There are two solutions in this page for calling bind_param() via call_user_func_array() that involve using a user-created function called refValues(), so that you can pass the parameters to bind_param() as references.
This works perfectly in PHP v5.3 (and I assume before), but since upgrading to PHP v7.1.7, the refValues() functions here no longer correctly convert the arrays to arrays of references. Instead you will get a warning:
"PHP Warning: Parameter 3 to mysqli_stmt_bind_param() expected to be a reference, value given"
I believe this is because of changes to arrays and reference handling as noted in the "Migrating from PHP 5.6.x to PHP 7.0.x" guide in Backwards Incompatibilities (change: "foreach by-value operates on a copy of the array").
So in PHP v7.1.7 at least, the user-created function refValues() no longer returns an array of references but instead a normal array of values.
Changing the function definition of refValues() to accept the array as a reference seems to fix this - as intended it returns an array of references and thus bind_param() works as expected (although I haven't tested this super thoroughly to make sure there are no other ill effects, especially in older versions of PHP).
New refValues() definition is simply:
<?php
function refValues(&$arr) {
if (strnatcmp(phpversion(),'5.3') >= 0) {
$refs = array();
foreach($arr as $key => $value)
$refs[$key] = &$arr[$key];
return $refs;
}
return $arr;
}
?>
