I get this error message when I try to view a small webpage.

Line 27 is in this php part:

Line 27 is define['TIREPRICE', 100); The book seems to be using PHP5 and mySQL5 is the "define" something that is new to PHP5?

Thanks
Nils

whenever it says
it means that you simply forgot a semicolon. And after a quick runthrough, i found that you forgot a semicolon here:

so add a (;) and you're done ^_^

I changed the ' in the define statement to ". I think I was defining an array instead of a constant.
Now the error moved down to the echo 'Subtotal: $' line and I tried 2 different ways of formatting the $totalamount and I still get the same error different line:



What am I overlooking here. I know I can pop the disk in that came with the book to get the code ready made but that will not teach me how to find errors in the code. I think I learn more by hacking it until I figure it out or....

Thanks for any pointers
Nils

I found my error so anyone else who encounters the same problem... cross your t's and dot your i's

I had forgotten a ' after the <br />

Here is the updated code that worked.

Nils

lol, sorry i didn't catch that for ya. I just saw a missing semicolon and decided that it was the problem so i didn't look through the rest =P glad you fixed it up though ^_^

I guess I have to be less sloppy while working on this. The biggest problem for me are missing the semicolons and use a capital S instead of $

It's killing me... but in order for me to learn I have to do the hack job... copying from the disc don't help me any.

I'm learning!
Nils

Hey,

define is not new at all, this is how you can create constants in PHP, variables that can not be altered by your code.

Say you defined MAX_FILE_SIZE:

<?php
if(!defined('MAX_FILE_SIZE')) // checks whether we've already set MAX_FILE_SIZE
    [/tab]define('MAX_FILE_SIZE', 8192); // sets MAX_FILE_SIZE to 8192

if(constant('MAX_FILE_SIZE')) // checks whether MAX_FILE_SIZE is a constant
[tab]echo constant('MAX_FILE_SIZE'); // prints the constant MAX_FILE_SIZE

if(defined('MAX_FILE_SIZE')) // checks whether MAX_FILE_SIZE is set
    MAX_FILE_SIZE++; // add 1 to MAX_FILE_SIZE (cannot do, error on this line)
?>

Since I try altering MAX_FILE_SIZE by increasing it by 1, I would get a parse error on this line. You will encounter parse errors quite a lot and usually the message will help you find the problem, missing semi-colons or commas, etc. Although this message doesn't really help understand the problem, you should have a style that constants are all in capital letters, you may also like to prefix it with an underscore _ so it won't conflict with reserved keywords, not likely PHP but C/C++ you would.


Cheers,


MC

I find a good way to prevent missing apostrophes and other such things is to do sets together. When you implement your first ‘ implement your second straight away ‘’ then add the text inside ‘hello world’. As in SGML I build inwards. Doing so is just simple and prevents so many simple errors popping up later, though watch that insert button write over all your work lol.

1) <name></name>
2) <name>Matthew</name>

The text editor you use can also help you prevent such problems with syntax hilighting, colour coding, etc.

This will allow you to pick up the problems more easily. I use UltraEdit under Windows, but you'll find there's quite a lot of others out there. On Linux anjuta for C/C++, Perl, etc, can be configured for any other languages too, but sometimes it's easier just using the provided text editor like kwrite. Again it's really personal preference in what you choose. I usually do most things in console anyways.


Cheers,

MC

I'm using first page 2000 for my php and html edits and EditPad Lite for the css code. Is there a css editor out there (that high lights syntax?)

1'st page 2000 works good for me and my needs right now. Does UltraEdit highlight the syntax on css sheets? or is that not possible.

Working inwards, I'm doing that but not on a regular bases yet. I'm still memorizing the syntaxes and learning the basics. When I can write one simple page without going into the book looking at the syntax, then I'll graduate myself to the next level

I'm using 3 books to get the basics down, and web resources on w3schools and sitepoint and a few others. One of the books are CSS only, the second and third is php & mySQL (Introductory and intermediate).

The basic template for the site is 80% done so I'm working on the css, html and php right now. Then when that is done I'll build the mySQL db for the dynamic data that is going onto the pages and the forms to use for populating the tables.

Nils