Returning arrays??

furious5

Just coming to the end of a long day, and struggling with a function I've just written. I've done this loads of times before but can't work out what I've forgotten.

Basically I am running an SQL statement to return all the records, placing them in an array and returning them to the function.

When I call the function all I get is one row from the array back.

Function:


function File1(){ // Create drop down menu 

//load database connection
 	include "config.php";

// Connect To MySQL Server
@mysql_connect($server, $username, $password) or die("Couldn't Connect to Database");

// Select Database
@mysql_select_db($database) or die(mysql_error());

// SQL query
$sql = "SELECT * FROM file;

// Execute SQL and exit if failure
$sql_result = mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());
$num_rows = mysql_num_rows($sql_result);
$row = mysql_fetch_array($sql_result);

	return $row;

#print_r($rows);

}

Call to Function:


$file = File1();

poison

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql_result)) {
	$rows[]=$row;
}

regards

laserlight

while ($rows[] = mysql_fetch_array($sql_result));

though that can confuse an unsuspecting reader.

philipolson

The last example won't really work properly ($rows[] directly in the loop) as you'll end up with one empty row at the end (many have attempted this!) so poisons code is more appropriate. On a unrelated note, you should use mysql_fetch_assoc() instead of mysql_fetch_array()... one really never (never say never?) needs both numerical and associative name/value pairs... And on another unrelated note, do you really want to mysql_connect() or even include files like config.php inside that function? It seems kinda funny, I'm guessing you should connect once (let's say on top of the script) and create/use functions to do various tasks (and they'll all use that one connection) within. More efficient...

furious5

I've had a look at the suggestions, and tidied up my code somewhat.

I'm now having problems returning the array, and I can't understand why.

I'm trying to access the array using:

echo $file['Username'];

Array looks like this:

Array ( [0] => Array ( [0] => 2 [ID] => 2 [1] => Jen [Username] => Jen [2] => [Password] => ) [1] => Array ( [0] => 3 [ID] => 3 [1] => Jay [Username] => Jay [2] => [Password] => ) [2] => Array ( [0] => 4 [ID] => 4 [1] => Doll [Username] => Doll [2] => [Password] => ) [3] => Array ( [0] => 5 [ID] => 5 [1] => Kitty [Username] => Kitty [2] => [Password] => ) )

Weedpacket

You mean $file[0]['Username'], $file[1]['Username'], etc., I think.

laserlight

The last example won't really work properly ($rows[] directly in the loop) as you'll end up with one empty row at the end (many have attempted this!) so poisons code is more appropriate.

array_pop($rows);

then.
Though I'm not sure if there will be any gain in speed or conservation of memory, in that case.