basic variable scope in php - php

Question

Using MVC I have a model directory inside of which are two files; menu.xml and the following model.php.
<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file('menu.xml');
print_r ($xml);
?>
In my views directory I have an index.php files as follows:
<?php
include '../model/model.php';
print_r($xml);
foreach ($xml->children() as $option)
{
?>
<li><a href='<?= $option->getName() ?>'><?= $option['name'] ?></li>
<?php
}
?>
</ul>
In another directory - this time html - i have the following:
<!-- This is the controller -->
<?php
require_once('../includes/helpers.php');
// determine which page to render
if (isset($_GET['page']))
$page = $_GET['page'];
else
$page = 'index';
// show page
switch ($page)
{
case 'index';
render('templates/header', array('title' => 'Main Menu'));
render('index');
render('templates/footer');
break;
}
?>
This is supposed to show a list of the children of the menu.xml file. If I access model.php directly:
<pre>
<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file('menu.xml');
print_r ($xml);
?>
</pre>
I can see the contents of the $xml object.
So why doesn't the include '../model/model.php command work?
Any tips appreciated!
Thanks

Answer 1

$xml = simplexml_load_file('menu.xml');
This path is relative to the current executed script. That’s why it works when your accessing model/model.php directly, but not when including it from ./index.php. Use absolute path instead:
$xml = simplexml_load_file(__DIR__ . '/menu.xml');
Edit by IMSoP:
For PHP versions older than 5.3:
$xml = simplexml_load_file(dirname(__FILE__) . '/menu.xml');