Once you execute the SQL statement using $header_id->execute you then have to fetch the results back. When you're only expecting one result, the fetchrow_array method works just fine:

( my $header_id_num ) = $header_id->fetchrow_array;

For records with more fields, I'm partial to fetchrow_hashref: 

my $record = $header_id->fetchrow_hashref;
my $header_id_num = $record->{ 'id' };

[download]

As an aside, if you're not doing so already, I strongly recommend that you check the error status of your prepare and execute statements. It's saved my rear many a time. 

$header_id = $dbh->prepare( $sql_command ) || die $dbh->errstr;
$header_id->execute || die $dbh->errstr;

[download]

(Or use whatever you want in place of die...)

Note that the fetchrow returning 0 might just mean that you're at the end of a record, so you shouldn't check for errors there. I believe there is an error flag that is raised if your fetch fails for other reasons. Check the DBI docs for more info.

elbieelbieelbie

In reply to Re: Retrieval of ID# as Integer from MySQL by elbie
in thread Retrieval of ID# as Integer from MySQL by cdherold

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.