Question

I am very new to php, and am sorry if this question turns out to be too vague, but if there is any other information that you need from me let me know.

Anyway, basically what my problem is I have some simple php code that should call die() if it can’t connect to the xampp server I have set up, however, even if I put in invalid info for the server or user it prints Successful. I really don’t know where to go with this, so if anyone has any suggestions that would be great.

<?php

$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbuser = 'root';
$dbpass = '';



if ( !mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass) )
{
    die(mysql_error());
} 
else
    echo 'Succesful';

?>

Ok for some reason it was just not working with the root user, so I created a new user who required a password and apparently that connected like it was supposed to. Thanks everyone for the answers.

Answer 1

I have found that when trying to connect php to an xampp server there are usually only a few things that could cause the issue you are having.

1. mySQL service is not running
2. no specific database is selected to try to access
3. user does not exist in phpmyadmin.

When you pick a user to connect php to mySQL with you should always make sure that a password is set, that is usually the thing people miss. You can use root if you create another instance of it in the user list and require a password, or you can add a password to the root user already in the list, but the best option is to create a new custom user that only has access to the database you want to access with your php and make sure it has a password required. (make sure any user you use can connect with localhost; root can by default and I think most newly created users can as well).

Below is the php I use for websites I design that need php to access a DB.

<?php
// This configures the variables for database access
$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbuser = '????';
$dbpass = '????';
$dbname = '????';


// This will connect to the server and then the correct database
$conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass) or die ('Error connecting to mysql');
mysql_select_db($dbname);
?>