How do I hide the display of empty dynamic fields in a PHP query

Question

I need help, I've spent the whole day on this, and I'm not getting any further.
I am creating a simple blog, where articles can be added via a form in dreamweaver that uploads data to a mysql database.
I have the following fields in the database:
"title", "text", "image" "link" (and datestamp)
The text, image and link fields can be left blank, so I have set their attribute to NULL, i.e. can be NULL
to display this data, I have created a page and added a recordset that reads as follows:
SELECT niklas.`date`, niklas.title, niklas.text, niklas.image, niklas.link
FROM niklas
the problem is some of the articles will only have text, some will have text and image, some only image.
When I view the page, it shows me the images that are there, but when there is no image in that particular record, the page shows a blue question mark instead.
What i want to do, is show only what is not null
I cannot use the WHERE command, as this completley omits an entire record, if the one field is empty.
Another problem I have is the link, as these are added through the form, and then stored in the mysql database, how do I display them dynamically so that they are active links to external web pages?
I'm very new to this, and rather a slow learner, so simple help is really needed!
please please help!! I'm really struggling and have deadlines fast approaching!
Thank you in advance!
xxx

Answer 1

Determine the condition of the data where it's displayed on the page using if/else. Here's an example for the thumbnail:
<?php
// Show IF thumbnail is NULL
if ($row_profile['thumbnail'] == "") {
?>
<img src="image_not_found.gif" alt="No Profile Image Available">
<?php
// else show the thumbnail
} else { ?>
<img src="<?php echo $row_profile['thumbnail']; ?>" alt="<?php echo $row_profile['thumbnail']; ?>">
<?php }
// end if thumbnail is present
?>
Do the same technique for any area that may or may not have data.
Create a dynamic link like this:
<a href="<?php echo $row_profile['website']; ?>"><?php echo $row_profile['thumbnail']; ?></a>