PHP checking mysql connection - php

Question

I am building a project with installation (suck as WordPress) and the user provides database information (server, username, password and database). Now, I have to check if it can connect to the provided database. I tried this code, but it seems that it does not work (I am using Mysqli btw):
public function checkDataBaseConnection($server, $user, $pass, $db)
{
$conn = #mysqli_connect($server, $user, $pass, $db);
if(mysqli_connect_error())
{
return FALSE;
}
else
{
mysqli_close($conn);
return TRUE;
}
}
What other way can I use to check if the server can connect to the database?

Answer 1

One thing: Remove the #, that suppresses some php warnings.
Second thing: Try this:
public function checkDataBaseConnection($server, $user, $pass, $db)
{
$conn = #mysqli_connect($server, $user, $pass, $db);
if(!$conn)
{
return FALSE;
}
else
{
//mysqli_close($conn); why would you close the connection?
return $conn;
}
}

Answer 2

Have you tried something like this?
if (checkDataBaseConnection($server, $user, $pass, $db))
echo "Success!";
else
echo "Fail.";
By the way you just can do this way
mysqli_connect($server, $user, $pass) or die('Connection failed');

Answer 3

Well, if you look at the PHP page for mysqli_connect you can see this example:
<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli('localhost', 'my_user', 'my_password', 'my_db');
/*
* This is the "official" OO way to do it,
* BUT $connect_error was broken until PHP 5.2.9 and 5.3.0.
*/
if ($mysqli->connect_error) {
die('Connect Error (' . $mysqli->connect_errno . ') '
. $mysqli->connect_error);
}
/*
* Use this instead of $connect_error if you need to ensure
* compatibility with PHP versions prior to 5.2.9 and 5.3.0.
*/
if (mysqli_connect_error()) {
die('Connect Error (' . mysqli_connect_errno() . ') '
. mysqli_connect_error());
}
echo 'Success... ' . $mysqli->host_info . "\n";
$mysqli->close();
?>