Counter in mysql doesn't work - php

Question

I'am trying to implement a "most popular searches" function on a web site using a simple counter. The idea is that the first time a search is made, the query is stored in a special table. After that the count number increments by one every time that same search is made. I think I do exactly as I should but the code doesn't seem to work. The count value stays on NULL in the table. Here's my code. "Searchny" is the table where I store the searches. Any pointers much appreciated!
$search_result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM searchny WHERE sok='$sokt'");
if(mysql_num_rows($search_result) == 0 ) {
$sql = "INSERT INTO searchny (sok, dt) VALUES ('" . $sokt . "', NOW());";
mysql_query($sql);
}
else {
mysql_query("UPDATE searchny SET count = count+1 WHERE sok='$sokt'");
}

Answer 1

Probably your count column is NULL by default and every count+1 doesn't make it any less NULL. Try either setting default value of one or explicitly set it to one in INSERT.

Answer 2

Your code has no mistake, so the problem isn't the code.
Is your value NULL or 0 ?
If it is NULL, change
INSERT INTO searchny (sok, dt) VALUES ('" . $sokt . "', NOW());
to
INSERT INTO searchny (sok, dt, count) VALUES ('" . $sokt . "', NOW(), 0);

Answer 3

Your problem is most likely that count is NULL. Anything added to NULL is NULL.
Try this query:
SELECT NULL + 1
The result will be:
NULL
You could set your default value for the count field to 0 instead.
However, here's a simpler way to implement this. Note that I've excluded the date field because I don't know what the requirements for the date are:
Table searchny:
---------
sok
count
---------
primary_key (sok)
Then do it all in one statement:
INSERT INTO searchny (sok, count) VALUES ($sokt, 1)
ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE count = count + 1
If it's a new sok value, then a new row is inserted and the count is set to 1. If the sok value already exists, then the record's count is incremented by 1.