Mysql_real_escape_string() A link to the server could not be established
I get this error when I try to use mysql_real_escape_string().
Access denied for user 'ODBC'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
I don't understand why I must be connected to the database to check if the values are OK to insert to MySQL.
Answer
This is because mysql_real_escape_string takes into account the current character set of the connection. As such, it needs a connection. :-)
If you don't want to manually set up a connection in advance, you could set the various MySQL runtime defaults within your .ini file.
However, if you're using your own database class (or simply the manual commands), it's often worth establishing the connection early in the lifetime of your script.