Static PHP function not return value

Question

I have this function that does a select statement and returns the results. I can see the results coming in but my function is returning a null object.

public static function getMySteps($schema, $StepNum){
    $retVal = null;
    $sql = "SELECT * FROM mysteps where id=" . $StepNum; 
    Yii::log($sql,'info','.getMySteps');
    $results = execSQL($schema, $sql);
    if (is_array($results) && count($results) > 0){
        $retVal = $results[0];
    }
     Yii::log("returning " . isset($retVal), "info", "getMySteps");

    return $retVal;
}

I am calling this function in another function

 $retval = self::getMySteps($mySchema, $myStepNum);
 Yii::log("step count found " . isset($retVal), "info", "nextStep");

When I'm looking at the logs I see

returning 1

step count found

Which means I getting results from the query but the function is return nothing.

Answer 1

I'd like to comment but I can't so right after you read this, I will delete the "answer".

Your variables do not match and this can happen often. One simple trick is to have your IDE or simple text editor highlight the variable currently selected in the text. I did your mistake once and lost a lot of time. So here's my little tip. :)

Edit : see this atom package as an example : https://atom.io/packages/highlight-selected