Chapter 7

ericrjones1 · April 25th, 2013, 08:54 AM

So I am finally able to start working on the code for the object relational mapping. While working through that code I noticed that in the User::Save method there is a conditional that never will be evaluated.

Below is the code that I am referring to ( see 164-165 of the English version of the book ).

PHP Code:


			
// ....



eval('$actualVal = &$this->' . $value . ';');



if (isset($actualVal)) {

     

    if ((is_int($actualVal)) || ($actualVal == NULL)) {

        // other code....

    }

}



// ....

The second condition of $actualVal == NULL will never evaluate to true. This is because of the preceding isset() method call.

This is what the manual says about the isset() method.

http://us3.php.net/isset

So effectively it is extra code....

Please let me know if I am wrong or misunderstanding the code.

UseLess · April 25th, 2013, 09:15 AM

Greetings,

Correct. The above "should" be like this;

Code:

eval('$actualVal = &$this->' . $value . ';');

if (isset($actualVal) || ($actualVal == NULL)) {
     
    if ((is_int($actualVal)) || ($actualVal == NULL)) {
        // other code....
    }
}

Assuming of course that 'null' is a possible value of '$actualVal'.

But then 'null' is a pain, but rather helpfull in a db.

josephhaymore · April 25th, 2013, 09:29 AM

Why is "eval" even used in this book? I have always heard that you can't rely on "eval" because some hosting companies prevent its use.

Ever heard the term throwing out the baby with the bath water.

ericrjones1 · April 25th, 2013, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UseLess

Greetings,

Correct. The above "should" be like this;

Code:

eval('$actualVal = &$this->' . $value . ';');

if (isset($actualVal) || ($actualVal == NULL)) {
     
    if ((is_int($actualVal)) || ($actualVal == NULL)) {
        // other code....
    }
}

Assuming of course that 'null' is a possible value of '$actualVal'.

But then 'null' is a pain, but rather helpfull in a db.

Thanks for the reply, but now the first conditional statement doesn't make sense. To me, the first conditional statement is saying is the variable $actualVar isset (aka is it in PHP's memory stack and not null) or is it null.

So thinking about this more, maybe the following would work better. It reduces the nested if statements ( a possible source of increased code complexity ), and attempts to identify if $actualValue is null ( which PDO has a NULL parameter constant ).

PHP Code:


			


if (!isset($actualVal) || is_null($actualVal)) {

    // set value to null in the database using PDO::PARAM_NULL

} elseif (is_int($actualVal)) {

   // set value to int in the database using PDO::PARAM_INT

} else {

    // set the value to string in the database PDO::PARAM_STR

}

Let me know what you think.