Plug in help please

[Nightbreed]

I've got a plug in set to hook at global_start.

The included php contains a couple additional includes to non-vb code and db functions.

After these includes there's a simply foreach loop that should display list items for the results.

Inside the plugin include I've tried echoing the loop items a la:

<?
foreach blah {
echo '<li>'.$d_row['item'].'</li>';
} else { blah }
?>

I've also tried escaping php and putting html inside the include a la:

<?
foreach blah {
?>
<li><? echo $d_row['item']; ?></li>
<?
} else { blah }
?>

Neither of these will display the list items. However, if I call the include directly from a browser the list items do display. It's only when attempting to use the plug in that the list wont' work.

The code for the plug in is here:

ob_start();
   include('/path/navigator.php');
   $includedphp = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean(); 

I've reviewed the online manual and read all I could. From everything I've read it should be working.

Can someone help me out with what I may be missing?

I'm really trying to avoid calling a new template, but if that is indeed the problem then I'll live with the fact that I have to add a template.

Thanks.

[Jake Bunce]

No PHP tags are needed. And you should capture the output in a variable, not echo it. Use a structure like this:

foreach ($array as $value)
{
	$bits .= '<li>' . $value . '</li>';
}

Now you can use code like this in most templates:

<ul>
$bits
</ul>

[Nightbreed]

ahh. Thanks Jake!

Still can't seem to get it to work.

I removed the php tags and set the items in a variable.

Here's the block of code for the loop present in the include:

foreach( $maincat as $d_row ) {    
            if ($d_row["maincategory"] == "Free Samples") { 
                $cats .= '';  
            } else { 
                $cats .= '<li><a title="'.$d_row['maincategory'].'" href="http://www.domain.com/index1.php?maincat_id='.$d_row['recid'].'">'.$d_row['maincategory'].'</a></li>';
            } 
        } 

In the template (header) I'm adding $includephp and $cats but nothing shows.

yet called by itself, this does work:

<?php
include('path/navigator.php');
echo $cats;
?>

[Nightbreed]

Okay I got it working.
I simply included the php code in the plug in manager rather than directing to an include and using ob_start. I guess I don't fully understand how the ob_start works.