Required fields in a form?

I am trying to build a form that checks if certain required fields are filled out. Not all fields are required, hence my problems. The form calls from a table called "form_fields" that, very simplified, looks like this: field_name | required __________________________ fname | yes lname | yes wphone | no The form is pulled from the same table. Form value names are evaluated as field_name from the database. Hence, a text field asking for the user's first name looks like this when initially called from the database: <input type="text" name="fname" size="30" value=""> The code I am using to check for required fields looks like this: # check to make sure required fields are filled in $query = "select field_name from form_fields where required=\"yes\""; $result = mysql_query ($query) or die ("The server is down. Here's what MySQL said: " . mysql_error()); $required_fields = mysql_fetch_array($result); while(list($key,$val) = each($required_fields)) { if ($HTTP_POST_VARS[$key] == "") { echo "$key is blank!"; } else { echo "$key is not blank!"; }; }; I am using the echo statements as placeholders for now. This code, when put to use, gives back the following output (regardless of whether the form fields are actually blank or not): 0 is blank!field_name is blank! What on earth am I doing wrong? I have a feeling that I have the right idea, but that my code is off. Please help! :) Erica