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Php variable is activated when I call it from index file but not from included file?

Answer 1

+1 A:

Switch out include_once to require_once. If you are getting errors, it means your paths are incorrect and such the files aren't loaded.

Is $lang really having any value when its declared in the common.php file?

Logically yes, but var_dump($lang); at the end of common.php will tell you for sure.

Edit: as poke suggests, the $lang might be set to anything. You should whitelist it by switching out:

if(isSet($_GET['lang'])) {
    $lang = $_GET['lang'];    
    // register the session and set the cookie
    $_SESSION['lang'] = $lang;    
    setcookie("lang", $lang, time() + (3600 * 24 * 30));
} else if(isSet($_SESSION['lang'])) {
    $lang = $_SESSION['lang'];
} else if(isSet($_COOKIE['lang'])) {
    $lang = $_COOKIE['lang'];
} else {
    $lang = 'en';
}

to

// set default value
$lang = 'en';

// which languages are accepted?
$available_languages = array('en', 'es', 'tw', 'cn');

if(isset($_GET['lang']) && in_array($_GET['lang'], $available_languages)) {
    $lang = $_GET['lang'];    
} else if(isSet($_SESSION['lang']) && in_array($_SESSION['lang'], $available_languages)) {
    $lang = $_SESSION['lang'];
} else if(isSet($_COOKIE['lang']) && in_array($_COOKIE['lang'], $available_languages)) {
    $lang = $_COOKIE['lang'];
}

// save new value in each case
$_SESSION['lang'] = $lang;    
setcookie("lang", $lang, time() + (3600 * 24 * 30));

chelmertz 2010-02-21 17:52:23

i did the var dump and the following appeared: array(1) { ["h1"]=> string(10) "Hola Mundo" }

janoChen 2010-02-21 18:52:43

I still think you should refactor to the code which is mentioned in my edit.

chelmertz 2010-02-21 19:14:58

Answer 2

+2 A:

Yes, it will definitely be set, given that you have a if/else structure where you set the variable in each block. So after the if/else, it definitely has a value. However this value can be empty (an empty string ''), given that you just copy the value from $_GET, or $_SESSION.

To be safe, you should set $lang to en in the default part of your switch, to be really safe. Then it will always have a real value (that will also work with your application).

poke 2010-02-21 17:53:32

Answer 3

+1 A:

The $lang variable is set at the top of your common.php file ; and you are then trying to use it from the content of index.php.

But, between the top of common.php and the content of index.php, you are including the languages/lang.XX.php file.

Are you sure there is not something, in that lang.XX.php file, that overrides the content of the $lang variable ?

Judging from this other question (To which I answered, and this question here seems like a follow-up of that question there -- I didn't really notice that the $lang variable was being overriden), lang.en.php contains this :

<?php
$lang = array(
    'h1' => 'Hello World',
);
?>

Which overrides the $lang variable :

in common.php it is used to store the language code
in lang.en.php is it overriden, set to an array of string
which means that, later, in index.php, it cannot be equal to the language code -- and the condition to set the CSS class fails.

Pascal MARTIN 2010-02-21 18:11:22

Yes you are right, it was being overriden.When I did `var_dump($lang);` the following appeared: `array(1) { ["h1"]=> string(10) "Hola Mundo" }` I used `$lang_file` instead: <li><a href="index.php?lang=en" <?php if($lang_file=='lang.en.php') {echo 'class="current"';} ?>>English</a></li>and it worked.

janoChen 2010-02-21 19:09:17

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Php variable is activated when I call it from index file but not from included file?

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