Leave current value if var is empty in a UPDATE query (sql) - php

I want not update a record when the variable is empty when executing a UPDATE query in SQL. However, when the variable is filled, the record should be updated.
So in example, the myAge field in the database have currently a value of 20 (type int).
After executing the following query, the record should still be 20.
$age = '';
db_con->query("UPDATE info SET myAge = ".$age." WHERE account_id = 1");
Ps: I know I could check if the variable is empty with PHP, but I was wondering If this could be archieved within SQL?

You could use an IF construct in SQL to check if the value is empty:
$age = mysql_real_escape_string($age);
db_con->query("UPDATE info SET myAge = IF('".$age."' = '', myAge, ".$age.") WHERE account_id = 1");
If the passed PHP variable is empty, you set the old myAge.
Checking in PHP makes more sense, you might save a database query.
The way you are passing that variable to your database is potentially dangerous. If you didn't know about mysql_real_escape_string, look it up NOW.
Better yet, start using a database wrapper that escapes values for you.

I would add the condition into the where, if you only care about one field.
It is not clear what you mean by empty. That could be either NULL or a blank string. My guess is that myAge is a number, so NULL would be "empty":
UPDATE info
SET myAge = ".$age."
WHERE account_id = 1 AND myAge IS NOT NULL;
You can also do this in the SET, if you like:
UPDATE info
SET myAge = (CASE WHEN myAge IS NOT NULL THEN ".$age." END)
WHERE account_id = 1;
This is necessary if you have multiple columns that you want to update like this. I much prefer CASE over IF(), because CASE is ANSI standard and available in most databases.

Related

MySQL query with PHP and WHERE specification

With this update query if the id is in chk_list then I set checked=1. I want if the id isn't in the list to set chk_list=0
$update = "UPDATE data SET checked=1 WHERE id IN($chk_list)";
$qry = $db->query($update);
Is there any simple way after WHERE to set if?
You can use IF() function to determine value to be set. Do the following:
$update = "UPDATE data SET checked = (IF(id IN ($chk_list), 1, 0))";
$qry = $db->query($update);
Note: Please use Prepared Statements to prevent SQL injection related issues
If you want to explicitly set checked as 1 or 0, then the if should be in the set area
Notice that its very dangerous to update all of the table to the extent that MySQL by default prevents this from happening, ans you should set safe updates to 0
UPDATE data SET checked = IF(id IN ($chk_list), 1,0)
What about this with CASE? Not sure pretty neat or not but seems it'll work :)
UPDATE data SET checked=
CASE
WHEN id IN ($chk_list) THEN 1
WHEN id NOT IN ($chk_list) THEN 0
END

SQL Updating Optional Parameters PHP

We want to change the way we pass values from PHP to stored procedures (T-SQL). I only have minor experience with PHP but I will attempt to explain the process from discussions with our web developer.
Current Process
Example test table
In order to update a record, such as Field3 in this example, we would pass all existing values back to the stored procedure.
EXEC dbo.UpdateTest #ID = 1, #Field1 = 'ABC', #Field2 = 'DEF', #Field3 = 'GHI', #Field4 = 'JKL'
Lets say to update Field3, you must click a button. This would navigate to a new page which would run the stored procedure to update the data. As the new page is unaware of the values it has to run a SELECT procedure to retrieve the values before running an UPDATE.
The script would then redirect the user back to the page which reloads the updated data and the changes are reflected on screen.
New Process
What we would like to do is only pass the fields we want to change.
EXEC dbo.UpdateTest #ID = 1, #Field2 = 'DEF', #Field3 = 'GHI'
Our solution is simple. First we set all of the updatable fields to optional (so NULL can be passed). We then check to see if the parameter is NULL (is not passed), if it is then we ignore it and if it isn't we update it.
UPDATE
dbo.Test
SET
Field1 = NULLIF(ISNULL(#Field1,Field1),'-999')
,Field2 = NULLIF(ISNULL(#Field2,Field2),'-999')
,Field3 = NULLIF(ISNULL(#Field3,Field3),'-999')
,Field4 = NULLIF(ISNULL(#Field4,Field4),'-999')
WHERE
ID = #ID
However we still want the procedure to update the database record to NULL if a NULL value is passed. The workaround for this was to assign an arbitrary value to equal NULL (in this case -999), so that the procedure will update NULL if the arbitrary value (-999) is passed.
This solution is rather messy and, in my eyes, an inefficient way of solving the problem. Are there any better solutions? What are we doing wrong?
A huge thanks in advance to any replies
Valdimir's method is great as far as passing a flag variable to identify when the value is passed or not passed and his notes about arbitrarily picking a value are right on, but I would guess that there are some arbitrary values you may never have to worry about. such as -999 for a integer when you don't allow for negative numbers, or '|||||||' for a null string. Of course this breaks down some when you do want to use negative numbers but then you could potentially play around with numbers too big for a data type such as BIGINT as a parameter default -9223372036854775808 for an int.... The issue really comes down to your business case of whether values can or can not be allowed.
However if you go a route like that, I would suggest 2 things. 1) don't pass the value from PHP to SQL instead make that the default value in SQL and test if the parameter is the default value. 2) Add a CHECK CONSTRAINT to the table to ensure the values are not used and cannot be represented in the table
So something like:
ALTER TABLE dbo.UpdateTest
CHECK CONSTRAINT chk_IsNotNullStandInValue (Field1 <> '|||||||||||||||||||' AND Field2 <> -999)
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.UpdateTest
#ParamId numeric(10,0)
,#ParamField1 NVARCHAR(250) = '|||||||||||||||||||'
,#ParamField2 INT = -99999 --non negative INT
,#ParamField3 BIGINT = -9223372036854775808 --for an int that can be negative
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #ParamField3Value INT
BEGIN TRY
IF ISNULL(#ParamField3,0) <> -9223372036854775808
BEGIN
SET #ParamField3Value = CAST(#ParamField3 AS INT)
END
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
;THROW 51000, '#ParamField3 is not in range', 1
END CATCH
UPDATE dbo.Test
SET Field1 = IIF(#ParamField1 = '|||||||||||||||||||',Field1,#ParamField1)
,Field2 = IIF(#ParamField2 = -99999,Field2,#ParamField2)
,Field3 = IIF(#ParamField3 = -9223372036854775808, Field3, #ParamField3Value)
WHERE
ID = #ParamId
END
The real problem with this method is the numeric data field allowing for negative numbers as you really don't have an appropriate way of determining when the value should be null or not unless you can pick a number that will always be out of range. And I definitely realize how bad of an idea the BIGINT for INT example is because now your procedure will accept a numeric range that it shouldn't!
Another method/slight variation of Vladimir's suggestion is to flag when to make a field null rather than when to update. This will take a little getting used to for your PHP team to remember to use but because these flags can also be optional they don't have to be burdensome to always include something like:
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.UpdateTest
#ParamId numeric(10,0)
,#ParamField1 NVARCHAR(250) = NULL
,#MakeField1Null BIT = 0
,#ParamField2 INT = NULL
,#MakeField2Null BIT = 0
,#ParamField3 INT = NULL
,#MakeField3Null BIT = 0
AS
BEGIN
UPDATE dbo.Test
SET Field1 = IIF(ISNULL(#MakeField1Null,0) = 1,NULL,ISNULL(#ParamField1,Field1))
,Field2 = IIF(ISNULL(#MakeField2Null,0) = 1,NULL,ISNULL(#ParamField2,Field2))
,Field3 = IIF(ISNULL(#MakeField3Null,0) = 1,NULL,ISNULL(#ParamField3,Field3))
WHERE
ID = #ParamId
END
Basically if you are using the stored procedure to Update a table and it has nullable fields, I don't think I would recommend having the paramaters be optional as it leads to business cases/situations that can be messy in the future especially concerning numeric data types!
Your approach where you use a magic number -999 for the NULL value has a problem, as any approach with magic numbers have. Why -999? Why not -999999? Are you sure that -999 can not be a normal value for the field? Even if it is not allowed for a user to enter -999 for this field now, are you sure that this rule will remain in place in few years when your application and database evolve? It is not about being efficient or not, but about being correct or not.
If your fields in the table were NOT NULL, then you could pass a NULL value to indicate that this field should not be updated. In this case it is OK to use a magic value NULL, because the table schema guarantees that the field can't be NULL. There is a chance that the table schema will change in the future, so NULL can become a valid value for a field.
Anyway, your current schema allows NULLs, so we should choose another approach. Have an explicit flag for each field that would tell the procedure whether the field should be updated or not.
Set #ParamUpdateFieldN to 1 when you want to change the value of this field. Procedure would use the value that is passed in the corresponding #ParamFieldN.
Set #ParamUpdateFieldN to 0 when you don't want to change the value of this field. Set #ParamFieldN to any value (for example, NULL) and the corresponding field in the table will not change.
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.UpdateTest
-- Add the parameters for the stored procedure here
#ParamID numeric(10,0), -- not NULL
-- 1 means that the field should be updated
-- 0 means that the fleld should not change
#ParamUpdateField1 bit, -- not NULL
#ParamUpdateField2 bit, -- not NULL
#ParamUpdateField3 bit, -- not NULL
#ParamUpdateField4 bit, -- not NULL
#ParamField1 nvarchar(250), -- can be NULL
#ParamField2 nvarchar(250), -- can be NULL
#ParamField3 nvarchar(250), -- can be NULL
#ParamField4 nvarchar(250) -- can be NULL
AS
BEGIN
-- SET NOCOUNT ON added to prevent extra result sets from
-- interfering with SELECT statements.
SET NOCOUNT ON;
SET XACT_ABORT ON;
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
BEGIN TRY
UPDATE dbo.Test
SET
Field1 = CASE WHEN #ParamUpdateField1 = 1 THEN #ParamField1 ELSE Field1 END
,Field2 = CASE WHEN #ParamUpdateField2 = 1 THEN #ParamField2 ELSE Field2 END
,Field3 = CASE WHEN #ParamUpdateField3 = 1 THEN #ParamField3 ELSE Field3 END
,Field4 = CASE WHEN #ParamUpdateField4 = 1 THEN #ParamField4 ELSE Field4 END
WHERE
ID = #ParamID
;
COMMIT TRANSACTION;
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
-- TODO: process the error
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;
END CATCH;
END
So, parameters of the procedure are not optional, but you use #ParamUpdateFieldN flags to indicate which parameters hold useful values and which parameters should be ignored.
EXEC dbo.UpdateTest #ID = 1, #Field1 = 'ABC', #Field2 = 'DEF', #Field3 = 'GHI', #Field4 = 'JKL'
and
EXEC dbo.UpdateTest #ID = 1, #Field2 = 'DEF', #Field3 = 'GHI'
Are both valid ways to make use of the same stored procedure with MsSql or Sybase. When you don't send the values, it is the same as sending a null. Unless you set a default in the stored procedure. In that case the default is used instead of the null.
Not enough reputation to just comment.
In my opinion your solution is good enough as long as the arbitrary value cannot be a normal value for any of the fields.
However, I'd consider passing and storing something else besides NULL (“N/A” for example) when a field should not have an “actual” value and it’s purposely updated from the client side.

Form trouble: radio button ->yes,no or null

I'm sure I am missing something quite simple, but I have a form with a few yes/no inputs - type=radio. I have made the default NULL. YES is significant, NO is significant and NULL means user has never answered the question. When I UPDATE the db with user's selections, my NULL values are overwritten with 0 even though NO is not selected. I've read that if user doesn't choose either YES or NO that variable is NOT SET, therefore,
$licensedYN = (isset($_POST['licensed'])&&!empty($_POST['licensed']))?$_POST['licensed']:NULL;
$malpracticeYN = (isset($_POST['malpractice']))?$_POST['malpractice']:NULL;
$sqlAdd = $db->query("INSERT INTO temp (licensedYN,malpracticeYN) VALUES ('$licensedYN','$malpracticeYN')");
How do I get NULL to be inserted into DB and not '0'?
To allow NULL as a value in your licensedYN column... Run this query..
ALTER TABLE temp MODIFY licensedYN varchar(255) null;
This would allow you store null values in your db.
In your case you can just remove the quotes from the query and place it in the value as follows:
$licensedYN = (isset($_POST['licensed']) && !empty($_POST['licensed']))? "'{$_POST['licensed']}'" : 'NULL';
$malpracticeYN = (isset($_POST['malpractice'])) ? "'{$_POST['malpractice']}'": 'NULL';
$sqlAdd = $db->query("INSERT INTO temp (licensedYN,malpracticeYN) VALUES ($licensedYN,$malpracticeYN)");
In any case, you should consider working with prepared statements instead of concatenating strings. You will prevent many problems as sql injections, boost the query execution time and will not have headaches with quotation anymore...

mysql_query inject - replace returned field

im trying to learn and understand mysql inject, i have created demo case.
SELECT ret_variable FROM data WHERE name = '".$name."' AND age = ".$age;
then if(ret_variable == 2){something} but query originally returns 1 and i need to force it to output 2
How to modify $age variable to set custom output field for ret_variable(only in response) ?
I have tried few ways with OR but didn't wroked.
I see no practical application other than learning. I assume since you know the code , you have permission to test this out. So let's give it a go!
You can only return a 2 for the ret_variable when there is a row in the database with a value of 2 as the ret_variable and you know the name value of that row. You can for instance enter that name and the following to bypass the correct value for the age.
age AND ret_value = 2
That would create the following query:
SELECT ret_variable FROM data WHERE name = 'John' AND age = age AND ret_value = 2;
The principle of mysql injection is this sort of manipulation of the query. But you can not force a value which is returned unless there is a row in the database with this value for ret_variable and you can somehow select this row.
When you don't know the name (or there is no record of your known name with a ret_variable of 2) it is not possible.
Since the AND operator has precedence over the OR operator you cannot manipulate the query to give a 2 as ret_variable. This is because the name = '?' part will always fail.

Using a SELECT Query to look up a UPDATE Query on MySQL

I'm using a SELECT query to obtain a variable using mysql_fetch_assoc. This then puts the variable into an UPDATE variable to put the returned value back into the database.
If I hard code the value, or use a traditional variable and it goes in just fine, but it doesn't work when using a value previously retrieved from the database. I've tried resetting the array variable to my own text and that works.
$arrgateRetrivalQuery = mysql_query(**Select Query**);
$arrGate = mysql_fetch_assoc($arrgateRetrivalQuery);
$arrivalGateTest = $arrGate['gatetype'];
$setGateAirportSQL = "UPDATE pilots SET currentgate = '".$arrivalGateTest."' WHERE pilotid = '".$pilotid."'";
$setGateAirportQuery = mysql_query($setGateAirportSQL);
// Close MySQL Connection
mysql_close($link);
This will just make the field to update have nothing in it, however whenever I remove the variable from the SELECT to one I define, array or not, it will work.
Hope this is clear enough. Thanks in advance.
Is arrivalGateTest a number or a string? How did you try to put another value in the query? If you are sure the previous query returns a value, try to write: $setGateAirportSQL = "UPDATE pilots SET currentgate = '$arrivalGateTest' WHERE pilotid = '$pilotid'";.
Just change your sql to inlcude a subquery.
You could use the following general syntax:
UPDATE pilots SET currentgate = (SELECT gate FROM airport WHERE flight='NZ1') WHERE pilotid='2';
which is demonstrated on this fiddle
This saves the extra query and more accurately describes what you are trying to achieve.
WARNING - test it carefully first!

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