Need help to improve my MySQLI functions

[s0me0ne]

I'm using mysqli with PHP, but my custom functions always require me to pass the link, which I think i read in another book is not very good. The thing is I'm not sure how to get around this.

Here is some code giving an example of what i do

// set server access variables
	$host = 'localhost';
	$user = 'root';
	$pass = '';
	$db = 'custom';

// create mysqli object
// open connection
@$mysqli = new mysqli($host, $user, $pass, $db);

// check for connection errors
if (mysqli_connect_errno())
{
    die('Unable to connect to database!');
}

$query = "DELETE FROM images WHERE id='1'";
get_result_for_query($mysqli, $query);

function get_result_for_query($mysqli, $query)
	{
		//insert, delete
		if ($result = $mysqli->query($query))
		{	
			//note how result is not an mysqli object here, its a boolean
			if ($result > 0)
			{
				$data = 'It worked';
			}
			else
				$data = 'It failed';
		}
		else
		{
			echo $mysqli->error;
			echo '<hr /> no results <hr />';
		}

	//DEBUG line in here
	return 'data=' . $data . "\n<br />" . $result . ' query=' . $query . "\n<hr />";
}

I have more functions than that, but I always have to pass the link. Is that good? Or is there a better way to do this? I'd use classes but I'm not strong enough with OOP in PHP yet, that and I barely know database stuff well, so I have to learn it all slowly.

[NogDog]

You might consider extending the mysqli class to include your function as a new method:

<?php
class MyMysqli extends mysqli
{
   public function get_result_for_query($query)
   {
      //insert, delete
      if ($result = $this->query($query))
      {
         //note how result is not an mysqli object here, its a boolean
         if ($result > 0)
         {
            $data = 'It worked';
         } else
            $data = 'It failed';
      } else
      {
         echo $mysqli->error;
         echo '<hr /> no results <hr />';
      }

  //DEBUG line in here
  return 'data=' . $data . "\n<br />" . $result . ' query=' . $query . "\n<hr />";
   }
}

// sample usage:
$db = new MyMysqli('localhost', $dbuser, $dbpass, $database);
$result = $db->get_result_for_query("you query here");