Test For Row Already Created

[Uphoreum]

Say each user had a row in a table to store information about them and I want the row to automatically be created if it's not there, but I don't want a new one to be created with the same username. So, one column would be for the username and I would create one if no rows had that username. Is there a mysql query or something for this, or do I have to cycle through each row and check if it has that username manually?

[Moon-Man.net]

in the Database its self, you could set the field that you want to be unique to be a "Unique restraint" field...
If you try and insert into the database a value that exists in that field, you will get a SQL error...
Cheers,
Nathan

[spyke01]

you can also do this
[code]
$sql = "SELECT * FROM `users` WHERE users_username='$requestedUsername'";
$result = mysql_query($sql);

if (mysql_num_rows($result) == 0) {
    // username is not in the databse so continue creating the account
}
else {
    // username exists so tell the user so they can choose another one
}
[/code]