two simple but very useful functions, for converting a query to a value or an array:
<?php
function mysql_evaluate($query, $default_value="undefined") {
$result = mysql_query($query);
if (mysql_num_rows($result)==0)
return $default_value;
else
return mysql_result($result,0);
}
function mysql_evaluate_array($query) {
$result = mysql_query($query);
$values = array();
for ($i=0; $i<mysql_num_rows($result); ++$i)
array_push($values, mysql_result($result,$i));
return $values;
}
?>
http://tora.us.fm/_script/highlight.php?file=sql
Usage examples:
<?php
$customer_count = mysql_evaluate("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM customers");
$customer_names = mysql_evaluate_array("SELECT name FROM customers");
$customer_type = mysql_evaluate("SELECT type FROM customers WHERE name='$name'", "DEFAULT_TYPE");
?>