Do I always need isset inside an if?

Question

Is the following acceptable, even if $my_flag may not be set?

{if ( $my_flag )}
    // Vrooom
{/if}

Do I always need isset to ensure notices aren't thrown, or does Smarty3 take care of things?

Yes, and all seems well. I'm more concerned that when the template is compiled, I want to be sure the corresponding PHP won't throw errors with `E_STRICT` — TheDeadMedic, Jul 16 '12 at 10:39

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 04 '12 at 22:36

It is acceptable, but PHP will warn you that $my_flag is undefined.

I would do something like that:

{if isset($my_flag)}
    {if $my_flag == 123}
        <p>print something</p>
    {/if}
{/if}

If you will try your current script everything will work, but it will log a notice. The above script makes sure the only if the variable is set then do something.

However, since Smarty is cached you may have to reload the page a few times to see the changes (unless you specify $smarty_obj->force_compile = true;).

Do I always need isset inside an if?

1 Answers1