Need a variable before it's set

Hi,

I've made this function to create my menu and it works great except for one thing - I need the $opener variable to be set before it is, and I can't really switch it around.

I think it is possible to do what I want by replacing the echo statements by a string variable which appends to itself, but I haven't been able to make that work properly - mostly because I'm not that great working with functions and variable scope.

So, here's the code:


function make_menu( $level,$CNX,$page ){
$theString = NULL;
$opener = NULL;
$toPrint = NULL;
$after = NULL;
$subjectQuery = "SELECT page.PAGE_TITLE, page.PAGE_ID, page.PAGE_FILE_NAME, page.NEXT_PAGE, page.PARENT_PAGE FROM page WHERE PARENT_PAGE = ".$level." ORDER BY PAGE_TITLE";
$subjectResult = mysql_query($subjectQuery,$CNX) or die(mysql_error());
while($subjectRow = mysql_fetch_assoc($subjectResult)){
//check if there are children
$checkQuery = "SELECT page.PAGE_TITLE, page.PAGE_ID, page.PAGE_FILE_NAME, page.NEXT_PAGE, page.PARENT_PAGE FROM page WHERE PARENT_PAGE = ".$subjectRow["PAGE_ID"]." ORDER BY PAGE_TITLE";
$checkResult = mysql_query($checkQuery,$CNX) or die(mysql_error());
if( mysql_num_rows($checkResult) > 0 ){
//make_opener($level,$CNX,$page,&$opener);
echo '<li class="';
echo $opener; // this is where I need to have the variable already set
echo '"><a href="#" class="icon" onclick="return door(this);"></a>'.'<a href="'.$subjectRow["PAGE_FILE_NAME"].'" class="parent">'.$subjectRow["PAGE_TITLE"]."</a>\n";
echo '<ul class="item">'."\n";
make_menu($subjectRow["PAGE_ID"], $CNX, $page, &$opener);
} else {
// $opener shoule be set in this if...else statement
if ($subjectRow["PAGE_ID"] == $page) {
echo '<li><a href="'.$subjectRow["PAGE_FILE_NAME"].'" class="parent">'.$subjectRow["PAGE_TITLE"]."</a>";
} else {
echo '<li><a href="'.$subjectRow["PAGE_FILE_NAME"].'">'.$subjectRow["PAGE_TITLE"]."</a>";
}

}

echo "</li>"."\n";

//reset child checking query and result to nothing
mysql_free_result($checkResult);
$checkQuery = NULL;
} // end the while loop


echo "</ul>\n";
//echo $theString;
$theString = NULL;
return ;
mysql_free_result($subjectResult);
} // end make_menu function

function menu_maker($level,$CNX,$page) {

echo '<ul id="menuTree">'."\n";
if ($page == 53) {
echo '<li class="announceheading">Encyclopedia:</li>'."\n";
} elseif ($page == 10) {
echo '<li class="announceheading">Studio to Stage:</li>'."\n";
}

$theString=NULL;
make_menu($level,$CNX,$page);



} // end menu_maker function

So what you're saying is that you need the $opener variable set before the menu is created. If so what do you need it set to?

How about adding

isset($opener) ? $opener : 'Default value';

where it is needed?

$opener is needed on the line that says "echo $opener;" the default value would be "closed"

However, $opener would be set to "open" if the if condition "if ($subjectRow["PAGE_ID"] == $page) { " 6 lines later evaluates to true.

Really, what I need to do is evaluate that if condition before I echo $opener, however this would print my menu elements in the wrong order.

What $opener does in this expanding menu is determine if the page the menu is on is in a certain part of the menu tree, and if it is then the menu tree is opened to show the page title, (which is also bolded).

Well how do you imagine this? The thing you want to do is can be compared to wanting to get on a bus before it arrives.
Moreover the part where trhe opener is neede will never execute if the if query is to be evaluaterd becouse they are in different if/else blocks.
You should copy over the if and set it there.
It can look like this: (if the if makes sense in that block)
$opener = ($subjectRow["PAGE_ID"] == $page) ? 'open' : 'closed';

or the if/else version:

if($subjectRow["PAGE_ID"] == $page)
{
$opener = 'open';
}
else
{
$opener = 'closed';
}