PHP - invalid argument: foreach - inside Wordpress - php

Question

I am experiencing an issue with a wordpress site that I've not encountered before. Allow me to provide some quick details...
Background:
The site I am working on is for a University Radio Station. The station is setup with 9 2 hour blocks of "Show Time" which is split up between various student shows. These blocks of time start at 8AM and end at 2AM, with 2 hour intervals. So 8AM to 10AM and 10AM to 12PM Noon etc... What we need to do is display the show that is "Now Playing" and the show that comes right after "Playing Next".
That said... I have written the below code and it is confirmed working on a test site... That site is http://khill.mhostiuckproductions.com/siteNowplaying/ The code works exactly as I need it to with no faults.
Now when I switch this over to wordpress I get the following error: Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in [directory to file and line #]
What I have determined/know with the assistance of a gentleman in chat yesterday:
The above error is occurring because the array $showBlocks in the foreach is empty. I know this by doing a var_dump on that array on the wordpress site in which the var dump outputs NULL. This has something to do with my variables being global (global variables can get nasty from what I understand which makes sense).
Said gentleman provided a possible solution which I was not able to get fully working before I had to call it quits for the day, I'll go over that proposed solution below...
The code:
Now I realize this code is terrible and I need to be using classes, and ultimately a database, my code looks like this right now as I do not have a ton of PHP or SQL experience, and I have a deadline that's quickly approaching. I need to get this knocked out and working so I can move on and finish the rest of the site. I plan to develop this further in the background once the new theme launches, ultimately it will tie into the wordpress CMS as a plugin/widget.
That said... I realize what I am doing is very brute force and I am ok with brute forced solutions. As I've said above, my code works perfectly on a standalone test site, it is only when it is moved into wordpress that it breaks.
I have simplified my code to provide only what is needed for a single day (lots of duplicate stuff for each day of the week, you'll understand as you continue further down).
I have the following variables at the top of my file...
$day = date(D); // Textual representation of day in the format of "Mon, Tue, Wed" etc.
date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York'); // Set the default time zone (EST)
I have the following arrays... The first one establishes my "blocks" of time as per their starting and ending times, the second one brings in variables which store my "outputs". These outputs are in a separate file which is included above the file that has all of the code I am showing here. The second array is suplicated for each day of the week, and the variable names change accordingly.
// $showBlocks Array
$showBlocks = array ( // Define available blocks of show time | starts at 8AM ends at 2AM with 2 hour increments
'a' => array ('00:00:01', '02:00:00'), // MIDNIGHT TO 2AM
'b' => array ('02:00:00', '08:00:00'), // OFF AIR TIME
'c' => array ('08:00:00', '10:00:00'),
'd' => array ('10:00:00', '12:00:00'),
'e' => array ('12:00:00', '14:00:00'), // NOON to 2PM
'f' => array ('14:00:00', '16:00:00'),
'g' => array ('16:00:00', '18:00:00'),
'h' => array ('18:00:00', '20:00:00'),
'i' => array ('20:00:00', '22:00:00'),
'j' => array ('22:00:00', '23:59:59'),
);
$mondayShows = array (
'a' => $sunday12a_2a, // MIDNIGHT TO 2AM
'b' => $offAirTime, // OFF AIR TIME
'c' => $monday8a_10a,
'd' => $monday10a_12,
'e' => $mondayy12_2, // NOON to 2PM
'f' => $monday2_4,
'g' => $monday4_6,
'h' => $monday6_8,
'i' => $monday8_10,
'j' => $monday10_12a,
);
The first function... This just checks what day it is, and echo's the appropriate function for that day which is the next bit of code I'll show you. I echo the nowPlaying() function in my site where I want my output to appear.
function nowPlaying() {
global $day;
if ($day == "Sun") { //IF DAY IS TRUE THEN PERFORM AN ACTION
echo sundayShow();
} else if ($day == "Mon") {
echo mondayShow();
} else if ($day == "Tue") {
echo tuesdayShow();
} else if ($day == "Wed") {
echo wednesdayShow();
} else if ($day == "Thu") {
echo thursdayShow();
} else if ($day == "Fri") {
echo fridayShow();
} else if ($day == "Sat") {
echo saturdayShow();
}
}
For the sake of simplicity I am going to show you only one of the functions that appear inside the above function, we'll use Monday since it's Monday.
This function uses the two arrays seen above as inputs, the $mondayShows array variable changes to $tuesdayShows for the tuesdayShow() function. (basically exactly the same code with different variable name for the array input) The foreach here is the line where the error code says there is a problem. Again, as someone from the php chat guided me to, is because when I put this code into wordpress, suddenly my array becomes empty.
function mondayShow() {
global $mondayShows, $showBlocks; // GLOBALIZE THESE VARIABLES
foreach ($showBlocks as $name => $range) {
if (time() > strtotime($range[0]) && strtotime($range[1]) > time()) { // checks if time() is between defined ranges from $showBlocks array
echo($mondayShows[$name]);
}
}
}
Earlier I mentioned also displaying what is "Playing Next". This is handled by duplicating all of the above code with new names, for example the name of the equivalent code for the above function becomes mondayNextShow(). To make the code display the actual next show I add 7200 (number of seconds in 2 hours) to time() so... time + 7200. This addition is inside the if statement of the above code... so it now looks like this...
if (time() + 7200 > strtotime($range[0]) && strtotime($range[1]) > time() + 7200) {
What was suggested to me in chat but I was unable to get working:
In chat, it was suggested I get rid of the global variables, and include my array directly into the function via a separate file... I tried this by moving the above $showBlocks array to a separate file "now-playing-array.php" for instance. The array code was changed from the above to instead return the array so it now looks like this:
return array (
'a' => array ('00:00:01', '02:00:00'), // 12AM MIDNIGHT TO 2AM
'b' => array ('02:00:00', '08:00:00'), // OFF AIR TIME
'c' => array ('08:00:00', '10:00:00'),
....................
);
I then remove $showBlocks from global variables of the above function, and I include said file into the function using the __DIR__ magic constant.
The above function now looks like this:
function mondayShow() {
global $mondayShows; // GLOBALIZE THESE VARIABLES
$showBlocks = include __DIR__."/now-playing-arrays.php";
foreach ($showBlocks as $name => $range) {
if (time() > strtotime($range[0]) && strtotime($range[1]) > time()) { // checks if time() is between defined ranges from $showBlocks array
echo($mondayShows[$name]);
}
}
}
A var_dump on $showBlocks now produced: bool(false)
Now the questions...
Please keep in mind this code is very brute forced and I know and realize that, but that's what I want for now. I am going to be using this project to expand my PHP into using classes and databases and such but I don't have the time for that now. I am not looking for, your code is terrible you should just start over and do it the right way answers... I know that already.
First, if you understand the route this gentleman from chat was trying to take me, is it the best route to take?
If it is the best route to take then, how do I go about finishing it off? From what I gather the bool(false) thing means it can't find my file? The files are all in the same folder.

Answer 1

You could put your return arrays into functions, and then simply call the function and assign it to a variable from within your mondayShow() function:
function showBlocks(){
return array (
'a' => array ('00:00:01', '02:00:00'), // MIDNIGHT TO 2AM
'b' => array ('02:00:00', '08:00:00'), // OFF AIR TIME
'c' => array ('08:00:00', '10:00:00'),
'd' => array ('10:00:00', '12:00:00'),
'e' => array ('12:00:00', '14:00:00'), // NOON to 2PM
'f' => array ('14:00:00', '16:00:00'),
'g' => array ('16:00:00', '18:00:00'),
'h' => array ('18:00:00', '20:00:00'),
'i' => array ('20:00:00', '22:00:00'),
'j' => array ('22:00:00', '23:59:59'),
);
}
function mondayShows(){
return array (
'a' => "a", // MIDNIGHT TO 2AM
'b' => "b", // OFF AIR TIME
'c' => "c",
'd' => "d",
'e' => "e", // NOON to 2PM
'f' => "f",
'g' => "g",
'h' => "h",
'i' => "i",
'j' => "j",
);
}
function mondayShow() {
$showBlocks = showBlocks();
$mondayShows = mondayShows();
foreach ($showBlocks as $name => $range) {
if (time() > strtotime($range[0]) && strtotime($range[1]) > time()) {
echo($mondayShows[$name]);
}
}
}
mondayShow();
This way, you don't need to explicitly globalize anything, and you don't need to worry about having extra files. Simply make a function for each show listing array, and have it return.
One small thing: In the code above, I changed the $mondayShows array values to something that was defined (just letters), so make sure you're actually assigning those to something.