Alright I seem to have a misconception with variable scope with PHP, forgive my lack of the subject as I come from a Java, C# background. Thinking I could make variables accessible to functions or if statements simply by placing it outside it. Below is a snippet of what I'm trying to accomplish:
foreach ($nm as $row=>$im) {
$itm_name = $im;
$lnk = $lnk_cty[$row];
if($mode == 'addMenu') {
$m = $m_id; //id will be coming from fresh insert of menu_name
} else {
$m = $_POST['mnu_add'][$row];
echo "MENU_ID: ".$m;
}
if($mode == 'addCat') {
$m = $c_id; //id will be coming from fresh insert of cat_name
} else {
$m = $_POST['cat_add'][$row];
}
//used for testing purposes
echo "item name: ".$itm_name ."<br />";
echo "lnk: ".$lnk ."<br />";
echo "m: ".$m ."<br />"; //$m is empty here, because its a new declaration as oppose to accessing $m value from if statement
$display_fields .= "<li>".$itm_name." ".$item."</li>";
$sql_array[] = '("' . $itm_name . '", "' . $lnk . '", ' . $m . ')'; // Add a new entry to the queue
}
Now what I'm trying to do is make the $m
variable values accessible outside the if statements its in to the $m
variable used in the $sql_array[]
statement. In C# I would simply declare a variable outside the foreach loop and be able to use it. After doing some reading on the matter I found that using the global or GLOBALS keywords would only work if my global scope variable is assign the value before the foreach, and declaring global $m
to obtain that value within the loop. But with my current code $m
is of a local scope within the if statements and everyone discourages using them. Now, is there a better method of making $m
accessible to the $sql_array[]
statement?