If rowCount empty, try again - php

Question

I am running a query from a table whose data gets refreshed (deleted and re-inserted) every 30 seconds.
I want my query (which outputs row count) to detect that the row count is null (or zero) and re-run the query. Maximum retries: 5.
And after 5th retries, if it's still zero, I want the row count to print "0".
I know it's a loop but I don't know how to loop it from within the if for row.
<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("HOST","USERNAME","PASS","TABLENAME");
$sql="SELECT id FROM candyshop WHERE candy <= 5 AND sugartype ='hard'";
$number = 0; //init count for loop
if ($result=mysqli_query($con,$sql))
{
$rowcount=mysqli_num_rows($result);
printf($rowcount); //print number of rows
mysqli_free_result($result);
$number = $number+1; //increment number for loop
}
mysqli_close($con);
?>

Answer 1

Use a do while loop and only leave the loop if the rowcount is higher than 0 or 5 retries have been reached.
<?php
$sql = "SELECT id FROM candyshop WHERE candy <= 5 AND sugartype ='hard'";
$count = 0;
$retry = 5;
do {
// Count the rows
if ($result = mysqli_query($con, $sql)) {
$count = mysqli_num_rows($result);
}
// Wait for 10ms
if ($count === 0) {
usleep(10000)
}
} while ($count === 0 && --$retry > 0);
mysqli_close($con);
This is however very bad practice, I would recommend looking for another approach. Why would you clear and then refill the table?

Answer 2

Still new to StackOverflow but can you try this?
<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("HOST","USERNAME","PASS","TABLENAME");
$sql="SELECT id FROM candyshop WHERE candy <= 5 AND sugartype ='hard'";
$number = 0; //init count for loop
if ($result=mysqli_query($con,$sql)) {
$rowcount=mysqli_num_rows($result);
printf($rowcount); //print number of rows
mysqli_free_result($result);
$number = $number+1; //increment number for loop
if ($number = 5) {
printf(0);
break 2;
}
}
mysqli_close($con);
?>

Answer 3

$i = 0;
do {
$result = mysqli_query($con, $sql);
$count = mysqli_num_rows($result);
} while ($count == 0 && $i++ < 5)

Answer 4

As i understood you are trying to write a Web Based Game. Actually your method is probably going to make database a little busy. You don't have to loop queries. If you are going to do it, we are talking about milliseconds here. Let's say your queries are generally giving results in 0.05 seconds that means for 5 query you are just going to have the data of 0.25 seconds.
You can write your game or whatever easily with COMET Programming. But if you decided to go with loop queries , there is only one thing you will do and it's for loop.

Answer 5

$rowcount=0;
do {
if ($result=mysqli_query($con,$sql)) {
$rowcount=mysqli_num_rows($result);
printf($rowcount); //print number of rows
mysqli_free_result($result);
}
} while(++$number<5 && $rowcount!=0);
that is basicaly the answer to your request, though it needs some more explanation to be useful.