PHP error that I do not understand
<p>Every time I receive an error in my PHP code, I end up getting a new error. I am as inexperienced as they come in PHP, so this site has been very helpful to me.</p>

<p>My code:</p>

<pre><code>&lt;?php

/* This is the location of the file and will be */
/* used as the baseline for all of my files writing */
/* of code within php.*/

/* THIS REQUIRES THE FILES FOR THE APPLICATOIN */
require_once('websiteconfig.inc.php');

/*FUNCTION THE VALIDATE NAME ON FORM */
function validateLogin($emailaddress='', $password='')
{

    /*THIS INIITALLIZES THE EMAIL KEY ON THE FORM */
    $email_key = 'betty@abc.com';
    $password_key = '1234'; 
    $auth_match = 0;

    /*THIS IS THE FIRST STATEMENT TO TEST THE USERNAME AND PASS*/
    if ($emailaddress == $email_key &amp;&amp; $password == $password_key) 
    {
    $auth_match=1;
    }

    /*THIS MAKES SURE THAT THE USER NAME AN PASSWORD IS MATCHED*/   
    return $auth_match;
}

function sanitize($form_var)
{
    $clean_data = strtolower(trim($form_var));

    return $clean_data;
}

/*AUTHENTICATION OF LOGON*/

$auth_status = 0;

/*PULLED FROM THE LOGON ON FORM AND DETERMINES IF ON CLICK OCCURED*/
if(array_key_exists('submit', $_POST))
{
/*REMOVES OLD DATA ON LOGON*/
    $emailaddress = sanitize($_POST['emailaddress']);
    $password = sanitize($_POST['password']);

    /*This makes sure that each fiedl was processed correctly*/

    try 
    {
    if($emailaddress == '' || $password == '')
    {
        throw new Exception ('E-mail and password must be provided to log in to this site.  Please  try again.');
    }
    else 
    {
        /* Validate data */
        $auth_status =validateLogin($emailaddress , $password);

        /*this kicks of the exception*/
        try 
        {
            if(!isset($auth_status))
            {
        throw new Exception('Sorry, online banking is not available at this time. Please try again.');

            }
        }
        /*Check validation of password*/

        catch(exception $v) {

        echo 'Message: ' . $v-&gt;getMessage();
        exit();
    }

    /*try catch for failed authentication*/

    try
    {
        if($auth_status &lt;= 0) 
        {
        /*through trigger */
        throw new Exception('Sorry, the email address and password does not match our records.  Please try again!');

        } 
        else 
        {
            /*This creates the person object*/
            $currentMember = new Person($auth_status);

            /*set the currentMember atributes*/
            $currentMember-&gt;firstname = 'Jenny';
            $currentMember-&gt;lastname = 'Ginny';
            $currentMember-&gt;emailaddress = 'tommy@twotone.com';
            $currentMember-&gt;memberid = $auth_status;

            /*start session*/
            session_start();
            $_SESSION['currentMember'] = serialize($currentMember);
        }
    }
    catch(Exception $a) {
     echo '&lt;h3&gt;Error: ' . $a-&gt;getMessage() .'&lt;/h3&gt;';
}


/*check validaiton of login  */
catch(Exception $e) 
{
    echo 'Message: ' . $e-&gt;getMessage();
    exit();
}

if($auth_status == 1)
{
    /*THE LOGON IS SUCCESSFUL*/
    echo '&lt;table width="400" border="1" align="center"&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Welcome Back, Betty!...  Your not ugly after all&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;' . "\n\n";
    echo "\t" . '&lt;table width="400" border="1" align="center"&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="' .     URL_ROOT . 'onlinebanking" title="Online Banking"&gt;On Line Banking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;' . "\n\n";

} 
elseif($auth_status == 0) 
{
    /*THIS OCCURS IF THE LOGON FAILS*/
    echo '&lt;table width="400" border="1" align="center"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;h4     class="error"&gt;Authentication Error please try again! &lt;/h4&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;' . "\n\n";
echo '&lt;table width="400" border="1" align="center"&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt; Please make sure that the &lt;strong&gt; "Numbers Lock" &lt;/strong&gt;or "&lt;strong&gt;Caps Lock"&lt;/strong&gt; is not on and re-type your password.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;'; 
}

?&gt;
</code></pre>
