Echo a function variable in PHP - php

Question

I am trying to use a variable from my function in an echo in PHP for a form. This is an update form so I want to display current user informatoin.
My function is like this:
public static function current()
{
$id = null;
if ( !empty($_GET['id'])) {
$id = $_REQUEST['id'];
}
$pdo = Database::connect();
$sql = "SELECT * FROM customer where counter = ?";
$q = $pdo->prepare($sql);
$q->execute(array($id));
$data = $q->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
$firstname = $data['firstname'];
$lastname = $data['lastname'];
$email = $data['email'];
Database::disconnect();
}
my form is trying to echo it here in the value:
<input class="form-control" name="firstname" id="firstname"
value="<?php echo !empty($firstname)?$firstname:'';?>">
I can't seem to get the $firstname variable to echo the users first name. The user is called by a string in the url that uses ?id=

Answer 1

Two options,
return the desired value (or values) from the function
public static function current()
{
$id = null;
if ( !empty($_GET['id'])) {
$id = $_REQUEST['id'];
}
$pdo = Database::connect();
$sql = "SELECT * FROM customer where counter = ?";
$q = $pdo->prepare($sql);
$q->execute(array($id));
$data = $q->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
Database::disconnect();
return array_intersect_key($data, array_flip(array('firstname', 'lastname', 'email')));
}
...
$user = Thing::current();
echo $user['email'];
OR set a static variable in your class to reference after
public static function current()
{
$id = null;
if ( !empty($_GET['id'])) {
$id = $_REQUEST['id'];
}
$pdo = Database::connect();
$sql = "SELECT * FROM customer where counter = ?";
$q = $pdo->prepare($sql);
$q->execute(array($id));
$data = $q->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
self::$firstname = $data['firstname'];
self::$lastname = $data['lastname'];
self::$email = $data['email'];
Database::disconnect();
}
...
echo Thing::$firstname;
I'd prefer the first thing, but instead of returning an array with the details, make it into a Customer object.