Three simple functions that mimic ADO.NET approach to relational database querying

SQLHelper.php

$mysql_server = "your_host";
$mysql_database = "your_database_name";
$mysql_username = "your_database_user";
$mysql_password = "your_database_password";

//executes a query and returns the first value or null when nothing's found
//sample: $scalarValue = SQLExecuteScalar("select field from table where id=1");
//sample: $scalarValue = SQLExecuteScalar("select * from info"); //returns first row, first column field
function SQLExecuteScalar($query, $default = null)
{
	//imports global settings
	global $mysql_server, $mysql_username, $mysql_password, $mysql_database;
	
	//enstablish connection
	mysql_connect($mysql_server, $mysql_username, $mysql_password)
        or die("connection failed: " . mysql_error());
	
	//select database
	mysql_select_db($mysql_database)
		or die("Database not found: " . mysql_error());
	
	//get query results
    $results = mysql_query($query) 
		or die("Error executing query: " . mysql_error());
	
    if (mysql_num_rows($results)) {
        $row = mysql_fetch_row($results);
        mysql_free_result($results);
        return $row[0];
    }
	
    return $default;
}

//executes a query and return the number of affected rows
//sample: $affectedRows = SQLExecuteNonQuery("insert into table(id, field) values (1, 'test')");
function SQLExecuteNonQuery($query)
{
	global $mysql_server, $mysql_username, $mysql_password, $mysql_database;
	
	//enstablish connection
	mysql_connect($mysql_server, $mysql_username, $mysql_password)
        or die("connection failed: " . mysql_error());
	
	//select database
	mysql_select_db($mysql_database)
		or die("Database not found: " . mysql_error());
	
	//get query results
    mysql_query($query) 
		or die("Error executing query: " . mysql_error());
	
	//returns affected rows count
	return mysql_affected_rows();
}

//executes a query and returns selected data as an associative array
//$associativeArray = SQLExecuteReader("select * from table");
function SQLExecuteReader($query)
{
	//imports global settings
	global $mysql_server, $mysql_username, $mysql_password, $mysql_database;
	
	//enstablish connection
	mysql_connect($mysql_server, $mysql_username, $mysql_password)
        or die("connection failed: " . mysql_error());
	
	//select database
	mysql_select_db($mysql_database)
		or die("Database not found: " . mysql_error());
	
	//get query results
    $results = mysql_query($query) 
		or die("Error executing query: " . mysql_error());
	
	//fetch row by row into an associative array and return
	$fetched_data = Array();
	while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($results))
	{
		array_push($fetched_data, $row);
	}
	return $fetched_data;
}