How can I use global variables in a plugin?

[s22-tech]

I'd like to create some variables at the beginning of a plugin and then use then in my functions. But calling global $var; at the start of a function does nothing - the $var is not available to the function.

If I define a CONSTANT, I can use that in the functions but I'm curious as to why a global $var isn't useable?

(I know some people don't like globals, but I don't mind them in a situation like this.)

[dgw]

Need example failing code, probably. Per PHP docs about scope, using global $varname should indeed just work.

[dgw]

why would you have to declare the $var as global twice in the plugin?

You probably don't need to declare it global inside the function if you're only reading the value; I just didn't bother testing any more after I got it working. My primary language is Python, not PHP 😅

could you expound on action=expand and perhaps give an example?

Expand the "Example expand API calls` line in my previous comment.

[s22-tech]

You probably don't need to declare it global inside the function

Unfortunately, you do. Without it you'll get an error. But that's not how it's supposed to work. I've never had to use, nor even seen the use of, multiple global calls like that.

[dgw]

But that's not how it's supposed to work. I've never had to use, nor even seen the use of, multiple global calls like that.

It is probably to do with how YOURLS loads plugins. As I said, I'm not super plugged into how PHP works, but I did see some discussions about how scoping can work in unexpected ways when files are included/required. That's as far as I could go with it rn.

I had started responding to what you said about action=expand, but now that you've deleted that part of your comment I'm guessing you figured it out. 🙂

[s22-tech]

It is probably to do with how YOURLS loads plugins.

That's unfortunate. I'll stick with declaring constants for now, unless someone here has any ideas.

I'm guessing you figured it out.

Well, I guessed you were talking about replacing action=locate_keyword with action=expand but doing that returns the wrong information, e.g. {"keyword":"","message":"Error: short URL not found","errorCode":404} when testing for a known good keyword.

So, unless I'm using it incorrectly, it's not the same.

[dgw]

action=expand&shorturl=kwhere

It does not take exactly the same parameter as your custom action=locate_keyword, which takes keyword=kwhere instead of shorturl=kwhere

[s22-tech]

Regarding the action=expand keyword you mentioned here, I'd like to suggest that it return consistent keys for both success and failure.

On success, it returns 'keyword', 'shorturl', 'longurl', 'title', 'message', and 'statusCode'.

But on failure, it returns 'keyword', 'message', and 'errorCode'.

Shouldn't 'errorCode' be named 'statusCode' so that we can test for a single keyword?