PHP - Using functions to write SQL Query - php

Question

Folks, I'm writing a query for a report and since it has a lot of parameters, I decided to write a few functions for it (suggestions are welcome).
In one of my where clauses, I wrote a function that will write the beginning of the clause, then write every item in my array and then close the clause below. This is the function:
function checkStatuses() {
global $status;
echo " tl.task_log_status in (";
foreach ($status as $option) {
echo "'$option', ";
}
echo "'60') AND";
}
Below is my query:
$sql = "SELECT co.company_name as EMPRESA,
p.project_name as PROJETO,
p.project_code as CODIGO,
tk.task_name as TAREFA,
concat(c.contact_first_name,' ',c.contact_last_name) as USUARIO,
DATE_FORMAT(tl.task_log_date, '%d/%m/%Y') as DATA,
tl.task_log_description as DESCRICAO,
tl.task_log_hours as HORAS_REPORTADAS,
tl.task_log_costcode as CODIGO_CUSTO
FROM dotp_task_log tl, dotp_companies co, dotp_tasks tk, dotp_projects p, dotp_users u, dotp_contacts c
WHERE tk.task_id = tl.task_log_task
AND
p.project_id = tk.task_project
AND
u.user_id = tl.task_log_creator
AND
c.contact_id = u.user_contact
AND
co.company_id = p.project_company
AND
co.company_id = $company
AND
$project_code
AND
$status_code
tl.task_log_date BETWEEN '$initial_date' AND '$end_date'
ORDER BY
tl.task_log_date";
Right below this code I echoed $sql to see what's going on, and it shows like this:
tl.task_log_status in ('0', '1', '3', '2', '60') ANDSELECT co.company_name as EMPRESA,
p.project_name as PROJETO,
p.project_code as CODIGO,
As you can see, the where clause is being written before the rest of the $sql variable. Why's that? In my example, I declared variable $status_code = checkStatuses();, but that didn't work. Neither calling the function directly, neither changing from single to double quote. The only way I got to show a part of the where clause in the right location was to replace echo in my function for a return, but I can't have multiple returns in there (the function will end execution and part of the clause will be missing). Any ideas?

Answer 1

It's happening because you're echoing stuff instead of returning it...
function checkStatuses() {
global $status;
$return = "";
$return .= " tl.task_log_status in (";
foreach ($status as $option) {
$return .= "'$option', ";
}
$return .= "'60') AND";
return $return;
}