuy22]

I believe add_action() is a wordpress thing that tells wordpress where in the page to insert your function.

So in my theme, I could have done

add_action('add_cookie','thesis_hook_after_header');

and that would have put that function after my page header. Of course it wouldn't have worked because I have to set the cookies in the http headers.

[Dormilich]

the add_action() function is responsible, why you have an object instead of a string.

[ForumGuy22]

In that case, why would the add_cookie() function work fine, but the setcookielive() function doesn't?

[Dormilich]

because add_cookie() does not accept parameters.

[ForumGuy22]

Why didn't you say so! :)

I was able to solve my problem. Thank you for your help!

So, a function with parameters is an object, but a function without parameters is not?

[Markus]

@Nick Holliday
No. A function with parameters is a function with parameters. A function with no parameters is a function with no parameters. An object is an instance of a class.

// Just a function
function say_hello() 
{
  echo 'Hello!', PHP_EOL;
}
// Again, just a function
function say_hello_ex($greeting) 
{
  echo $greeting, PHP_EOL;
}
 
// A class
class Person 
{
  private $name;
  private $age;
 
  public function __construct($name, $age)
  {
     $this->name = $name;
     $this->age  = $age;
  }
  public function getName() { return $this->name; }
  public function setName($name) { $this->name = $name; }
  public function getAge() { return $this->age; }
  public function setAge($age) { $this->age = $age; }
}
 
// An object: an instance of a class.
$person = new Person('Mark', 19);
 
printf("Person's name: %s, Age: %d\n",
    $person->getName(),
    $person->getAge()
);
 
say_hello();
say_hello_ex("Greetings, " . $person->getName());
 

Mark.

[ForumGuy22]

Thanks for that explanation.

Does that mean that in the following code that $name had been defined as an object (I understood Dormilich to say it was an object) elsewhere on my wordpress site?

# function setcookielive($name="Believe_Adwords", $value=1, $expire=0, $path="/", $domain=".nickholliday.com", $secure=false, $httponly=false) {
#     //set a cookie as usual, but ALSO add it to $_COOKIE so the current page load has access
#     $_COOKIE[$name] = $value;
#     $expire=time()+3888000;
#     $value=$_GET['gclid'];
#     return setcookie($name,$value,$expire,$path,$domain,$secure,$httponly);
# } 

[Dormilich]

no. that’s the doing of add_action(). that function is passing a WP object as first argument to setcookielive().

[ForumGuy22]

@Dormilich
so send_headers() is an object?

[Dormilich]

the 'send_headers' in

add_action('send_headers','add_cookie');

is a string. but unless I know how add_action actually works, I can’t tell you, what’s passed to add_cookie() and why. I only can assume that it is some kind of event which is part of WordPress.

to give an analogy, in JavaScript, event handlers pass an event object as parameter to the function. (note the similarity in the calls)

function doSomething(a)
{
    alert(a);
}
window.addEventListener("load", doSomething, false);
 
// should show something like
// [object Event]

[Jyoti Ballabh]

thanks for the solution folks, I was facing a problem akin to this one.