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General Discussion

Posted by Andrej Kirin
Andrej Kirin
18,967 Points

Challenge Problem

HI! I'm stuck at problem 2 of this challenge: http://teamtreehouse.com/library/enhancing-a-simple-php-application-2/adding-search-controller-view/accounting-for-empty-results

My code so far is this:

<?php

    $recommendations = array();

?>

<html>
<body>

    <h1>Flavor Recommendations</h1>

<?php if (!empty($recommendations)) { ?>

    <ul>
        <?php foreach($recommendations as $flavor) { ?>
            <li><?php echo $flavor; ?></li> 
            else {echo '<p> There are no flavor recommendations for you.</p>'}

        <?php }

        ?>

    </ul>
<?php } ?>
</body>
</html>

and I just can't figure out what am I doing wrong. Wherever I put this else block I get the same answer that the array is empty... Is there anyone who can help me to get past this problem.

Thanks!

Andrej

6 Answers

Pol Martin
Pol Martin
8,200 Points
Pol Martin
Pol Martin
8,200 Points

Hi Andrej,

you are following the right approach, but your else block is not in the right position.

Note that you want the 'ul' list and all its content to display only if the array is not empty, so your else block should be after closing the 'ul'.

Remember to put it inside the <?php ?> tags.

Nathan Wong
Nathan Wong
7,129 Points
Nathan Wong
Nathan Wong
7,129 Points

A couple of things:

  • Your else block isn't within <?php ?> tags, so won't do anything except print directly to the html.
  • At the moment, the else {} block is within the foreach, which won't work because else {} blocks should only follow the closing of an if {} block.

If you can resolve both of these, this snippet ought to work.

Andrej Kirin
Andrej Kirin
18,967 Points
Andrej Kirin
Andrej Kirin
18,967 Points

I tried this code right after the closing </ul> tag: <?php else { echo '<p>There are no flavor recommendations for you.</p>';} ?>

but still don't work.

Any ideas?

thanks

Alastair Cox
PLUS
Alastair Cox
Courses Plus Student 7,153 Points
Alastair Cox
Alastair Cox
Courses Plus Student 7,153 Points

Hi Andrej,

I had similar problems getting this code to pass the challenge. I could get it working fine on my local server but not within the code challenge area. The way it got it to pass was by adding a value to the array; so $recommendations = array(); becomes something like $recommendations = array("one");

Hope this helps

Andrej Kirin
Andrej Kirin
18,967 Points
Andrej Kirin
Andrej Kirin
18,967 Points

Thanks for your help everyone, I passed this challenge...

Fabian Wilson
Fabian Wilson
5,076 Points
Fabian Wilson
Fabian Wilson
5,076 Points

I found that this code works.

<?php
    $recommendations = array('Bannana');
?>


<html>
<body>
    <h1>Flavor Recommendations</h1>

    <ul>

        <?php
    if (!empty($recommendations)) {
        foreach($recommendations as $flavor) { ?>
            <li><?php echo $flavor; ?></li>
        <?php } ?>
    </ul>
<?php
 }else
        echo '<p> There are no recommendations.</p>'?>
</body>
</html>


`