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Set variables using php function

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Join Date: Jun 2008

Posts: 62

Reputation: PomonaGrange is an unknown quantity at this point

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PomonaGrange PomonaGrange is offline

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Set variables using php function

Jan 29th, 2009

Hi There folks.

I was thinking of trying to make a php function in my sites configuration file so that I could keep all mysql database info in one central file.

I should mention that this is the first time I have tried to make my own function.

I have the file started, but can't get it to work like I'd hoped.

Is it possible to set a variable like

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$username = "";

in a function and be able to insert that into a file.

I'd assumed that I would call the function and it would set the variable, but so far it hasn't worked.

Here is what I have

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function &configDB($db)
{
 if($db=='calendar')
 {
$cfg[host]	= "localhost";
$cfg[user]	= "MyDBs";
$cfg[pass]	= "Pass";
$cfg[database]	= "MyDB1";
 }else
{
  $server	= "localhost";
  $dbusername	= "MyDBs";
  $dbpassword	= "Pass";
  $db_name	= "MyDB2";
 }
}
function &configDB($db)
{
 if($db=='calendar')
 {
$cfg[host]	= "localhost";
$cfg[user]	= "MyDBs";
$cfg[pass]	= "Pass";
$cfg[database]	= "MyDB1";
 }else
{
  $server	= "localhost";
  $dbusername	= "MyDBs";
  $dbpassword	= "Pass";
  $db_name	= "MyDB2";
 }
}

Then Call it by

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configDB('main');
configDB('main');

Would this be correct.

Help in passing variables would be appreciated.

There are alot of people smarter than me, BUT at least I try to be of some help. Of coarse I'm not perfect, I need help too.

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Join Date: Oct 2006

Posts: 1,066

Reputation: ardav will become famous soon enough

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ardav

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Re: Set variables using php function

Jan 29th, 2009

Your function variables are LOCAL variables (only visible to the function). You usually have to RETURN a value from the function to pass the value to the outside. Create your complete connection variable in the function and then do:

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return $connection;

at the end of the function. Your example does nothing useful.

$db = 'whatever';
$conn = configDB($db);

This will then give you a your connection object in $conn and can be used to run queries:

$result = mysql_query('SELECT * FROM myTable',$conn);

However, you're hard-coding connection data (user + password). This is not recommended, although OK for testing.