Problem checking result from MySQL Query

[Gary_Kambic]

Hello,

For some reason when I use a $membership_id that I know if not a valid ID in the table the (!$result) does not return a "true" value. It doesn't perform the "else" condition either, just falls through the entire "if". If the $membership_id is not a valid entry in the table, should it come back with the (!$result) being true?

Thanks for any help, Gary

if ($membership_id != "") {
$query = "SELECT * FROM agents WHERE id = $membership_id";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die ("Server Busy | Please use Back Button and Try Again [ 002 ] | ".mysql_error());

if (!$result) {
echo "[ 003 ]";
$error_status = "yes";
$error_message .= "<table width=\"760\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">
<tr>
<td height=\"20\" width=\"20\"><img src=\"images/red_triangle.gif\"></td>
<td height=\"20\" align=\"left\" valign=\"middle\"><font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong>MEMBERSHIP ID IS INVALID</strong></font></td>
</tr>
</table>"; }
else
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
$agent_id = $row["id"];
echo "agent_id: ". "$agent_id" . "<br>";

  }		  

}
else
$membership_id = "n/a";

[LordShryku]

Yes, because $result is nothing more than the resource used to query the database. So it's still querying the database, it's just not returning rows.

[Gary_Kambic]

OK, well then, is their a check I can make to determine if indeed the query discovered a row? Which variable and what do I check for? I know I could loop through the entire table and set a flag if I find the record but I like this technique as I believe it is more efficient.

Thanks!

[mrhappiness]

you probably want to read http://de.php.net/manual/en/ref.mysql.php

[trooper]

also take a look at numrows

This function will tell you the number of records returned from a query

HTH

GM

[Gary_Kambic]

Thanks guys, numrows works fine!