DB Connection Error

[Thalov]

I've written some other php scripts for SMF/TP and they function fine. However for some reason when I did my latest coding when I insert the line of code for connecting to the DB - SMF/TP fails to display anything. What am I doing wrong/what could be causing this?

Code Select Expand

<link href="http://www.nflcoolertalk.com/USS_Ethos/BioTools/css/bio.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" />
<?php
//Initialize and connect to the DB
include('http://www.nflcoolertalk.com/USS_Ethos/SSI.php');
include('http://www.nflcoolertalk.com/USS_Ethos/BioTools/account.php');
$user_id = $context[user][id];
$table_bio = "bio";

$connection = @mysql_connect('$db_host', '$db_name', '$db_pw') or die(mysql_error());
//$db = @mysql_select_db($db_name, $connection) or die(mysql_error());

//$sql_bio = "SELECT * FROM $table_bio WHERE user = $user_id";
//$result_bio = @mysql_query($sql_bio, $connection) or die(mysql_error());
//$bio = mysql_fetch_array($result_bio);

// Display the various layers
echo "
<div id=\"main\">

<div id=\"header\">
<div id=\"rank\">$bio[rank]</div>
<div id=\"job2\">$bio[job2]</div>
<div id=\"name\"><b>$bio[name]</b></div>
<div id=\"job1\"><b>$bio[job1]</b></div>
</div>
<div id=\"pic\"></div>
<div id=\"service\">
<div id=\"scontent\">$bio[service]</div>
</div>
<div id=\"vitals\">
<div id=\"vcontent\">Gender: $bio[sex]<br>Species: $bio[species]<br>Height: $bio[h_ft]ft $bio[h_in]in<br>Weight: $bio[weight]lbs<br>Age: $bio[age] years</div>
</div>
<div id=\"medical\">
<div id=\"mcontent\">$bio[medhistory]</div>
</div>
<div id=\"awards\">
<div id=\"acontent\">$awards</div>
</div>
<div id=\"backstory\">
<div id=\"bcontent\">$bio[reveal_background]</div>
</div>
<div id=\"skills\">
<div id=\"skcontent\">$bio[skills]</div>
</div>
<div id=\"family\">
<div id=\"fcontent\">$bio[family]</div>
</div>

</div>";
?>

[IchBin]

I think there is no need to surround your connection variables with quotes as that is treating them like strings.

[Crip]

no need for the direct url path, shorter the better.

[Thalov]

Yeah - I had originally done it with shorter relative paths and no quotes around the variables. Forgot to change that back when I posted it here.

[Thalov]

Weird - it magically works. Guess it was just a syntax error somewhere.

[Crip]

**Stuff** happens