Data Checking

[bschultz]

I have the following code to insert data into a database. I'd like to add some data checking so that if the email address is already in the database, it won't let you add another record. The problem is, I don't know where to start. Can somebody point me in the right direction? Thanks.

[code]
<?
$DBhost = "xxx";
$DBuser = "xxx";
$DBpass = "xxx";
$DBName = "kitchen";

mysql_connect($DBhost,$DBuser,$DBpass) or die("Unable to connect to database");

@mysql_select_db("$DBName") or die("Unable to select
database $DBName");


$sqlquery = "INSERT INTO kitchen
VALUES('$_POST[name]', '$_POST[address]', '$_POST[city]', '$_POST[state]',
'$_POST[phone]', '$_POST[email]', '$_POST[age]')";

$results = mysql_query($sqlquery);

  if ($results){
    echo "<p>Thank you, your entry has been submitted!</p>";
  }
  else{
    echo mysql_errno().": ".mysql_error()."<BR>";
  }

  mysql_close ();
?>  
[/code]

[fenway]

There are a number of ways to handle this. You can do the check yourself before hand, and see if you match any existing records (but this isn't transaction-safe). Alternatively, you can add a UNIQUE index of the column, and see if the INSERT fails. Or you could use INSERT IGNORE, and see if any records where added, and inform the user accordingly.

[bschultz]

[!--quoteo(post=360258:date=Mar 31 2006, 12:29 AM:name=fenway)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(fenway @ Mar 31 2006, 12:29 AM) [snapback]360258[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Alternatively, you can add a UNIQUE index of the column, and see if the INSERT fails.
[/quote]

That did the trick (didn't even know that feature existed!)...thanks!