On Tue, 2018-05-29 at 16:38 -0700, Jeff wrote: > > On May 29, 2018, at 1:25 PM, John <john.iliffe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > On Tue, 2018-05-29 at 22:06 +0200, Christoph M. Becker wrote: > > > On 29.05.2018 at 16:18, John wrote: > > > > > > > Thanks for your reply Christoph. From your and other comments it > > > > appears > > > > that I > > > > can't do what I was trying to do. > > > > > > > > On the one hand, it is satisfying that I wasn't making a mistake; on the > > > > other, > > > > I sure wish there was a way to avoid passing all these variables in > > > > PHP! In > > > > a > > > > way it makes the "function" command far less valuable than it should be! > > > > > > On the contrary, I'd say! If I see a variable inside a function body, I > > > almost immediately know that it is a local variable or a function > > > parameter (or a superglobal), unless there is a global “declaration”. > > > Even better, each time I add a global “declaration”, I'm reminded to > > > think of a better way to express myself, and if I see a lengthy list of > > > globals, I know that the code will be hard to maintain. See also > > > <http://wiki.c2.com/?GlobalVariablesAreBad>. > > > > > > > Well, it's certainly one point of view, and I don't disagree with most of > > it. > > > > On the other hand, I would assume that the word "global" really means > > global, > > that is, in scope to the entire script, and I think most programming > > languages > > with which I have worked follow this convention. > > > > It is necessary to be aware of the programme structure and define variables > > in > > the proper scope - if the variable is local, then define it in local scope, > > if > > it is required throughout the script or programme, then put it in global > > scope. > > > > The reference you gave mentions that conflicts could occur with variable > > names > > within a a function but I think this would simply hide the conflicting > > global > > (but I confess to being unsure about that in PHP). > > > > For full disclosure here, I am not a programmer and never have been; simply > > run > > a web site for a small publishing company and I am the sysadmin, web > > designer, > > operator, network specialist and you name it. I worked in IT in operations > > for > > many years on IBM mainframes before I retired; I'm in my late 70's now and > > all > > this is simply to keep me out of trouble! There's nothing on earth more > > terrifying that a bored retiree with time on his hands. > > > > Thanks again. > > > > John > > Hi again; > We have some things in common, but not including employment. > I am a developer who does this for a hobby and to maintain my own > portfolio site and another for a stained glass artist friend. > > This may be off, but as I understand it, in c programming, if you compile a > separate > source file with its own globals, those globals aren’t necessarily global to > the whole > program in which the compiled source file is included. > > But what I do when I have a lot of otherwise globals, as in procedural code, I > create > as class definition and create private static variable for reference. These > variables > can be initiated and/or configured with the use of a constructor function > inside the > class definition. The idea is that global variables are exposed to all sorts > of scripts > and functions and can be altered or used by functions and code that shouldn’t > be > using and/or altering them. But, I have been programming self processing > html/php > files that present and manage user interface elements. So one class definition > can > be used to service all requests, for the most part. The class definition, can > in turn, > include or require other script files to supplement. These supplemental files > can > contain “global” variable definitions with default initialization. These > cannot be altered > accept through brute force rewrite of the script file they are defined in. > > http://php.net/manual/en/book.classobj.php > > I hope this is useful. > Jeff K > Thanks for the suggestion Jeff. It does sound workable in what I am doing here, which is basically reporting, where the report format varies depending on characteristics of the data, but the data is being read in a loop from core database code that is the mainline of the script. Since several different formats can occur on succeeding pages I wrote a separate function. That is, read the data, decide the report format, and call the appropriate page routine. It is going to take a while for me to fully understand the reference that you sent but it does look like the solution, in this case anyway. My sincere thanks for your assistance and patience. John ========================================= -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
