simple codeigniter query + results display won't display - mysql

Question

I'm trying to display data from my database in a Codeigniter view. Seems like it should be simple, but it's just not working.
I'm getting 2 errors: undefined variable ($movielist, in the view) and invalid argument for php foreach, also in the view.
Any idea how I can get this to work? Code below.
Controller
function displayMovies() {
$this->load->model('movie_list_model');
$data['movielist'] = $this->movie_list_model->getList();
$this->load->view('movielist_view', $data);
}
Model
function getList() {
$query = $this->db->query('SELECT firstname, lastname, favorite_movie FROM movies');
return $query->result();
if ($query->num_rows() > 0) {
foreach ($query->result_array() as $row)
{
echo $row['firstname'];
echo $row['lastname'];
echo $row['favorite_movie'];
}
}
View
<?php foreach($movielist as $mlist)
{
echo $mlist->firstname . '<br />';
echo $mlist->lastname . '<br />';
echo $mlist->favorite_movie;
}
?>

Answer 1

If( the query doesn't find any rows, it will return null, resulting in the undefined error in your view. The invalid argument error is because you can't iterate through null.
A safety would be including something like this in your view:
if($movielist)
{
/* foreach() {} */
}
Also, your model should only return data (not echo it).
function getList() {
$query = $this->db->query('SELECT firstname, lastname, favorite_movie FROM movies');
return $query->result(); /* returns an object */
// Alternatively:
// return $query->result_array(); /* returns an array */
}
I also recommend using Active record:
function getList() {
$this->db->select('firstname');
$this->db->select('lastname');
$this->db->select('favorite_movie');
$query = $this->get('movies');
return $query->result();
}
Good luck!