Question

I have a submission form that returns a MySQL error #1062 when a user tries to submit it with a duplicate entry. As an example, the error states:

Duplicate entry 'graphics' for key 'name'

I want to give the user a custom message that explains (in plain English) why they got an error, and what specific entry caused the error. For example:

"Graphics" is a duplicate entry and should not be used. Please remove it and resubmit the form."

The key will always be ‘name,’ but the duplicate entry itself will often be different. I need to be able to pull that specific value out of the MySQL error that’s generated, and then wrap my custom message around it. How could this be done?

Answer 1

You could try to make a simple error check, displaying the user your error message if a mysql error occurs. You could try something like this:

$rows = mysql_query("SELECT `name` from `tbl` WHERE `name` = 'graphics';");

if(mysql_num_rows($rows) > 0){
    echo '"Graphics" is a duplicate entry and should not be used. Please remove it and resubmit the form.';
}else{
    insert...
}