[RESOLVED] XML DOMDocument->load not working

[noahssite]

I am getting an error message:

Fatal error: Call to a member function load() on a non-object in /home/content/u/l/s/56546/html/myName/SiteEditor/xmlDOMDocHandler.php on line 14

Line 14 is this line:

$doc->load($configFilePath);

Full Code of file xmlDOMDocHandler.php:

<?php
$skip = true;
$user="";
if(isset($_SESSION['loggedOn']) && $_SESSION['loggedOn'] == "true"){
$skip = false;
$user=$_SESSION['username'];
}
$configFilePath = 'users/'.$user.'/config.xml' . rand(1,10000);
$doc = new DOMDocument();
$doc->preserveWhiteSpace = false;
//Functions------------------------------------------
function loadXML(){
if($skip){return;}
$doc->load($configFilePath);
}
function setSiteName($newName){
if($skip){return;}
loadXML();
$doc->getElementsByTagName('websitename')->nodeValue = $newName;
$doc->save($configFilePath);
}
function getSiteName(){
if($skip){return;}
loadXML();
return $doc->getElementsByTagName('websitename')->nodeValue;
}
loadXML();
?>

The above file is being included in another file called index.php within an If..Statement. I didn't understand the error message so I was playing around with the code trying to get it to work, that's why it may seem as if I just complicated it too much... (e.g. I don't really need the $skip variable and a few other things)..

Why am I getting the error message? When I tried replacing this code:

$doc = new DOMDocument();

with

$doc = DOMDocument::load($configFilePath);

it worked... except the next function, the $doc->getElementsByTagName... returned the same error message.. It's like the method doesn't exist, except I know it exists, I've used it before.

[kows]

because you are using a bunch of functions. global scope != function scope.

$var = "hello";

echo $var; // prints hello

function echoVar(){

  echo $var; // prints nothing -- $var doesn't exist in this scope

} 

which means that your other variable, $skip, does not exist in these functions' scopes either. you have a few options. the worst, in my opinion, method:

function echoVar(){

  global $var;

  echo $var; // prints hello

} 

use the globals array, which is just as bad a method (again, in my opinion):

function echoVar(){

  echo $GLOBALS['var']; // prints hello

} 

maybe some object-oriented flavour?

class MyVar {

  protected $_var;

  public function __construct($var){

    // store var
    $this->_var = $var;

  }

  public function echoVar(){
    echo $this->_var;
  }

}

$myVar = new MyVar('hello');

$myVar->echoVar(); // prints hello 

or, if you just want dead simple, pass the variables in:

function echoVar($var){

  echo $var;

}

echoVar($var); // prints hello 

read more about variable scope.

[noahssite]

Thanks I'll rewrite my code and tell you how it works out.

[noahssite]

Works perfectly, I went with your last method.

[penagate]

Good choice.