MySQL- Why is LAST_INSERT_ID() not working for me?

Question

I have the following code:

  public function createNewGuide($userID,$guideName)
  {
    $sql =" INSERT INTO myTable(name, updated) 
            VALUES ('$guideName', 'NOW()')";

    //Process query
    $this->query($sql); // This inserts the new row
    $this->query('LAST_INSERT_ID()'); // This throws an error

    return $this->query_result;
  }

My query function looks like this:

  private function query($sql) 
  {
      $this->query_result = mysql_query($sql, $this->conn)
        or die("Unable to query local database <b>". mysql_error()."</b><br>$sql");   
  } 

I get the following error:

MySQL Database Error: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'LAST_INSERT_ID()'

I've googled and looked at similar problems, but not found an answer :(

I have not tried the PHP function mysql_insert_id(), as I really would like to do this using SQL.

Answer 1

Why not just use PHP's mysql_insert_id?

Irrespective...

SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID()

...should work as long as you've an auto-increment column in the table.