Ok.. So I've been developing an SQL app with PHP. It's basically just for those poor people who can't get access to a MySQL database or are looking for an SQL system with less complication for faster results for applications such as chat systems (Basically the speed difference is how long it takes for a query to run compared to editing a file... HUGE difference).
My problem is I've been developing the error reporting and it works pretty much exactly like MySQLs error reporting. It's just a function in which a value is returned that contains the error. The only problem is getting that error to appear.
In MySQL to connect and have the error show if one is encountered you might do it like this -

PHP Code:

$connection = mysql_connect('host', 'user', 'pass') or die ('Unable to connect to database because: ' . mysql_error()); 


This is how I want it to work for my app. The only problem is there's a problem with the "or die" part of the function. I figured or die means if the function returns false then stop script execution and show this message but it dies even when the function returns true. So does anyone know EXACTLY how or die works so I can make this work?
O also this is how the functions I'm using look like -
Call to function -

PHP Code:

require ('./functions.php');
$txtsql = new txtSQLfunctions;
$txtsql->connect('/mmmsoftware/projects/textSQL/db_1', 'Matt', 'pass') or die ($txtsql->latest_error()); 


Function being called -

PHP Code:

    // Database connection handler
    function connect($db_location, $db_user, $db_pass)
    {
    // Clean up info given...
    $db_user = strtolower($db_user);
    $db_loc_last_char = substr($db_location, strlen($db_location) - 1, strlen($db_location));
        if ($db_loc_last_char != '/' && $db_loc_last_char != '\\')
        {
        $db_location .= '/';
        }
        if (substr($db_location, 0, 7) != 'http://' && substr($db_location, 0, 1) != '/' && substr($db_location, 0, 2) != './')
        {
        $db_location = 'http://' . $db_location;
        }
        // Already connected to another DB?
        if (isset($this->connection_info['db_location']) && $this->connection_info['db_location'] != $db_location)
        {
        $this->latest_error = "<b>TextSQL <i><font color='red'>beta</font></i> Error:</b> Already connected to another database. Please close first connection before opening a new one. Support for multiple connections will come in a later version.";
        }
        if ($this->connection_info['db_location'] == $db_location && $this->connection_info['db_user'] == $db_user && $this->connection_info['db_pass'] == $db_pass)
        {
        // Lol dude you're already connected to that db. Just re-use past connection info.
        $this->latest_error .= "<br />NO FATAL ERRORS REPORTED";
        return (true);
        }
        else
        {
            if (is_file($db_location . 'txtsql_db_info.php.inc'))
            {
            require($db_location . 'txtsql_db_info.php.inc');
                if (isset($USERS[$db_user]))
                {
                $pass_perm = explode('-|*|-', $USERS[$db_user]);
                    if ($pass_perm[0] == $db_pass)
                    {
                    // Connection info valid!!!
                    
                    }
                    else
                    {
                    // Invalid password
                    $this->latest_error = "<b>TextSQL <i><font color='red'>beta</font></i> Error:</b> Invalid password for user given. Connection failed.";
                    $this->connection_info = array();
                    return (false);    
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                $this->latest_error = "<b>TextSQL <i><font color='red'>beta</font></i> Error:</b> The user you attempted to use does not exist.";
                $this->connection_info = array();
                return (false);    
                }
            }
            else
            {
            $this->latest_error = "<b>TextSQL <i><font color='red'>beta</font></i> Error:</b> Database files do not exist in specified directory or the databases info file was destroyed.";
            $this->connection_info = array();
            return (false);    
            }
        }
    } 


Error function -

PHP Code:

    function latest_error()
    {
    return ("test " . $this->latest_error);
    } 


Thanks a lot .

i would sugest to not use die instead do something like

require ('./functions.php');
$txtsql = new txtSQLfunctions;
$txtsql->connect('/mmmsoftware/projects/textSQL/db_1', 'Matt', 'pass');  
if ($txtsql->error===true){
   echo "The page has encountered this SQL error : ",$txtsql->latest_error();
}

Yer I was going to do that but I've just been set on or die because it's less code if anyone ever ends up using this script and it sort of makes me mad when things like this don't work and I have no way to fix them lol. Thanks anyways.

Just my opinion here, and please don't take offense, but the or die stuff bothers me. It just smacks of the BSOD -- stops everything and displays a usually un-useful messge to the end user. I think scripts should log the error and redirect the user to a nice error page.

Well.. Logging really isn't up to me. I do however plan on setting up an array developers can use to log all warnings and errors but once again that's really something people that develop with this need to do themselves. I guess it would be a good idea to log all errors in the server DB but I'm not sure everyone would want that. Also I personally think redirecting to a nice error page is a waste of time.. I want to display the error. Straight and to the point. No point making a whole new page to display an error message.

Here is my take on your problem:

Since the function returns false on an error why not just do this:

PHP Code:

require ('./functions.php');
$txtsql = new txtSQLfunctions;
if(!$txtsql->connect('/mmmsoftware/projects/textSQL/db_1', 'Matt', 'pass')) {
echo $txtsql->latest_error(); die(); } 


or

PHP Code:

require ('./functions.php');
$txtsql = new txtSQLfunctions;
try {

if(!$txtsql->connect('/mmmsoftware/projects/textSQL/db_1', 'Matt', 'pass'))
throw new Exception($txtsql->latest_error());

} catch(Exception $e) {
echo $e->getMessage(); die();
} 


What I did with my MySQL database, is I created a custom Exception that uses error_log to send the error to my email or log it in a file. I prefer using try / catch.

Hope that helped.