Very Weird Behavior

[Alan Little]

I started with the following code in an included file:

$CompanyBlock =
"$Company (Booth#: $Booth)\n".
"$Address\n ".
"$City, $State $PostalCode\n".
"$Website\n ".
"$Contact1, $Title1\n".
"Tel: $Phone\n".
"Fax: $Fax\n".
"Email: $Email1\n".
"Products/Services: $ProductService \n".
"Objectives : ";

I wanted to make some of the items conditional, but in so doing, I forgot
to change some of the . to ; and ended up with:

$CompanyBlock = $Company;
if ($Booth) $CompanyBlock.= " (Booth#: $Booth)";

$CompanyBlock.=
"\n".
"$Address\n ".
"$City, $State $PostalCode\n";

if ($Website) $CompanyBlock.= "$Website\n ";
if ($Contact1) $CompanyBlock.= "$Contact1" ;
if ($Title1) $CompanyBlock.= ", $Title1"; $CompanyBlock.= "\n";
if ($Phone) $CompanyBlock.= "Tel: $Phone\n".
if ($Fax) $CompanyBlock.= "Fax: $Fax\n".
if ($Email1) $CompanyBlock.= "Email: $Email1\n".
if ($ProductServic e)
$CompanyBlock.= "Products/Services: $ProductService \n".

$CompanyBlock.= "Objectives : ";

The result? The file returns with no execution, not even of code before
the problem, and with no error message, not so much as a notice. It took
me a good while to narrow it down and spot the problem (there's quite a
bit of code before this in the file). I knew the file was being called,
but even an echo statement at the very beginning produced no output. The
execution of the main script was not affected.

I thought this might save someone else a bit of time if they happen to
have the same problem.

--
Alan Little
Phorm PHP Form Processor

http://www.phorm.com/

[Erwin Moller]

Re: Very Weird Behavior

Alan Little wrote:
[color=blue]
> I started with the following code in an included file:
>
> $CompanyBlock =
> "$Company (Booth#: $Booth)\n".
> "$Address\n ".
> "$City, $State $PostalCode\n".
> "$Website\n ".
> "$Contact1, $Title1\n".
> "Tel: $Phone\n".
> "Fax: $Fax\n".
> "Email: $Email1\n".
> "Products/Services: $ProductService \n".
> "Objectives : ";
>
> I wanted to make some of the items conditional, but in so doing, I forgot
> to change some of the . to ; and ended up with:
>
> $CompanyBlock = $Company;
> if ($Booth) $CompanyBlock.= " (Booth#: $Booth)";
>
> $CompanyBlock.=
> "\n".
> "$Address\n ".
> "$City, $State $PostalCode\n";
>
> if ($Website) $CompanyBlock.= "$Website\n ";
> if ($Contact1) $CompanyBlock.= "$Contact1" ;
> if ($Title1) $CompanyBlock.= ", $Title1"; $CompanyBlock.= "\n";
> if ($Phone) $CompanyBlock.= "Tel: $Phone\n".
> if ($Fax) $CompanyBlock.= "Fax: $Fax\n".
> if ($Email1) $CompanyBlock.= "Email: $Email1\n".
> if ($ProductServic e)
> $CompanyBlock.= "Products/Services: $ProductService \n".
>
> $CompanyBlock.= "Objectives : ";
>
> The result? The file returns with no execution, not even of code before
> the problem, and with no error message, not so much as a notice. It took
> me a good while to narrow it down and spot the problem (there's quite a
> bit of code before this in the file). I knew the file was being called,
> but even an echo statement at the very beginning produced no output. The
> execution of the main script was not affected.
>
> I thought this might save someone else a bit of time if they happen to
> have the same problem.
>[/color]


Sorry, I think you code in a weird way..
What do you expect from if($varname) ?
Does your script rely on registerglobals = on?

Of course I cannot see the rest of your setup, so maybe I am talking bull.
;-)

Regards,
Erwin Moller

[Alan Little]

Re: Very Weird Behavior

Carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock, the last words of
Erwin Moller of comp.lang.php make plain:
[color=blue][color=green]
>> The result? The file returns with no execution, not even of code
>> before the problem, and with no error message, not so much as a
>> notice. It took me a good while to narrow it down and spot the
>> problem (there's quite a bit of code before this in the file). I knew
>> the file was being called, but even an echo statement at the very
>> beginning produced no output. The execution of the main script was
>> not affected.
>>
>> I thought this might save someone else a bit of time if they happen
>> to have the same problem.[/color]
>
> Sorry, I think you code in a weird way..[/color]

Perhaps, but it has no bearing on the issue. That is, if I used isset()
instead, perhaps it wouldn't tickle this particular bug, but it is in
fact a bug. Which reminds me, I should report it.
[color=blue]
> What do you expect from if($varname) ?[/color]

I expect PHP to tell me if it has a problem. While if ($var) may not be
ideal coding practice, it is legal.

--
Alan Little
Phorm PHP Form Processor

http://www.phorm.com/

[Sean]

Re: Very Weird Behavior

If you checked the php error log it would have printed out something
like:

[27-Nov-2005 16:04:12] PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_IF
in etc......

i.e.

if ($Phone) $CompanyBlock.= "Tel: $Phone\n".
if ($Fax) $CompanyBlock.= "Fax: $Fax\n".
if ($Email1) $CompanyBlock.= "Email: $Email1\n".

Take this section of code, your concatenating IF statements like
strings so of course it's not going to work.

You should start by going to http://www.php.net/manual/en/

[Ian B]

Re: Very Weird Behavior


Alan Little wrote:[color=blue]
>
> Perhaps, but it has no bearing on the issue. That is, if I used isset()
> instead, perhaps it wouldn't tickle this particular bug, but it is in
> fact a bug. Which reminds me, I should report it.[/color]

It's not a bug, it's illegal code. You can't terminate a line with a
dot, and you can't concatenate an if statement into a string. It
produces a parse error and stops execution. If you don't get an error
message it is because of your settings. It is still an error, though.
[color=blue]
>[color=green]
> > What do you expect from if($varname) ?[/color]
>
> I expect PHP to tell me if it has a problem. While if ($var) may not be
> ideal coding practice, it is legal.
>[/color]

Legal, yes. Useful in this situation, no. What you are saying in effect
is "if the website name can be converted to a non-zero number, then..."

I don't mean to give offence, but you should consider coding like other
people do, at least until you understand the consequences of not doing
so.

Ian

[Alan Little]

Re: Very Weird Behavior

Carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock, the last words of Ian
B of comp.lang.php make plain:
[color=blue]
> Alan Little wrote:[color=green]
>>
>> Perhaps, but it has no bearing on the issue. That is, if I used
>> isset() instead, perhaps it wouldn't tickle this particular bug, but
>> it is in fact a bug. Which reminds me, I should report it.[/color]
>
> It's not a bug, it's illegal code. You can't terminate a line with a
> dot,[/color]

Sure you can, unless you mean you can't terminate a statement with a
dot. Nothing wrong with terminating a line with a dot, if your intention
to to concatenate whatever's on the next line.
[color=blue]
> and you can't concatenate an if statement into a string.[/color]

Of course. As mentioned originally, I inserted the if's, and forgot the
change the appropriate dots to semicolons.
[color=blue]
> It produces a parse error and stops execution.[/color]

It does neither. No error, and execution resumes in the main code (this
was in an included file).
[color=blue]
> If you don't get an error message it is because of your settings.[/color]

error_reporting = E_ALL
[color=blue][color=green][color=darkred]
>> > What do you expect from if($varname) ?[/color]
>>
>> I expect PHP to tell me if it has a problem. While if ($var) may not
>> be ideal coding practice, it is legal.[/color]
>
> Legal, yes. Useful in this situation, no. What you are saying in
> effect is "if the website name can be converted to a non-zero number,
> then..."[/color]

I understand. And it is useful in this situation. It basically is a
shortcut of if(strlen(trim( $Website)))
[color=blue]
> I don't mean to give offence,[/color]

None taken.
[color=blue]
> you should consider coding like other people do, at least until
> you understand the consequences of not doing so.[/color]

Well, I do understand exactly what the code is doing, but to be honest I
don't believe I've heard all the arguments against using it; I just know
there are some.

--
Alan Little
Phorm PHP Form Processor

http://www.phorm.com/

[Alan Little]

Re: Very Weird Behavior

Carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock, the last words of Sean
of comp.lang.php make plain:
[color=blue]
> If you checked the php error log it would have printed out something
> like:
>
> [27-Nov-2005 16:04:12] PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_IF
> in etc......[/color]

Assuming error logging is on, which it isn't in this case, but error
reporting is, and there was no error.
[color=blue]
> if ($Phone) $CompanyBlock.= "Tel: $Phone\n".
> if ($Fax) $CompanyBlock.= "Fax: $Fax\n".
> if ($Email1) $CompanyBlock.= "Email: $Email1\n".
>
> Take this section of code, your concatenating IF statements like
> strings so of course it's not going to work.[/color]

I understand that. As stated in my original post, the code was initially
a single block of concatenation; I added the if's, and forgot to change
the appropriate dots to semicolons.
[color=blue]
> You should start by going to http://www.php.net/manual/en/[/color]

Gosh, a whole new world of enlightenment I hadn't seen before!

--
Alan Little
Phorm PHP Form Processor

http://www.phorm.com/

[Sean]

Re: Very Weird Behavior

Its display_errors in the php.ini which needs to be turned on that
displays errors as part of the output.

[Alan Little]

Re: Very Weird Behavior

Carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock, the last words of Sean of
comp.lang.php make plain:
[color=blue]
> Its display_errors in the php.ini which needs to be turned on that
> displays errors as part of the output.[/color]

Ah yes, that's turned off. It's still odd that it would continue execution
of the main code though, with a parse error in the included file. Even with
display_errors off, that is not the normal behavior.

Oh well.

--
Alan Little
Phorm PHP Form Processor

http://www.phorm.com/