PHP function display - php

Question

Hello I have a four computers that I would like to ping before using. The pinging is done via a PHP page with the following function.
if (isset($_POST['playgroundcheck'])) {
function ping($PGIP) {
require_once "Net/Ping.php";
$ping = Net_Ping::factory();
if (PEAR::isError($ping))
echo $ping -> getMessage();
else {
/* Number of packets to send */
$ping -> setArgs(array('count' => 2));
$pgData = $ping -> ping($PGIP);
// print_r($pgData);
if ($pgData -> _received > 0) {
return true;
//echo "<h1><font color=\"green\">ON</font></h1>";
} else {
//echo "<h1><font color=\"red\">OFF</font></h1>";
return false;
}
}
}
$IP2sping = array("pc1" => "192.168.1.121", "pc2" => "192.168.1.122", "pc3" => "192.168.1.123", "pc4" => "192.168.1.124");
foreach ($IP2sping as $key => $value) {
if (ping($value) == true) {
echo $key . " alive<br>";
} else {
echo $key . " off<br>";
}
}
}
I created a form to call the function with a submit button. All of this works but my problems is trying to display the output outside the function. For example currently all output is displayed like the following.
pc1 alive
pc2 alive
pc3 alive
pc4 alive
I want to know how the results of pc1, pc2, pc3 and pc4 can be displayed separately outside the function.

Answer 1

Thanks for answers, but I found a solution that works great for what I want to do using variables variables.
By changing $key to $$key pc1 pc2 pc3 and pc4 become variables and then I can use it anywhere I want.
$IP2sping = array("pc1" => "192.168.1.121",
"pc2" => "192.168.1.122",
"pc3" => "192.168.1.123",
"pc4" => "192.168.1.124");
foreach ($IP2sping as $key => $value){
if (ping($value) == true) {
$key." alive<br>";
} else {
$key." off<br>"; }
}
}

Answer 2

In fact, it's shown outside the function. Here is where you show the results.
if (ping($value) == true) {
echo $key." alive<br>";
} else {
echo $key." off<br>";
}
I would do something like that for what you want:
$available = null;
foreach ($IP2sping as $key => $value){
if (ping($value) == true) {
echo $key." alive<br>";
} else {
echo $key." off<br>";
}
}
Or
$available = null;
foreach ($IP2sping as $key => $value)
$available[$key] = ping($value) ? true : false;
Then, you'll be able to use the $available array for whatever you want :)

Answer 3

Does this help?
if (isset($_POST['playgroundcheck'])) {
// Define the function
function ping($PGIP) {
require_once "Net/Ping.php";
$ping = Net_Ping::factory();
if (PEAR::isError($ping)) {
return FALSE;
} else {
/* Number of packets to send */
$ping->setArgs(array('count' => 2));
$pgData = $ping->ping($PGIP);
// print_r($pgData);
return ($pgData->_received > 0);
}
}
// Define array of items to ping
$IP2sping = array("pc1" => array('ip' => "192.168.1.121"),
"pc2" => array('ip' => "192.168.1.122"),
"pc3" => array('ip' => "192.168.1.123"),
"pc4" => array('ip' => "192.168.1.124")
);
// Get the results of whether the machines are alive
foreach ($IP2sping as $key => $value){
$IP2sping[$key]['alive'] = ping($value);
}
/*
Do a load more stuff
*/
foreach ($IP2sping as $name => $data) {
echo "$name ({$data['ip']}) is ".(($data['alive']) ? 'alive' : 'dead')."<br />\n";
}
}