Field should still appear if there is no row in database - php

Question

On my form, I have an echo which links to the data in my database.
However, If it is the first time the form has been visited (no ID in the table relating to the session) the textboxes do not appear whereas they should appear but empty!
It is successful when the id links to the session and there is a row in the database (the user has already completed the form once and has come back to edit.)
I hope this makes sense. To try and be clearer, if the user is visiting the form for the first time the textareas should be there (they disappear at the moment) but be empty.
$rs_settings = mysql_query("SELECT * from thesis WHERE user_id = $user_id;");
<br>
<form action="thesis.php" method="post" name="regForm" id="regForm" >
<?php while ($row_settings = mysql_fetch_array($rs_settings)) {?>
Title of Proposed Thesis<span class="required">*</span>
<textarea name="thesis_Name" type="text" style="width:500px; height:150px"
id="thesis_Name" size="600"><?php echo $row_settings['thesis_Name']; ?>
</textarea>

Answer 1

Use mysql_num_rows()
<form action="thesis.php" method="post" name="regForm" id="regForm" >
<?php
$num_rows = mysql_num_rows($rs_settings);
if($num_rows > 0) { ?>
<?php while ($row_settings = mysql_fetch_array($rs_settings)) {?>
//your textarea with values from database
<?php }
} else { ?>
//empty textares
<textarea></textarea>
<?php } ?>
Did you mean someting like this

Answer 2

Please try code given below it may be helpful..
<form action="thesis.php" method="post" name="regForm" id="regForm" >
<?php if (mysql_num_rows($rs_settings) <= 0) { ?>
<textarea name = "thesis_Name" type = "text" style = "width:500px; height:150px"
id = "thesis_Name" size = "600"></textarea>
<?php
} else {
while ($row_settings = mysql_fetch_array($rs_settings)) {
?>
Title of Proposed Thesis<span class="required">*</span>
<textarea name="thesis_Name" type="text" style="width:500px; height:150px"
id="thesis_Name" size="600"><?php echo $row_settings['thesis_Name']; ?>
</textarea>
<?php
}
}?>
Here mysql_num_rows($query) first check if result exist any row or not
but if form has multiple fields then
<?php
$rs_settings = mysql_query("SELECT * from thesis WHERE user_id = {$user_id}") or die(mysql_error());
$result = array();
if (mysql_num_rows($rs_settings) == 0) {
$result[0]['thesis_Name'] = "";
$result[0]['field1'] = "";
} else {
$i = 0;
while ($res = mysql_fetch_array($rs_settings)) {
$result[$i] = $res;
$i++;
}
}
foreach ($result AS $index => $r) {
?>
Title of Proposed Thesis<span class="required">*</span>
<textarea name="thesis_Name" type="text" style="width:500px; height:150px"
id="thesis_Name" size="600"><?php echo $r['thesis_Name']; ?>
</textarea>
<?php } ?>