[eluser]skunkbad[/eluser]
I'm working with a function that is just plain php. The function creates the string that I am looking for, so it does work, but it won't return the string. Code below shows echo $path, but if I return $path, the string should be output by var_dump(). Anyone see the problem why the return doesn't work?
Code: <?php
$all_categories_array = array(
'0' => array(
'category_id' => '1',
'category_name' => 'Examples',
'parent_id' => '0'
),
'1' => array(
'category_id' => '2',
'category_name' => 'Widgets',
'parent_id' => '1'
),
'2' => array(
'category_id' => '3',
'category_name' => 'Little',
'parent_id' => '1'
),
'3' => array(
'category_id' => '4',
'category_name' => 'Hardcore',
'parent_id' => '2'
),
);
function get_product_parents($id, $all_categories_array, $steps)
{
// check the entire categories array for a matching category
foreach($all_categories_array as $x => $y)
{
// if this is the product's category
if($y['category_id'] == $id)
{
// add the category name to the steps array
$steps[] = $y['category_name'];
// and do recursion if not a top level category
if($y['parent_id'] !== '0')
{
get_product_parents($y['parent_id'], $all_categories_array, $steps );
exit;
}
else
{
$reverse_array = array_reverse($steps);
$path = '';
foreach($reverse_array as $category_name)
{
$path .= '/' . $category_name;
}
// Should be /Examples/Widgets/Hardcore
echo $path;
}
}
}
}
$steps = array();
$whatever = get_product_parents('4', $all_categories_array, $steps);
var_dump($whatever);
[eluser]mddd[/eluser]
Quote:Anyone see the problem why the return doesn’t work?
Because you are not returning anything? There is no return command anywhere in your code.
[eluser]skunkbad[/eluser]
if you read what I was saying, it says that if I use return instead of echo, it is empty. So substitute return for echo, and it should be output by var_dump(), but it's not.
[eluser]mddd[/eluser]
Allright, I'm sorry, I read your post and thought you meant 'i see it in the echo statement but it doesn't return anything'. Which would be true if you don't return anything 
I looked again at your code. I think the problem is this: if you exchange the 'echo' for 'return' that will return the value. But only to the function that called it. You are dealing with a recursive function so the previous iteration must also return a value to ITS caller, and so on until you get to the first call, which is in your "main code". See what I mean? Right now, the end value is known only in the last call to the function, which is the one where you find 'parent==0'. But then the value has to go back all the way to the first call. So you need to return a value on every place where the function could end. Not only when parent==0 but also when it is not: that is where you are now writing exit();
[eluser]skunkbad[/eluser]
[quote author="mddd" date="1275918748"]Allright, I'm sorry, I read your post and thought you meant 'i see it in the echo statement but it doesn't return anything'. Which would be true if you don't return anything
I looked again at your code. I think the problem is this: if you exchange the 'echo' for 'return' that will return the value. But only to the function that called it. You are dealing with a recursive function so the previous iteration must also return a value to ITS caller, and so on until you get to the first call, which is in your "main code". See what I mean? Right now, the end value is known only in the last call to the function, which is the one where you find 'parent==0'. But then the value has to go back all the way to the first call. So you need to return a value on every place where the function could end. Not only when parent==0 but also when it is not: that is where you are now writing exit();[/quote]
OK, thanks, I got it working. I didn't understand that I would have to return all the way back through the recursion. I don't seem to remember doing that before, at least not in a CI function... but this is just a plain php function, so maybe it's different?
Anyways, this is the code:
Code: <?php
$all_categories_array = array(
'0' => array(
'category_id' => '1',
'category_name' => 'Examples',
'parent_id' => '0'
),
'1' => array(
'category_id' => '2',
'category_name' => 'Widgets',
'parent_id' => '1'
),
'2' => array(
'category_id' => '3',
'category_name' => 'Little',
'parent_id' => '1'
),
'3' => array(
'category_id' => '4',
'category_name' => 'Hardcore',
'parent_id' => '2'
),
);
function get_product_parents($id, $cats_array, $steps)
{
// check the entire categories array for a matching category
foreach($cats_array as $x => $y)
{
// if this is the product's category
if($y['category_id'] == $id)
{
// add the category name to the steps array
$steps[] = $y['category_name'];
// and do recursion if not a top level category
if($y['parent_id'] !== '0')
{
return get_product_parents($y['parent_id'], $cats_array, $steps );
}
else
{
$reverse_array = array_reverse($steps);
$path = '';
foreach($reverse_array as $category_name)
{
$path .= '/' . $category_name;
}
// Should be /Examples/Widgets/Hardcore
$final_path = $path;
}
}
}
if(isset($final_path))
{
return $final_path;
}
}
$steps = array();
$whatever = get_product_parents('3', $all_categories_array, $steps);
var_dump($whatever);
Now I'm going to bed, because it's 2:02am here!
Thanks again!
[eluser]mddd[/eluser]
You're welcome. Goodnight
As for the CI / not CI: if you would save the value somehow, then you are right, you wouldn't have to return it.
For example: if you wrote '$this->path = $path;' in stead of your 'echo', then you could just use
Code: get_product_parents(......);
// and now $this->path would contain the right value
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