Check if username exists in database

[zamp0e]

I would like to check if the username the user wants when he registers already exists in the database, and if so, return a error message.

 

Is there a special funktion or something like that to do this ?

[fenway]

No function -- just query the users table with JUST the user name, then in php check the hashed password against the value you've stored in your DB.

[cunoodle2]

Here is some code that I wrote in a recent page checking to see if an email address already existed.  You can just modify to use that of username.  Note that this is written using pdo statements which are a little more challenging but also way more secure.  At the very least it will give you the structure of how you should approach this..

 

<?php
//prepare SQL query using pdo statement
$stmt = $connect->prepare("SELECT `EmailAddy` FROM `Members` where EmailAddy = ? LIMIT 1;");
if ($stmt->execute(array($email)))
{
	$result = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);

	//check to see if there is already that email address in the database
	if((strtolower($email) == strtolower($result["EmailAddy"])))
	{
		$errorMessage = "Error: That email address already exists.<br />\n";
	}
}
?>