PHP - AJAX example question

[Merkaber]

Hello everyone,

 

I have a question about the PHP - AJAX example (http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_ajax_php.asp).

In the PHP file, there is the variable " $hint ". But what is this variable used for?

Here the code:

$q = $_REQUEST["q"];$hint = "";// lookup all hints from array if $q is different from ""if ($q !== "") {    $q = strtolower($q);    $len=strlen($q);    foreach($a as $name) {        if (stristr($q, substr($name, 0, $len))) {            if ($hint === "") {                $hint = $name;            } else {                $hint .= ", $name";            }        }    }}

You are declaring $hint = "". After there is no input, that could happen to $hint. Why there is the if clause?

Maybe I am blind, but I don't get it.

 

Second questions is about this code part:

echo $hint === "" ? "no suggestion" : $hint;

How you can use operators without function, what does ' $hint === "" ' and what does ' : ' ?I already red the whole example more than twice... but I don't get it.

A short explanation or a link to another website which is explaining these would be awesome. Thank you in advance!

 

(By copy and pasting, the example works, but I wanna understand it)(I am not native English speaker, please excuse my mistakes)

[justsomeguy]

The first if statement is just checking if the input is empty. If the input is empty then it doesn't do anything else.This line:

echo $hint === "" ? "no suggestion" : $hint;

is the same as this:

if ($hint === "") {  echo "no suggestion";}else {  echo $hint;}

The "?:" operator is just a shorthand operator for that kind of if statement.

[Merkaber]

Thank you for your reply,

I understand the if clause, but I don't understand, why we need this if clause. There is no way, that $hint is not empty. $hint is for all times empty, thats what I understand. Because we declare it empty at the top and there is no other input for $hint.

[Ingolme]

$hint gets a value because it's in a loop.

[davej]

<?php// Array with names$a[] = "Anna";$a[] = "Brittany";$a[] = "Cinderella";// get the q parameter from URL$q = $_REQUEST["q"];$hint = "";// lookup all hints from array if $q is different from ""if ($q !== "") {    $q = strtolower($q); // change input to lower-case    $len = strlen($q); // get length of input string    $asize = sizeof($a); // get size of array    for($i=0; $i<$asize ; $i++) { // for each location in the array        $name = $a[$i];        if (stristr($q, substr($name, 0, $len))) { //if array characters match input string            if ($hint === "") {                $hint = $name; // set $hint to name in array            } else {                $hint .= ", $name"; // append name in array to $hint            }        }    }}if ($hint === "") { // if nothing matching was found in the array  echo "no suggestion";}else{  echo $hint; // echo the hint or hints}?> 

[justsomeguy]

This is the part that changes the value of $hint:

    foreach($a as $name) {        if (stristr($q, substr($name, 0, $len))) {            if ($hint === "") {                $hint = $name;            } else {                $hint .= ", $name";            }        }    }

[Merkaber]

Okay guys, sorry for adding this thread... I am so blind -.- . Thank you all for your replys

now I got it *head on table*