note 48769 added to function.odbc-exec

I am stuck!!!! Please help!! $cur= odbc_exec( $cnx, "SELECT username, password FROM People WHERE username='$user_name' AND password='$password'" ); when $user_name and $password are fields taken from the previous form on an html page. For some reason i cant get php to recognise these as variables in this command. what am i doing wrong?? ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.odbc-exec.php Edit -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=edit+48769 Delete -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+48769&report=yes Reason: bad code -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+48769&report=yes&reason=bad+code Reason: spam -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+48769&report=yes&reason=spam Reason: useless example -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+48769&report=yes&reason=useless+example Reason: contains commercial links -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+48769&report=yes&reason=contains+commercial+links Reason: useless note -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+48769&report=yes&reason=useless+note Reject -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=reject+48769&report=yes Search -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php