Getting errors

[up2trouble]

$db_table = "quotes";

//********************************
$connection = mysql_connect($db_host,$db_user,$db_pass) OR DIE ('I can not connect to the server because:' . mysql_error());
mysql_select_db($db_name, $connection) or die  ('I can not select the database because:' . mysql_error());

$num = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT * FROM $db_table");
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM $db_table ORDER BY RAND($num) LIMIT 1");
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);

echo "<font size='10'> {$row['quote']}</font><BR><BR>";
echo "<font size='7'><i>{$row['author']}</i></font>";
?>
?>

errors

Warning: mysql_fetch_array() [function.mysql-fetch-array]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/justmason/public_html/quotes/quotes.php on line 15

Warning: mysql_fetch_array() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in /home/justmason/public_html/quotes/quotes.php on line 15

[benanamen]

Two things. You need to upgrade your PHP to a current version. Second thing, mysql_* has been completely removed from PHP. I would suggest you use PDO with Prepared Statements.

https://phpdelusions.net/pdo

[up2trouble]

Upgrade to what version?

How would this be done in mysqli?

//********************************
$db_table = "quotes";

//********************************
$connection = mysql_connect($db_host,$db_user,$db_pass) OR DIE ('I can not connect to the server because:' . mysql_error());
mysql_select_db($db_name, $connection) or die  ('I can not select the database because:' . mysql_error());

$num = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT * FROM $db_table");
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM $db_table ORDER BY RAND($num) LIMIT 1");
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);

echo "<font size='10'> {$row['quote']}</font><BR><BR>";
echo "<font size='7'><i>{$row['author']}</i></font>";
?>
?>

[ginerjm]

If you are going to learn a new db interface I strongly suggest going all the way to PDO.  Much easier and much better than mysqli for sure.

And learn how to use CSS instead of the outdated <font> tag.

And learn not to use the closing php tag.

[Barand]

40 minutes ago, ginerjm said:

I strongly suggest going all the way to PDO.

+1

[ginerjm]

I'll let you setup your own module to do the pdo connection.  But the rest of your script is easy.

$q = "SELECT COUNT * FROM $db_table";
$num = $pdo->query($q);
$q = "SELECT quote,author FROM quotes ORDER BY RAND($num) LIMIT 1";
if (!$result = $pdo->query($q))
{
	echo "Error running query";
    exit();
}
list($quote, $author) = $pdo-fetch(PDO::FETCH_NUM);

echo "$quote<BR><BR>";
echo "<i>{$author</i>";

 

Edited October 21, 2021 by ginerjm

[Barand]

$num will not contain the record count.

Why is that $num being used in the call to RAND() function?

[ginerjm]

Hmmm.. Guess I should have corrected his query when I tried to demo using PDO..

OP - the first query is returning an array which you simply used as a singular value in your 2nd query.  That should be

$cnt = $num[0];

and then use $cnt in your call to RAND.  But - you have to re-think how you are using that SQL RAND function.  I think you may want to use the PHP 'rand()' function to generate your number and embed that into an OFFSET clause in your query to get a record at random.  Read up on it in the manual.

[Barand]

The first query is returning neither a count of records nor an array - it returns a result object

$q = "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $db_table";
$res = $pdo->query($q);
$num = $res->fetchColumn();

However, that code is totally superfluous - you don't need the count just to get a random record.

$q = "SELECT quote,author FROM quotes ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1";