Question

am having a problem with a bit of code.

I am trying to generate a unique name to insert into a database.

i have created the following function which checks to see if the name already exists:

function checkExists($database_reelfilm, $reelfilm, $mySlug, $locVal){
        $mmid_rs_slugCheck = "-1";
        if (isset($mySlug)) {
          $mmid_rs_slugCheck = $mySlug;
        }
        $mmid2_rs_slugCheck = "-1";
        if (isset($locVal)) {
          $mmid2_rs_slugCheck = $locVal;
        }
        mysql_select_db($database_reelfilm, $reelfilm);
        $query_rs_slugCheck = sprintf("SELECT * FROM locations_loc WHERE locations_loc.slug_loc = %s AND locations_loc.id_loc != %s", GetSQLValueString($mmid_rs_slugCheck, "text"),GetSQLValueString($mmid2_rs_slugCheck, "int"));
        $rs_slugCheck = mysql_query($query_rs_slugCheck, $reelfilm) or die(mysql_error());
        $row_rs_slugCheck = mysql_fetch_assoc($rs_slugCheck);
        $totalRows_rs_slugCheck = mysql_num_rows($rs_slugCheck);
        if($totalRows_rs_SlugCheck > 0){
            return true;
        }else{
            return false;
        }
    };

i then create a loop to checking if the variable name exists, if it does i want it to add the value of the counter to the variable name then recheck to see if that exists until i have a unique name which i can then save to my db.

$updateVal = slugify($row_rs_locations['name_loc']);
        $newSlug = slugify($row_rs_locations['name_loc']);
        $locVal = $row_rs_locations['id_loc'];
        //echo(slugify($row_rs_locations['name_loc']));
        $checkCount = 1;
        $isDupe = '<BR>';
        while(checkExists($database_reelfilm, $reelfilm, $newSlug, $locVal)){
            $isDupe = 'Duplicate Added ' . $checkCount . ' to slug...<BR>';
            $newSlug = $newVal . $checkCount;
            $checkCount ++;
        }
        if($updateVal != $newVal){
            $updateVal = $newSlug;
        }

I am obviously doing something wrong, I need the while loop on the next iteration to use the newSlug value set in the loop, from my various attempts i am not at all sure if this is possible.

Whats the best way to accomplish this?

Answer 1

$newVal is not ever given a value, but it is used twice (second block of code). I think you need something like:

$newSlug = slugify($row_rs_locations['name_loc']);
$newVal = $newSlug;