/**
* Checks whether an email exists in the database
* @param $email string The email whose existence to check
* @return bool Whether the email exists in the database or not
*/
public static function email_exists($email)
{
// the user row with the particular email; it could be empty
$user_row = User::get_user_row_by_email($email);
// return false if the user row is null
return empty($user_row) ? false : true;
}
/**
* Gets the user row from the database.
*/
private function get_user_row()
{
// Return out of the function if the user row is set
if (isset($this->user_row)) {
return;
} else {
// get the user row by the email
$user_row = User::get_user_row_by_email($this->email);
$this->user_row = $user_row;
}
}
