Question

I am sending data to a PHP script using an android app. The following is the PHP script.

telejoke.php:

<?php
  include 'JokeValidation.php';
  include 'DBConnect.php';

  $username = $_POST['username'];
  $joke = $_POST['joke'];
  $dbname = 'Telejoke';
  mysql_select_db($dbname);

  if (validate()){
    $query = "INSERT INTO jokes (username, joke) VALUES ('$username','$joke')";
    mysql_query($query) or die('Error, insert query failed');
  }
  mysql_close($conn);
?>

jokevalidation.php:

<?php
  include 'DBConnect.php';
  $dbname = 'telejoke';
  mysql_select_db($dbname);
  function validate(){
    if ($joke == null) return false;
    else if($username == null) return false;
   return true;
  }
?>

For some reason, the PHP script will put the data into the database when I take out if ($joke == null) return false; and else if($username == null) return false;. But when I put these statements into the PHP code, it seems that validate returns false. This is weird because $username and $joke will go to my database when I take out these statements meaning they cannot be null!.

Help is appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

Your validate function needs to have access to the $joke and $username objects.

function validate($joke, $validate) {
    if ($joke == null)
        return false;
    else if ($username == null)
        return false;
    return true;
}

You can also get access to these variables by using the following inside your validate method:

global $joke, $username

However, it is better to declare what you’re validating rather than relying on those variables being declared and set elsewhere in your code. Using global might fail silently for other reasons.