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I have the following code where I declare a PHP array variable and inside a function, I put some data into the array. I also display buttons mapped to each index of the array that will show the data in the PHP array for that index number.

When testing on a browser, I don't get the right answer. I checked the page source, it had code like data_array = ["<?php echo implode ('',Array); ?>"]; instead of the text from the Array.

What am I doing wrong and what should I do to get the correct output? (BTW, I tried to execute the same without declaring the function and it seemed to work, but I need a function for my work and can't take that approach).

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <title>Example</title>

        <?php
            $giant_says = array();

            function display()  {
                global $giant_says;

                $giant_says[] = "<a href='http://www.google.com'>Google</a>";
                $giant_says[] = "Yahoo!";
                $giant_says[] = "Bing";

                echo "<div id='content'>";
                echo $giant_says[0];
                echo "</div><br><br>";

                $i = 0;
                while($i < count($giant_says))  {
                    echo "<input type='button' value='".$i."' onClick=\"addtext(".$i.");return false;\"";
                    $i += 1;
                }
            }
        ?>

        <script type="text/javascript">
          function addtext(index) {
              giantSays = ["<?php echo implode ('","', $giant_says); ?>"];
              document.getElementById('content').innerHTML = giantSays[index];
          }
        </script>
    </head>

    <body>
        <?php
            display();
        ?>
    </body>
</html>
share|improve this question
(reference) json_encode — Returns the JSON representation of a value – Gordon♦ Sep 30 '10 at 20:15

3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

You have the order wrong, which is causing the implode() to compress an empty array. I also suggest using json_encode() instead of implode(). It exists for this type of thing - updated example below:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
<html lang="en">
<head>

  <title>Example</title>

  <?php

  $giant_says = array();

  function display(&$giant_says)  {

    // Calculate the array (referenced)

    $giant_says[] = "<a href='http://www.google.com'>Google</a>";
    $giant_says[] = "Yahoo!";
    $giant_says[] = "Bing";

    // Return the HTML, to display later

    ob_start();

    echo "<div id='content'>";
    echo $giant_says[0];
    echo "</div><br><br>";

    $i = 0;
    while($i < count($giant_says))  {
      echo "<input type='button' value='".$i."' onClick=\"addtext(".$i.");return false;\">";
      $i += 1;
    }
    $Return = ob_get_contents();
    ob_end_clean();
    return $Return;
  }

  $Display = display($giant_says);

  ?>

  <script type="text/javascript">
    function addtext(index) {
        giantSays = <?php echo json_encode($giant_says); ?>;
      document.getElementById('content').innerHTML = giantSays[index];
    }
  </script>

</head>

<body>

  <?php
    echo $Display;
  ?>

</body>
</html>
share|improve this answer
the reason I have $giant_says[] filled up inside the function is because I have another function that actually fills the array and not the statements that I had here as an example. So I know your solution will work but what I need is the array to be filled inside the function. Is there any way to get that working? Thanks. – user429113 Oct 1 '10 at 4:37
There is (almost) always a way, I've edited my solution to show my take on how to achieve that. – Mahdi.Montgomery Oct 1 '10 at 18:59
I can't express how grateful I am to your reply. Thanks for your advice. That's the perfect solution I was looking for. – user429113 Oct 2 '10 at 23:57
No problem, accept as the solution if it helped you out. Thanks. – Mahdi.Montgomery Oct 2 '10 at 23:59
up vote 2 down vote

You're trying to implode the $giant_says array before you've filled it (you're calling display() after the implode when the call needs to happen before).

share|improve this answer
+1 well spotted – Gordon♦ Sep 30 '10 at 20:14
up vote 1 down vote

The problem is that you call the display method, that fills the content after the html part with the javascript is sended.

the html code is "like" making an "echo 'html'" from your php. Your html is already processed but the display method is not called. call the method before the html code.

Example:

<?php 
    $giant_says = array();
    $giant_says[] = "<a href='http://www.google.com'>Google</a>";
    $giant_says[] = "Yahoo!";
    $giant_says[] = "Bing"; 

    function display()  {
        global $giant_says;
        echo '<div id="content">'.$giant_says[0]."</div><br><br>";
        $i = 0;
        while($i < count($giant_says))  {
          echo "<input type='button' value='".$i."' onClick=\"addtext(".$i.");\" />";
          $i += 1;
        }  
    }
?>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Example</title>
        <script type="text/javascript">
          function addtext(index) {
             giantSays = ["<?php echo implode ('","', $giant_says); ?>"];
             document.getElementById('content').innerHTML = giantSays[index];
             return false;
          }
       </script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <?php  display(); ?>
    </body>
 </html>
share|improve this answer
the reason I have $giant_says[] filled up inside the function is because I have another function that actually fills the array and not the statements that I had here as an example. So I know your solution will work but what I need is the array to be filled inside the function. Is there any way to get that working? Thanks – user429113 Oct 1 '10 at 5:39

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