PHP within PHP?

Question

Sorry if this sounds stupid! I'm using PHP to create certain sections of my website like the header, then echoing them on to every page. The problem is I want to put some PHP code within the section like this:

<?php
function makeHeader () {
$menuContent = <<<MENU

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html> etc..........


<?php
if(isset($_SESSION['user']))
    {
            $user = isset($_SESSION['user']) ? $_SESSION['user'] : '';  
            echo "<a href='logout.php'>$user</a>";
        }
    else
        {
            echo "some text..";
        }
    ?> 

MENU;
$menuContent .= "\n";
return $menuContent;
}

?>

Is this possible? Its throwing up errors but starting from the if(isset($_SESSION['user'])) line rather than the line above it..

shinkou · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-11 01:48:34Z

2

Use single or double quoted string instead of heredoc and it should be fine.

answered Jan 11, 2012 at 1:48

shinkou

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3 Comments

calumbrodie Over a year ago

Or use an include. But yeah - generally I'm against HEREDOC syntax. I've never came across a single situation where it's been the right thing to use

shinkou Over a year ago

@kissmyface Well, if we have to declare a string with numerous single and double quotes in it, heredoc does make things easier, although not a necessity. ;)

calumbrodie Over a year ago

I would argue that if you need to do that then you are 'doing it wrong', though I do appreciate that sometimes we have to work on other peoples code. sometimes that code is very bad. and sometimes we need to just 'get things done' :-)

mario · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-11 01:49:05Z

1

The error you are getting (but not mentioned) is probably a parse error. HEREDOC syntax requires {} curly braces around variables, or no key quotes for simple array accesses. The workaround would be a NOWDOC string.

But you can't do it with that method anyway. PHP code in string context doesn't run. And it's pointless to apply any workarounds. Just use an include script instead of a HEREDOC and use ob_start and ob_get_clean for capturing the output.

answered Jan 11, 2012 at 1:49

mario

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Comments

checksum · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-11 01:49:12Z

0

What is the errors?

Do you have session_start beforehand? Eg.:

function makeHeader () {  
session_start();
$menuContent = <<<MENU

answered Jan 11, 2012 at 1:49

checksum

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Comments

George Mandis · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-11 01:50:42Z

0

I don't think that's possible, but I would be very interested to learn if I'm wrong.

As for what you're doing here, I think your life will be a million times easier if you just dump the PHP content for your header ing a file called header.php and include it like this:

<?php

  include("header.php"); // Containing the code you're trying to put into $menuContent

?>

There are also plenty of good templating frameworks (Smarty, Liquid, Mustache) out there if you want to avoid reinventing this wheel, though I understand the appeal.

answered Jan 11, 2012 at 1:50

George Mandis

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Comments

Joshua Kissoon · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-11 01:52:44Z

0

Try this:

function makeHeader () 
{
    $menuContent = "<!DOCTYPE html><html> etc.........." . 
    if(isset($_SESSION['user']))
    {
        $user = isset($_SESSION['user']) ? $_SESSION['user'] : '';  
        $menuContent .= "<a href='logout.php'>$user</a>";
    }
    else
    {
        $menuContent .= "some text..";
    }

    $menuContent .= "\n";
    return $menuContent;

}

answered Jan 11, 2012 at 1:52

Joshua Kissoon

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1 Comment

Joshua Kissoon Over a year ago

You might need to recheck the code, but i hope u get the idea

Silvertiger · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-11 01:59:02Z

is your code partial? or are you missing a closing } at the end of the function makeHeader? that would throw an exception on the "if" line. not to mention the missing closing php tag before the HTML up top.

I think the real issue is that you can't have and end tag and HTML within a function. if you REALLY need this then you can "echo" the HTML if needed. but I can't imagine you would want to write the entire doc from start to finish with echo statements.

would the following be suitable?

<?PHP
    session_start();
    $menuContent = <<<MENU;
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <body>
    <?PHP
        echo $menuContent;
        if(isset($_SESSION['user'])) {
            $user = isset($_SESSION['user']) ? $_SESSION['user'] : '';  
            echo "<a href='logout.php'>$user</a>";
        } else {
            echo "some text..";
        }
    ?>
    etc..........
    </body>
</html>

or do you need to build it all in the menu section before?

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