Question

I am using PHP 5.3.8 with CakePHP 2.1.1.

This is my view (the layout is empty, actually it only outputs the view itself)

<?php   
// $present is not a view variable
$present = 'Hello World!';

class ApplicationsPDF
{   
    public function CreateApplicationTable()
    {
        global $present;
        exit(var_dump($present));
    }
}


$pdf = new ApplicationsPDF();
$pdf->CreateApplicationTable();
?>

The output is null instead of “Hello World!”.

If I copy and paste this code into a single file (which I directly run from the browser), it perfectly works!

So it must be a CakePHP bug. Does anyone know it?

Answer 1

It’s not a PHP nor a CakePHP bug!

It’s because CakePHP includes the view in its view class so the declared variables aren’t really in the global scope and global has no effect.

From ADmad (source):

When you run the file by itself your assignment $testVar = ‘Hello
World!’ is in global context hence things work like you expected them
to. But when it is used as a view file, the file is included within a
View class function hence its no longer in global context and $testVar
is no longer a global var, hence your expectation is incorrect. Using
global variables in an OOP framework is a bad idea anyway.