After using PHP for a while and getting really tired of maintaining db connections in each page, I abstracted the code into a function. This allows me to call the function from anywhere using a simple include. This include also provides some rudimentary security by checking to see where this is being called from.
Now I had a function that I only needed to maintain on one page. Life was simpler.
conn.php
<?php
//check if a current session is in place and the user is correctly logged in
//also check the calling page / domain to ensure the call only comes from
//this domain -- this check may take a little configuration to get the
//correct host name
//echo "server is : ".$_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']; //use this the first time to get the host name...then comment it out or delete to complete the security check
*/
if (!($conn=mysql_connect($host, $username, $pwd))) {
printf("error connecting to DB by user = $username and pwd=$pwd");
exit;
}
$db=mysql_select_db($dbname,$conn) or die("Unable to connect to database1");
$result = mysql_query($sql, $conn)or die("Unable to query local database <b>". mysql_error()."</b><br>$sql");
if (!$result){
echo "database query failed.";
}else{
return $result;
}//end if
}//end function
?>
Usage Example
<?php
include("conn.php");
$sql = "select * from tableName where....";
$result = connect($sql);
if ($result){
//do something with the result
}//end if
?>
