title: PHP database connection failed
body: <p>I have a php file that includes two functions, one to connect to the database and one to set cookied for the cart. Here is that file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?php
  $dbServer="localhost";
  $dbName="test";
  function ConnectToDb($server, $database){
      $s=@mysql_connect($server);
      $d=@mysql_select_db($database, $s);
      if(!$s || !$d)
      return false;
      else
      return true;
  }
  
  function GetCartId(){
      if(isset($_COOKIE["cartId"])){
      return $_COOKIE["cartId"];
  }
  else {
      session_start();
      setcookie("cartId", session_id(), time()+((3600*24)*30));
      return session_id();
  }
  }
  ?&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The function for connecting to the database works well in another php file for this particular program. I am having a problem with it in this file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?php
  include("db.php");
  
      switch($_GET["action"]) {
              case "add_item":
              {
                      AddItem($_GET["id"], $_GET["qty"]);
                      ShowCart();
              break;
              }
              case "update_item": {
                      UpdateItem($_GET["id"], $_GET["qty"]);
                      ShowCart();
              break;
              }
              case "remove_item": {
                      RemoveItem($_GET["id"]);
                      ShowCart();
              break;
              }
              default: {
                      ShowCart();
              }
      }
  
      function AddItem($itemId, $qty) {
              // Will check whether or not this item
              // already exists in the cart table.
              // If it does, the UpdateItem function
              // will be called instead
  
  
              $cxn = @ConnectToDb($dbServer, $dbName);
              // Check if this item already exists in the users cart table
              $result = mysql_query("select count(*) from cs368_cart where cookieID = '" . GetCartID() . "' and itemId = $itemId");
              $row = mysql_fetch_row($result);
              $numRows = $row[0];
  
              if($numRows == 0) {
                      // This item doesn't exist in the users cart,
                      // we will add it with an insert query
                      @mysql_query("insert into cs368_cart(cookieID, itemId, qty) values('" . GetCartID() . "', $itemId, $qty)");
              }
              else {
                      // This item already exists in the users cart,
                      // we will update it instead
  
                      UpdateItem($itemId, $qty);
                      }
              }
  
      function UpdateItem($itemId, $qty) {
              // Updates the quantity of an item in the users cart.
              // If the qutnaity is zero, then RemoveItem will be
              // called instead
  
              $cxn = @ConnectToDb($dbServer, $dbName);
  
              if($qty == 0) {
                      // Remove the item from the users cart
                      RemoveItem($itemId);
              }
              else {
                      mysql_query("update cs368_cart set qty = $qty where cookieID = '" . GetCartID() . "' and itemId = $itemId");
                      }
              }
  
      function RemoveItem($itemId) {
              // Uses an SQL delete statement to remove an item from
              // the users cart
              $cxn = @ConnectToDb($dbServer, $dbName);
              mysql_query("delete from cs368_cart where cookieID = '" . GetCartID() . "' and itemId = $itemId");
      }
  
      function ShowCart() {
              // Gets each item from the cart table and display them in
              // a tabulated format, as well as a final total for the cart
              $cxn = @ConnectToDb($dbServer, $dbName);
              $result = mysql_query("select * from cs368_cart inner join cs368_products on cart.itemId =
                      items.itemId where cart.cookieID = '" . GetCartID() . "' order by items.itemName asc")
                       or die("Query to get test in function ShowCart failed with error: ".mysql_error());
  ?&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What can I do the remedy this problem? Thanks!</p>