MySQL errors when no info in DB...

[Anon]

Allright...

When pulling info from a database using an HTML/PHP script, and there aren't any matching rows, why does it spit out this error:
Warning: Supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /usr/local/etc/httpd/htdocs/attmed/employee/empreports/single.php on line 176

I've tested, and put info in the database, and the error dissipates.

Is there any way to get around this?

I was thinking about doing this:

if (mysql_numrows($variable) = 0){
echo "nothin here, dood<br>\n";
}
else{
echo"outputted data\n";
}

Is there an easier way to do this?

Thanks for any assistance...
-=Lazzerous=-

[Anon]

First off, you're doing an assignment operator rather than a comparison operator.

if ($rowsFound = mysql_numrows($var)) {
echo "No Rows Retrieved";
} else {
echo "$rowsFound Rows Retrieved";
}

is a better way to code it.

Try checking your return value from mysql_connect before letting your script run this far too.

[Anon]

Can't be absolutely sure w/o seeing your source, but it sounds
like there's something wrong with the query itself. You can
have zero records and still have a "valid MySQL result resource";
what's not OK is trying to retrieve a row from the result if
there were none.

To further emphasize Tom's point, you need to check every
return for possible errors: the connect itself may fail, the
query may have errors, and only then should you say
if (mysql_numrows($result) > 0) to see if the query
returned any data.