mysql_list_fields without dbname

the_Igel

Hello people.

I'd like to use mysql_list_fields(), but it requires dbname as a parameter. As for me, I never change db while executing a script, so dbname is hard-coded somewhere in connection.php include file and I dislike the idea to change smth for it to be available in a script.

Of course, I can get field information through mysql_query(), still that seems not much comfortable to me.

Any ideas?

hand

Did you try it with mysql_fetch_field()
http://www.php3.de/manual/en/function.mysql-fetch-field.php

the_Igel

Yes, at last i did it as

$r = mysql_query("select * from mytable where 0 = 1);

and then mysql_fetch_field($r),

but still it seems to me not too nice. It works, but it looks awful.

[deleted]

" but it requires dbname as a parameter. "

so give it!

what's the problem? Just define the databasename as a constant in connection.php and you're done.

hand

where 0=1 😕

mysql> select * from test2 where 0=1;
Empty set (0.03 sec)

mysql>

the_Igel

yes, it is empty set, but as far as i need only field information it gives me what i want.

the_Igel

Originally posted by vincente
" but it requires dbname as a parameter. "

so give it!

Sure that's clever idea 🙂
I'm not that dumb to be not aware of this solution, though.
The question I asked was for a good way to get information without providing dbname, not for advice to provide it.

No offense meant 🙂

[deleted]

yeah ok, but why is it such a big deal to just give the dbname? You say you never change it, so what's the problem to just use the name you got in your connection script?

Ultimately you want to be in control of which database you get the data from, so giving the databasename is a must anyway. 🙂

the_Igel

well, i just wrote it this way to be able to use my functions anywhere without bothering where and how does a script connect to a db. So much trouble it would be to spend a long while trying to locate an error, and then find out that I forgot to set dbname properly in some long ago forgotten include file.

Maybe you cool people always code in a good way and keep all the files ever in order etc 🙂 , but my code is rather often a mess. And once I need to return to smth written a while ago, it is sometimes hard to find out, how the hell it's supposed to work 🙂
I'm improving, though.

[deleted]

That 'mess' is exactly why you should not write any function to just work with whatever is happening at that moment, because in messy scripts you can never really be sure what's going on in the first palce 🙂

Especially when you have a bit of a mess going on in your scripts, you should allways tell every function exactly what to use. Only then can you be sure that it is indeed using the data you want it to use, and only then can you find bugs easily. Is a function returning the wrong data? then you must have given it the wrong information, you immediately know where to look. If a function is acting on data it got from it's surroundings (ex: global variables) then you're pretty much f*cked because the 'environment' can be changed by any function, in any script.

You are already using a single connection script, which means you always connect to the same database (for that app ofcourse). If you use that script to define a few constants containing the databasename, databasehost etc, then you can use those constanst in the other scripts to get the default database data. Then you can give that constant as a parameter to this function, and you can be sure that you'll get the data from the database you are currently using.

Plus, if you later need to get data on a different database, you can just send that name to the function and still get the correct data.

ya getting my drift boy? 🙂

the_Igel

Oh yeah, arcane knowledge is given to me at last.

Sure I'm aware about what is good and what is bad, and sure I try to do my best (when I'm in a good mood🙂). I have even started putting descriptive comments in my code a while ago.

I have never ever asked anybody to teach me good coding style, haven't I? No offense meant, but it seems to be a frequent manner on these forums (sure not only here) not to reply the given question, but rather to give some ideological advices. (I'm not even speaking of guys who post answers not undestanding the question at all, there's a lot of these, but they aren't the point.)

Sure, everyone should better produce good kind of code, and it should be easy-to-read, well-commented, object-oriented and register_globals_OFF'ed 😉 But, guys, did I ever asked
i wrote $var = 1; $echo 'var'; and it doesn't work? I do know about good techniques, and I do know about most of php-functions. If I ever ask a question, I only need to get an exact answer. Ex.: "IT IS IMPOSSIBLE!" - it is good answer. And "Why do you care?" is bad one.

Still i'm always ready for a discussion about coding standarts 🙂

Hope none is offended. If someone is, I apologize. Still none is forced to read all this crap 🙂

[deleted]

I've head this "just answer the question damnit" crap before (as you can see from my number of posts that I've been around for a while), and it's mostly used by the clueless.

Hence you get an explenation of why you should not do it the way your question describes.

As it turns out you seem to know all about how to do it right (or so you claim), you just don't particularly feel like doing it right.

And if you can't be bothered to do it right, then I can't be bothered to look for a solution.

No offence, but if you can be 'lazy', then so can I. 🙂

the_Igel

We are fighting a little, aren't we? Let's have a round more 🙂

As I see from your number of posts, you like to answer silly questions (as they are or would seem to you as you are good in PHP). Still, none makes you to do it: it's your own choice, and if you ever not in the mood to answer a question, you can not bother replying it. Even if it is as stupid as mine are 🙂

And as you keep answering them, there must be reason. Do you think you're Messiah to turn all the poor coders to the true faith? It's pointless, you'll never reach your goal since poor coders appear faster than turn to good ones. Some even die being poor, i'm sure.

As for me, I try not to give common advices in case I can't give the real answer. I'm not that long around here as you do (as you can see from my profile or whatever) 🙂, but hope I won't turn "i-know-how-you-must-code" guru after a while.

Anyway, PHP, as everything at all, isn't only "do as decent people do" work, there's place for some "hacking" tricks, when you do something not obvious and thus not widely-used. Maybe I'm not much of a good coder, but I see the difference. Standarts are for work, hacking is for exploration. And exploring is much more of interst and much more unclear. I'm not asking for things everyone does: either I know it already, or it's easy to find. Tell me things not for common use, and i'll bring you gold & diamonds, you grey-bearded sage. 🙂

[deleted]

"We are fighting a little, aren't we? Let's have a round more"

No, let's not.

the_Igel

oh, that's a relief. You are cleverer than me.

Thanks a lot (no joking)!