echo if array empty

Question

I've been working on some code to award badges to teachers based on how many items they upload to share with their colleagues and students.

I've run into a problem when the array is empty. Nothing shows up.

I tried an empty() function, but I must have put it in the wrong position, because then it started appearing for users who had uploads.

So essentially in the code below, it's the "if $uploads < 1" section that I'm having difficulty with.

..and the resultant question is how do I get a message to echo where mysql_fetch_array($upload_count) is empty?

     <?php


$total_uploads = mysql_query("SELECT members.member_id, members.member_firstname,           members.member_lastname, COUNT(*)  
FROM uploads    
JOIN members
ON uploads.member_id = members.member_id
GROUP BY uploads.member_id   ");

$total_uploads_count    = @mysql_num_rows($total_uploads);

$upload_count = mysql_query("SELECT members.member_id, members.member_firstname,  members.member_lastname, COUNT(*)  
FROM uploads    
JOIN members
ON uploads.member_id = members.member_id AND members.member_id = ".     $_SESSION['member_id']  . "
GROUP BY uploads.member_id   ");

while($row_count=mysql_fetch_array($upload_count))  
{  


$uploads =  $row_count['COUNT(*)'];

 $unlock2 = 5 - $row_count['COUNT(*)'] ;
 $unlock3 = 20 - $row_count['COUNT(*)'] ;
 $unlock4 = 50 - $row_count['COUNT(*)'] ;
 $unlock5 = 100 - $row_count['COUNT(*)'] ;
 $unlock6 = 200 - $row_count['COUNT(*)'] ;           


 echo " you have <span class =\"blue_inherit\"> $uploads </span> uploads.<br/><br/>";

 if  ($uploads  < 1 )

 {

echo "Upload a resource to share in order to unlock your novice uploader badge!<br/>

 <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_1_locked.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" />";

 }

    else if  ($uploads >= 1 && ($uploads < 5 ))

 {

echo "Well done, you've unlocked your novice sharer's badge. <br/>

 <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_1.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" /><br/>


 If you upload $unlock2 more resources, you can unlock your E-sharing advanced beginner's badge. <br/>

  <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_2_locked.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" /><br/>



 ";

 }


    else if  ($uploads >= 5 && ($uploads < 20 ))

 {

echo "Well done, you've unlocked your E-sharing advanced beginner's badge. <br/>

 <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_2.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" /><br/>


 If you upload $unlock3 more resources, you can unlock your E-sharing mini-hero badge. <br/>

  <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_3_locked.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" /><br/> ";

 }


else if  ($uploads >= 20 && ($uploads < 50 ))

 {

echo "Well done, you've unlocked your E-sharing mini-hero badge. <br/>

 <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_3.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" /><br/>


 If you upload $unlock4 more resources, you can unlock your E-sharing hero badge. <br/>

  <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_4_locked.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" /><br/> ";

 }   

else if  ($uploads >= 50 && ($uploads < 100 ))

 {

echo "Well done, you've unlocked your E-sharing hero badge. <br/>

 <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_4.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" /><br/>


 If you upload $unlock5 more resources, you can unlock your E-sharing super-hero badge. <br/>

  <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_5_locked.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" /><br/> ";

 }       

else if  ($uploads >= 100 && ($uploads < 200 ))

 {

echo "Well done, you've unlocked your E-sharing super-hero badge. <br/>

 <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_5.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" /><br/>


 If you upload $unlock6 more resources, you can unlock your E-sharing Guru badge. <br/>

  <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_6_locked.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" /><br/> ";

 }           


 else 

 {
    echo "You've now a Guru!! <br/>

      <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_6.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" /><br/> ";


 }



     }  



 ?>

Answer 1

Well dam.. you might as well change your variable names to

$please_inject_me, $please_inject_me1 and so on...

First lesson is to please use PDO

Now to your issue (from my understanding of your question that is):

// Do your first query prepare it and then execute it, and then do a fetch and count the number of rows returned by your $query sql query
        $sql = "SELECT members.member_id, members.member_firstname, members.member_lastname, COUNT(*) FROM uploads JOIN members ON uploads.member_id = members.member_id GROUP BY uploads.member_id ";
        $query = $pdo->prepare($sql);
        $query->execute();
        $total_uploads_count = $query->fetch(PDO::FETCH_NUM);

// I guess this query you have going is counting how far the member / teacher is away from the unlock goals here we set the variable that has the num row count

        $sql2 = "SELECT members.member_id, members.member_firstname,  members.member_lastname, COUNT(*) as 'total' FROM uploads JOIN members ON uploads.member_id = members.member_id AND members.member_id = :username GROUP BY uploads.member_id";
        $query2 -> $pdo->prepare($sql2);
        $query2->bindParam(':username', $_SESSION['member_id']); // Do not forget to bind your parameters either in a array or hard code it out like I just did
        $query2->execute();

        $row = $query2->fetch();
        $upload_count = $row['total']; // Alias of COUNT(*);

Now that you PDO queries are set up now you have to create the PDO instance like so : 
You could make a file called connec.php

with the following contents :

    //We connect to the database
    $host="xxxxxx"; // Host name
    $username="xxxxxxxxx"; // Mysql username
    $password="xxxxxxx"; // Mysql password
    $db_name="xxxxxxx"; // Database name

    // Connect to server via PHP Data Object
    $pdo = new PDO("mysql:host=xxxxx;dbname=xxxxxxxx", $username, $password);
    $pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
    $pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES, false);
    ?>

Once you do that then at the top of any page that has database interactions (queries) you would then just do :

require ('..................(w/e your path is)/connect.php');

Now that you have a way to count all the rows in your query with a single variable ($upload_count) do this :

// get the differences in the counts
    $unlock2 = 5 - $upload_count;
    $unlock3 = 20 - $upload_count;
    $unlock4 = 50 - $upload_count;
    $unlock5 = 100 - $upload_count;
    $unlock6 = 200 - $upload_count;

Now you said the issue was how to echo if the returned results are empty or in terms of database stuff if the results are 0 / no results.

Then just do `

 if($upload_count == 0) { // This is empty 
       .................... 
     } else { // This is not empty have fun :D
       ........... 
     }

I think I answered your questions... if not let me know.

Answer 2

I believe that if a mysql count returns empty rather than a 0

Try this instead

 if (empty($uploads) === true) {
echo "Upload a resource to share in order to unlock your novice uploader badge!<br/>

     <img src=\"images/badges/badge_e_share_1_locked.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" alt=\"Sharing Badge\" />";
}