Separate mysql query on the phpbb3 forums returning nothing (mysql on the server but its not being used by phpbb)

Question

So i entered few quotes on a database and i wanted to display it on a footer block of my phpbb3 forums page.

I created a file for the database connection and query called "ligacao.php":

                                <?php
$ligacao = new mysqli("localhost","starwmjz_mike","PASSWORD","starwmjz_pallet");


if($ligacao->connect_error){
    die("Error:" . $ligacao->connect_errno . "," . $ligacao->connect_error);
}

$ligacao->set_charset("utf8");

$tipQuery = $ligacao->query("SELECT tipQuote FROM tips ORDER BY rand() limit 1");           
?>

And on the footer block i added these lines:

<div id="col1">
    <!-- Column one content beginning -->
    <!-- INCLUDEPHP http://pallet-town.net/backend/ligacao.php -->
    <!-- PHP -->
    echo $tipQuery;
    <!-- ENDPHP -->
    <!-- Column one content end -->
</div>

The mysql is on the same server but its not being using by phpbb in any other instance

The query works just fine as i tested it before using it.
The result is an empty footer block so far.
I've enabled php on the acp.
All help and suggestions are welcome, Thanks.

Answer 1

I eventually found the answer, if anyone else has the same problem this worked for me:

$result = mysqli_query($ligacao,"SELECT * FROM YOUR-TABLE-NAMe ORDER BY rand() LIMIT 1");
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
  echo $row['YOUR-ROW-NAME'];

}
mysqli_close($ligacao);

So in order to access an exterior mysql you need a single PHP file on the root folder of the forums. To include in on your code, just add <!-- INCLUDEPHP YOUR-FILE.php -->to where you'll want the the information to be inserted.

In this particular case the final php file code is:

<?php

$ligacao = new mysqli("YOUR-HOST","DATABASE-USER","PASSWORD","DATABASE-NAME");


if($ligacao->connect_error){
    die("Error:" . $ligacao->connect_errno . "," . $ligacao->connect_error);
}

$ligacao->set_charset("utf8");


$result = mysqli_query($ligacao,"SELECT * FROM YOUR-TABLE-NAME ORDER BY rand() LIMIT 1");                               
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
   echo $row['YOUR-ROW-NAME'];
}

mysqli_close($ligacao);
?>