[RESOLVED] How to determine if it is Null or not

[firsttimer]

Hi PHP builder,

can someone explain to me how I determine if the return value from the query has something or not. In mysql table I have one entry with today date and it works if there a entry for today date but if there is none it just show a blank page. Is there a way to confirm that if it is NULL, or empty? Any suggestions would greatly appreciate.

Thank you.

$today=date('Y-m-d');

$con=mysql_connect("localhost", 'hung', 'hung123') or die(mysql_error());
mysql_select_db("molson") or die(mysql_error());

$result = mysql_query('SELECT * FROM timekeeping WHERE USERNAME="'.$username.'" and DATE="'.$today.'"');

while($row = mysql_fetch_array( $result ))
{
if ($row['MATTERID']==NULL)
echo "nothing";
else
echo $row['MATTERID'];
}

[laserlight]

You can just add a AND MATTERID IS NOT NULL clause to the query.

[firsttimer]

Thank you laserlight for the quick reply.

I understand putting "MATTERID IS NOT NULL " is another condition to the query. The thing I really want is determine how many entry does the result return. I want a count of the number of entry that it hits. If there is none it should give me zero. If there two hits it should say 2. Any suggestion?

Thank you.

$result = mysql_query('SELECT * FROM timekeeping WHERE USERNAME="'.$username.'" and DATE="'.$today.'" and MATTERID IS NOT NULL');

echo mssql_num_rows($result);

[laserlight]

Perhaps you should use mysql_num_rows() instead of mssql_num_rows().

As a side note: you may want to use the MySQLi extension instead of the MySQL extension since it provides an object based interface with support for prepared statements and other features in MySQL 4.1+. Alternatively, you could use the more flexible PDO extension.

[firsttimer]

Thank you Laserlight,

I have use mysql_num_rows() and it works the way I want it.

Thank you very much.

[laserlight]

You're welcome 🙂
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