php - Declaring a global variable inside a function

Question

I have two PHP files. In the first I set a cookie based on a $_GET value, and then call a function which then sends this value on to the other file. This is some code which I'm using in join.php:

include('inc/processJoin.php');
setcookie("site_Referral", $_GET['rid'], time()+10000);
$joinProc = new processJoin();
$joinProc->grabReferral($_COOKIE["site_Referral"]);

The other file (processJoin.php) will then send this value (among others) to further files which will process and insert the data into the database.

The problem I'm having is that when the grabReferral() function in processJoin.php is called, the $referralID variable isn't being defined on a global scale - other functions in processJoin.php can't seem to access it to send to other files/processes.

I've tried this in processJoin.php:

grabReferral($rid) {
   global $ref_id;
   $ref_id = $rid;
}

someOtherFunction() {
   sendValue($ref_id);
}

But the someOtherFunction can't seem to access or use the $ref_id value. I've also tried using define() to no avail. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

you have to define the global var in the second function as well..

// global scope
$ref_id = 1;

grabReferral($rid){
   global $ref_id;
   $ref_id = $rid;
}

someOtherFunction(){
    global $ref_id;
    sendValue($ref_id);
}

felix