Test for successful MySQL delete

[salewit]

I got this straight out of my PHP book yet regardless of the value of $userid it ALWAYS comes out TRUE ($result=1). Is there a typo in my book? The code does work when the userid is correct.

$selstate = "DELETE from userdb WHERE username = '$userid'";
$result = mysql_query($selstate,$linkID);
if ($result == TRUE) {
print "<p>The record was successfully deleted.\n";
}
else {
print "<p>No such record with that UserID. Please check and try again.\n";
}
mysql_close($linkID);

 

[KarveR]

echo "deleted ".mysql_affected_rows();

______________________________________________________________________
There's no present like the time, they say. - Henry's Cat.

 

[DRJ478]

The reason why it comes out "TRUE" in all cases is that mysql_query() returns the sucessful execution of the the query, not if the query had any effect on the table. A successful query execution just means that there was no syntax error in the SQL statement.
It's concerning to see such misconceptions printed in instructional books.

 

[salewit]

Thanks for the replies. I actually *thought* this was a great book when I got it and started learning, but more and more I'm hearing people say things like "don't do it that way". This is a book by "Visual" FWIW.