HTML output from PHP function

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I have a function whos purpose is to return some HTML ($offer_html) to display on my page. However, I´m seeing some strange things.

Below you see a div is added first to $offer_html (DIV is closing at the end).

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$offer_html = '<div class="box middle offer alignleft">';
$offer_html .= '<p class="detail alignleft">' . $volum . '</p>';
$offer_html .= '<p class="detail alignleft">' . $produsent . '</p>';
$offer_html .= wpfp_link();
$offer_html .= '</div';

return $offer_html;

My problem is with the function wpfp_link(). The function returns HTML, but this HTML ends up totally misplaced. When the page renders, the HTML looks like this: 

<img class="wpfp-img" title="Favorite" alt="Favorite" src="http://localhost:8888/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/wp-favorite-posts/img/remove.png">
<div class="box middle offer alignleft">
</div>

As you see, the HTML returned by the wpfp_link() ends up outside the DIV which I want it to be inside.

Does anyone know why this happens?

Post Views: 3

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7 comments

  1. You wpfp_link() does not return the HTML string, it directly echo’s the string. You’ve to catch that from the output buffer like the following:

    <?php
// Turn on outbut buffering
ob_start();


function your_function()
{
    // Fill outbut buffer
    wpfp_link();

    // Fetch and clean output buffer
    $wpfp_html = ob_get_clean();

    $offer_html = '<div class="box middle offer alignleft">';
    $offer_html .= '<p class="detail alignleft">' . $volum . '</p>';
    $offer_html .= '<p class="detail alignleft">' . $produsent . '</p>';

    // Use stuff from output buffer instead of wpfp_link() method.
    $offer_html .= $wpfp_html;

    $offer_html .= '</div';

    return $offer_html;
}

// Don't forget to handle active output buffering!
ob_end_flush();
?>

  2. There is another – and I believe better – way to solve this. Looking at the source code of the plugin containing that function (WP Favorite Posts) you can see that the wpfp_link() function accepts various arguments, the first of which is a flag that changes its behavior between printing its output and returning it.

    function wpfp_link( $return = 0, $action = "", $show_span = 1, $args = array() ) {
    global $post;
    $post_id = $post->ID;
    extract($args);
    if ($show_span)
        $str = "<span class='wpfp-span'>";
    $str .= wpfp_before_link_img();
    $str .= wpfp_loading_img();
    $wpfp_options = wpfp_get_options();
    if ($action == "remove"):
        $str .= wpfp_link_html($post_id, wpfp_get_option('remove_favorite'), "remove");
    elseif ($action == "add"):
        $str .= wpfp_link_html($post_id, wpfp_get_option('add_favorite'), "add");
    elseif (wpfp_check_favorited($post_id)):
        $str .= wpfp_link_html($post_id, wpfp_get_option('remove_favorite'), "remove");
    else:
        $str .= wpfp_link_html($post_id, wpfp_get_option('add_favorite'), "add");
    endif;
    if ($show_span)
        $str .= "</span>";
    if ($return) { return $str; } else { echo $str; }
}

    so

    wpfp_link(TRUE);

    should act as you expected.

    I checked the source code but this is probably documented somewhere in the plugin information.

  4. The wpfp_link function is probably echoing the HTML instead of returning it. You could use output buffering get the HTML as a string.

    $offer_html = '<div class="box middle offer alignleft">';
$offer_html .= '<p class="detail alignleft">' . $volum . '</p>';
$offer_html .= '<p class="detail alignleft">' . $produsent . '</p>';
ob_start();
wpfp_link();
$offer_html .= ob_get_clean();
$offer_html .= '</div';

return $offer_html;

  5. Try printing out (using echo) the whole string instead.

    echo "<div class="box middle offer alignleft">n<p class="detail alignleft">" . $volum . "</p>n<p class="detail alignleft">" . $produsent . "</p>n" . wpfp_link() . "</div>";

  7. I apologize for answering twice, I noticed a bug with the code for chosen answer. Consider the following code:

    <?php
function wpfp_link() {
    static $count = 0;
    echo '<img class="wpfp-img" title="Favorite" alt="Favorite" src="http://localhost:8888/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/wp-favorite-posts/img/remove.png">' . ($count++) ."n";
}
// Turn on outbut buffering
ob_start();


function your_function()
{
    // Fill outbut buffer
    wpfp_link();

    // Fetch and clean output buffer
    $wpfp_html = ob_get_clean();
    var_dump($wpfp_html);
    $offer_html = '<div class="box middle offer alignleft">';
    $offer_html .= '<p class="detail alignleft">' . $volum . '</p>';
    $offer_html .= '<p class="detail alignleft">' . $produsent . '</p>';

    // Use stuff from output buffer instead of wpfp_link() method.
    $offer_html .= $wpfp_html;

    $offer_html .= '</div>';

    return $offer_html;
}

// Don't forget to handle active output buffering!
ob_end_flush();
echo your_function();
echo your_function();
echo your_function();
echo your_function();
echo your_function();
echo your_function();
echo your_function();

?>

    The variable $wpfp_html has a value of false for each call of your_function because output buffering is turned off after ob_end_flush is called. ob_start() needs to be called each time prior to ob_get_clean() for the output buffer to be active.

    I would’ve posted a comment to your answer, Informant but I don’t have a high enough reputation.