Check for database connection, otherwise display message

Question

I would like to check if the website can connect to mySQL. If not, I would like to display an error saying that the user should try to access the page again in a few minutes...

I really do not know how to do this ;)

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

string mysql_error ([ resource $link_identifier ] )

But how do I use this?

This just gives me the error, but I want the message to display with any error.

Thanks

Answer 1

Try this:

<?php
$servername   = "localhost";
$database = "database";
$username = "user";
$password = "password";

// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $database);
// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
   die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}
  echo "Connected successfully";
?>

Answer 2

very basic:

<?php 
$username = 'user';
$password = 'password';
$server = 'localhost'; 
// Opens a connection to a MySQL server
$connection = mysql_connect ($server, $username, $password) or die('try again in some minutes, please');
//if you want to suppress the error message, substitute the connection line for:
//$connection = @mysql_connect($server, $username, $password) or die('try again in some minutes, please');
?>

result:

Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Access denied for user 'user'@'localhost' (using password: YES) in /home/user/public_html/zdel1.php on line 6 try again in some minutes, please

as per Wrikken's recommendation below, check out a complete error handler for more complex, efficient and elegant solutions: http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.set-error-handler.php