setting variable in header.php but not seen in footer.php

Question

in wordpress , i set a variable in header.php

but in footer.php when I ech

Answer 1

I know you've already accepted the answer to this question; however, I think there's a much better approach to the variable scope problem than passing vars into the $GLOBALS array.

Take the functions.php file in your theme for example. This file is included outside the scope of the get_header() and get_footer() functions. In fact it supersedes anything else you might be doing in your theme (and I believe in the plugin scope as well--though I'd have to check that.)

If you want to set a variable that you'd like to use in your header/footer files, you should do it in your functions.php file rather than polluting $GLOBALS array. If you have more variables that you want to sure, consider using a basic Registry object with getters/setters. This way your variables will be better encapsulated in a scope you can control.

Registry

Here's a sample Registry class to get you started if:

properties[ $index ] = $value;
    }

    /**
     * @get     mixed   Objects stored in the registry
     * @param   string  $index  A unique ID for the object
     * @return  object  Returns a object used by the core application.
     */
    public function __get($index)
    {
        return $this->properties[ $index ];
    }

    # +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
    # CONSTRUCTOR
    # +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
    public function __construct()
    {
    }


}

Save this class in your theme somewhere, e.g. /classes/registry.class.php Include the file at the top of your functions.php file: include( get_template_directory() . '/classes/registry.class.php');

Example Usage

Storing variables:

$registry = new Registry();
$registry->my_variable_name = "hello world";

Retrieving variables:

echo '
' .  $registry->my_variable_name . '
'

The registry will accept any variable type.

Note: I normally use SplObjectStorage as the internal datastore, but I've swapped it out for a regular ole array for this case.