Checking if Username already exists

[Anon]

A person who signs on to my site will be able to choose his or her own username and password. I would like to check the username table to make sure that username doesnt already exist, if it does, prompt the user to enter a new one, if it doesnt, just continue on with the script.

Here is what i tried:

function checknameexists ($name) {
include ("customer_table.inc");
$connection = @mysql_connect("xxxx", "xxxx", "xxxx") or die("Couldn't connect.");
$db = @mysql_select_db($db_name, $connection)or die("Couldn't select database.");
$sql = "Select username from customer_table";
$result = @($sql,$connection)or die("Couldn't execute query.");

$namearray = 0;
$b = 0;

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
$username = $row['username'];
$namearray[$b] = $username;
$b++;
}

$a = count($namearray);
$i=0;
while ($i <= $a) {
if ($name = $namearray[$i]) {
return FALSE;

	} else 	{ 
		}
$i++;
}

}

Of course, its not working, thats why im posting this. When i try it, Its always returns false, even when there is no match.

Thanks for any help

[phpjuggler]

Hi,
..seems a little too complex :-)
try this:

$select = "select username from user where username like('$name')";
if(mysql_query($select))
{
...code if user exists....
}else
{
...code if user is not in db...
}

Greetings
juggler