Variable exists but the if statement denies its existence - php

Question

I have the statement if(isset($votes)) in votes_allvotes.tpl.php.
If I check the value on the same line right before that statement it tells me the value is 2, but for some reason the if statement refuses to acknowledge this.
Also tried if($votes > 0), did not work. I use this on 2 pages and on the other one it works fine, though there is nothing on this page that should conflict in any way with this (deleted everything on the page and it still didnt work.
Using Joomla 1.5.21 and Virtuemart 1.1.6
Here is the code:
<div class="rating" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px -9px">
<?php
$product_flypage = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
echo ps_reviews::allvotes( $product_flypage );
?>
ps_reviews::allvotes:
function allvotes( $product_id ) {
if (strstr($product_id, '&')) {
$arr = explode('&', $product_id);
$pro_arr = explode('=', $arr[2]);
$cat_arr = explode('=', $arr[3]);
$product_id = $pro_arr[1];
$category_id = $cat_arr[1];
}
global $db;
$tpl = new $GLOBALS['VM_THEMECLASS']();
$dbc = new ps_DB;
$q = "SELECT votes, rating FROM #__{vm}_product_votes "
. "WHERE product_id='$product_id' ";
$dbc->query( $q );
$votes = $dbc->f("votes");
$rating = $dbc->f("rating");
if( $votes != 0)
$tpl->set('votes', $votes );
$tpl->set('rating', $rating );
$tpl->set('product_id', $product_id );
$tpl->set('category_id', $category_id );
return $tpl->fetch( 'common/votes_allvotes.tpl.php' );
}
votes_allvotes.tpl.php (WHERE THE ACTUAL PROBLEM IS):
if (isset($votes)) { ?>
<img src="<?php echo VM_THEMEURL ?>images/stars/<?php echo $rating ?>.gif" align="middle" border="0" alt="<?php echo $rating ?> stars" />
<?php echo $VM_LANG->_('PHPSHOP_TOTAL_VOTES').": ". $votes;
}
else {
if (!empty($my->id)) {
if( $_GET['flypage']){
echo "<li class='reviews'><a href='javascript:void(0)' style='color:#000;'><b>Wees de eerste om een recensie te schrijven!</b></a></li>";
}else{
echo "<a href='/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=". $product_id ."&category_id=". $category_id ."&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1&lang=nl&review=yes'><b>Wees de eerste om een recensie te schrijven!</b></a>";
}
}else {
echo $VM_LANG->_('PHPSHOP_REVIEW_LOGIN'); // Login to write a review!
}
}

Answer 1

isset might not be returning what you expected.
$votes = 0;
if(isset($votes)){
echo 'Ooer missus ...';
}
I am not sure but perhaps you want ...
if((int)$votes > 0){
echo 'well you got at least one vote ...';
}
Anyhow, if a condition does not do as you expect, then
var_dump()
that variable onto the page or into a log file and inspect it.
Even better, inspect it PRIOR to writing your conditional test.