I think the answer to this may be simple, but being new to SQL I am still growing. Here's my dilemma. I have a php array of options with 10 values. When any one option is selected it is passed into a variable named "spots". I have 10 SQL SELECT statements that pull 1 of 10 different tables. The issue is that I do not know exactly what to do in order to get the SQL to recognize which value was selected and based on which was selected show that specific table data. (This would be easy if I were able to use the JavaScript Switch statement, but I do not know an equivalent for that)
EXAMPLE:
PHP
$spots = ["Report1","Report2","Report3","Report4","Report5","Report6","Report7","Report8","Report9","Report10"];
SQL
SELECT *, FROM Report5
ORDER BY TW ASC;
Now how do I get SQL to loop through an array to find a match, then depending on that match select from a list of commands (for example like a JavaScript switch statement)?
Use variable substitution:
foreach ($spots as $spot) {
$sql = "SELECT * FROM $spot ORDER BY TW ASC";
// perform the SQL query using $sql, do what you want with the results
}
Make sure you've validated that the values in $spots are valid if they're coming from the user. Otherwise you'll be subjecting your code to SQL injection.
Related
Okay, basically I have a table that contains statements like:
incident.client_category = 1
incident.client_category = 8
incident.severity = 1
etc.
I would like to use the contents from this table to generate other tables that fulfill the conditions expressed in this one. So I would need to make it something like
SELECT * FROM incident WHERE incident.client_category = 1
But the last part of the where has to come from the first table. Right now what I'm trying to do is something like
SELECT * FROM incident WHERE (SELECT condition FROM condition WHERE id = 1)
id = 1 stands for the condition's id. Right now I only want to work with ONE condition for testing purposes. Is there a way to achieve this? Because if there isn't, I might have to just parse the first query's results through PHP into my incident query.
Table schemas:
Engineering Suggestion - Normalize the DB
Storing a WHERE clause, like id = 10, in a field in a MySQL table, is not a good idea. I recommend taking a look at MySQL Normalization. You shouldn't store id = 10 as a varchar, but rather, you should store something like OtherTableid. This allows you to use indices, to optimize your DB, and to get a ton of other features that you are deprived of by using fields as WHERE clauses.
But sometimes we need a solution asap, and we can't re-engineer everything! So let's take a look at making one...
Solution
Here is a solution that will work even on very old, v. 5.0 versions of MySQL. Set the variable using SET, prepare a statement using PREPARE, and execute it using EXECUTE. Let's set our query into a variable...
SET #query = CONCAT(
"SELECT * FROM incident WHERE ",
(SELECT condition FROM condition WHERE id = 1)
);
I know for a fact that this should work, because the following definitely works for me on my system (which doesn't require building any new tables or schema changes)...
SET #query = CONCAT("SELECT id FROM myTable WHERE id = ", (SELECT MAX(id) FROM myTable));
If I SELECT #query;, I get: SELECT id FROM myTable WHERE id = 1737901. Now, all we need to do is run this query!
PREPARE stmt1 FROM #query;
EXECUTE stmt1;
DEALLOCATE PREPARE stmt1;
Here we use a prepare to build the query, execute to execute it, and deallocate to be ready for the next prepared statement. On my own example above, which can be tested by anyone without DB schema changes, I got good, positive results: EXECUTE stmt1; gives me...
| id | 1737901 | .
here is one way to achieve your goal by using what is called dynamic sql, be ware that this works only select from condition table returns only one record.
declare #SQLSTRING varchar(4000)
, #condition VARCHAR(500) -- change the size to whatever condition column size is
SELECT #condition = condition
FROM
condition
WHERE
id = 1
SET #SQLSTRING= 'SELECT * FROM incident WHERE ' + #condition
exec sp_executesql(#SQLSTRING)
Since you have also tagged the question with PHP, I would suggest using that. Simply select the string from the condition table and use the result to build up a SQL query (as a string in PHP) including it. Then run the second query. Psudo-code (skipping over what library/framework you re using to call the db):
$query = "select condition from condition where id = :id";
$condition = callDbAndReturnString($query, $id);
$query = "select * from incident where " . $condition;
$result = callDb($query);
However, be very careful. Where and how are you populating the possible values in the condition table? Even how is your user choosing which one to use? You run the risk of opening yourself up to a secondary SQL injection attack if you allow the user to generate values and store them there. Since you are using the value from the condition table as a string, you cannot parametrise the query using it as you (hopefully!) normally would. Depending on the queries you run and the possible values there as conditions, there might also be risk even if you just let them pick from a pre-built list. I would seriously ask myself if this (saving parts of SQL queries as strings in another table) is the best approach. But, if you decide it is, this should work.
I am trying to refer to a column name to order a query in an application communicating with an Oracle database. I want to use a bind variable so that I can dynamically change what to order the query by.
The problem that I am having is that the database seems to be ignoring the order by column.
Does anyone know if there is a particular way to refer to a database column via a bind variable or if it is even possible?
e.g my query is
SELECT * FROM PERSON ORDER BY :1
(where :1 will be bound to PERSON.NAME)
The query is not returning results in alphabetical order, I am worried that the database is interpreting this as:-
SELECT * FROM PERSON ORDER BY 'PERSON.NAME'
which will obviously not work.
Any suggestions are much appreciated.
No. You cannot use bind variables for table or column names.
This information is needed to create the execution plan. Without knowing what you want to order by, it would be impossible to figure out what index to use, for example.
Instead of bind variables, you have to directly interpolate the column name into the SQL statement when your program creates it. Assuming that you take precautions against SQL injection, there is no downside to that.
Update: If you really wanted to jump through hoops, you could probably do something like
order by decode(?, 'colA', colA, 'colB', colB)
but that is just silly. And slow. Don't.
As you are using JDBC. You can rewrite your code, to something without bind variables. This way you can also dynamically change the order-by e.g.:
String query = "SELECT * FROM PERS ";
if (condition1){
query = query+ " order by name ";
// insert more if/else or case statements
} else {
query = query+ " order by other_column ";
}
Statement select = conn.createStatement();
ResultSet result = select.executeQuery(query);
Or even:
String columnName = getColumnName(input);
Statement select = conn.createStatement();
ResultSet result = select.executeQuery("SELECT * FROM PERS ORDER BY "+columnName);
ResultSet result = select.executeQuery(
"SELECT * FROM PERS ORDER BY " + columnName
);
will always be a new statement to the database.
That means it is, like Thilo already explained, impossible to "reorder" an already bound, calculated, prepared, parsed statement. When using this result set over and over in your application and the only thing, which changes over time is the order of the presentation, try to order the set in your client code.
Otherwise, dynamic SQL is fine, but comes with a huge footprint.
I am trying to display the data from 'table' if a key inputted by the user is found in the database. Currently I have it set up so that the database checks if the key exists, like so:
//Select all from table if a key entry that matches the user specified key exists
$sql = 'SELECT * FROM `table` WHERE EXISTS(SELECT * FROM `keys` WHERE `key` = :key)';
//Prepare the SQL query
$query = $db->prepare($sql);
//Substitute the :key placeholder for the $key variable specified by the user
$query->execute(array(':key' => $key));
//While fetched data from the query exists. While $r is true
while($r = $query->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) {
//Debug: Display the data
echo $r['data'] . '<br>';
}
These aren't the only SQL statements in the program that are required. Later, an INSERT query along with possibly another SELECT query need to be made.
Now, to my understanding, using WHERE EXISTS isn't always efficient. However, would it be more efficient to split the query into two separate statements and just have PHP check if any rows are returned when looking for a matching key?
I took a look at a similar question, however it compares multiple statements on a much larger scale, as opposed to a single statement vs a single condition.
#MarkBaker Join doesn't have to be faster than exists statement. Query optymalizer is able to rewrite the query live if it sees better way to accomplish query. Exists statement is more readable than join.
Fetching all the data and making filtering directly in PHP is always bad idea. What if your table grow up to milions of records? MySQL is going to find the best execute plan for you. It will automaticaly cache the query if it is going to improve performance.
In other words, your made everything correctly as far as we can see your code now. For futher analyse show us all of your queries.
I'm trying to select both the total number and the limited number of products from the database.
Example:
$result = $database->query("SELECT* FROM products WHERE type = $category limit $start,$per_page");
$all_data = $database->query("SELECT* FROM products WHERE type = $category");
However, when I run this I'm getting mysql error.
Is it possible to get the data I need without using multiple queries.
This is mysql error I'm getting;
Database failed...You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '-2,2' at line 1
If I understand you correctly, you're fetching the entire set of products in your category in the second query, but fetching just one page's worth in the first query (e.g., items 10 through 19). I would just fetch all the items with the second query, then load the rows into a PHP array and use array_slice() to grab the segment of the array you need for the current page.
EDIT: As others have said, the actual MySQL error may be the lack of the space between SELECT and *, but you can also do what you're trying to do without hitting the database twice.
If you just need the counts, then use:
SELECT count(*)
FROM products
WHERE type = '$category' limit $start,$per_page");
SELECT count(*)
FROM products
WHERE type = '$category';
The error is due to the use of negative numbers in limit clause. Snippet from MySQL documentation on Select syntax :
The LIMIT clause can be used to constrain the number of rows returned
by the SELECT statement. LIMIT takes one or two numeric arguments,
which must both be nonnegative integer constants (except when using
prepared statements).
So the resolution to that error would be to use prepared statements if you really need negative limits as also asked by #James in one of his comments on your question.
Note that select* does not produce any errors but certainly does confuse!
You create a procedure then you call this procedure. I hope it work for you.
CREATE PROCEDURE `test_proc`()
LANGUAGE SQL
NOT DETERMINISTIC
CONTAINS SQL
SQL SECURITY DEFINER
COMMENT ''
BEGIN
declare name1 TEXT;
declare id1 TEXT;
select name,id into name1,id1 from my_tbl WHERE name='sam';
select * from my_tbl;
select name1,id1;
END
You can call this single call store procedure.
This question already has answers here:
Get table column names in MySQL?
(19 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
As I am still learning PHP and MySQL, I would like to know if it is possible to query a table without knowing it's name. Knowing the table I am querying and the column I would like to retrieve, I can write something like
$book_title=$row['book_title'];
Then I can use the resulting variable later in the script. In each case, each book category table will have a column of interest with a different name. I have several tables on which I am running queries. I am able to query any table by using a variable that always evaluates to the correct table name, because all the input from users corresponds to the tables in the database, so the $_POST super global will always carry a correct table name. The problem is for me to have a
$variable=$row['column'];
in cases where I do not know a column name before hand even though I know the table name.
My queries are simple, and look like
query="select * FROM $book_categories WHERE id=$id";
$row = mysqli_fetch_array ($result);
$variable=$row['?'];
The question mark say, I do not know what column to expect, as it's name could be anything from the tables in the database!
Since I have several tables, the query will zero on a table, but the column names in each table varies so I would like to be able to use one query that can give me an entry from such a column.
I hope my question is clear and that I am not asking for the impossible. If it's ambiguous, I care to elucidate (hope so).
I'm not sure what you mean, but it is possible to reference specifc columns by typing index (starting with 0) something like this: $row[0], $row[1] where 0 indicates the first column, and 1 indicates the second column from the returned recordset.
Example:
If you have a select-statement like this:
SELECT title, author FROM books
You could reference these two columns with $row[0], $row[1]
If you try to get the value of $row[2] you will get an unassigned value because there are only two columns (0 and 1) from the recordset.
If you have a select-statement like this:
SELECT * FROM book_categories
and the recordset returns three columns, then you could access these with $row[0], $row[1] and $row[2]. $row[3] does not exist because there are only three columns (0,1 and 2)
Since you are learning maybe we could take some time to explain why this is possible but many people (including myself) would say this is bad -- or at least dangerous
Why you can
Your SQL query is basically a text string you send to the DB server, which decode that string trying to interpret it as SQL in order to execute the query.
Since all you send to the DB server is text string, you could build that string however you want. Such as using string interpolation as you did:
select * FROM $book_categories WHERE id=$id
That way, you could replace any part of your query by the content of a variable. You could even go further:
$query FROM $book_categories WHERE id=$id
Where $query could by SELECT * or DELETE.
And, why not initializing all those variables from a form:
$book_categories = $_POST['book_categories'];
$id = $_POST['id'];
$query = $_POST['query'];
Great, no? Well, no...
Why you shouldn't
The problem here is "could you trust those variables to only contain acceptable values?". That is, what would append if $book_categories somehow resolve to one table you didn't want to (say myTableContainigSecretData)? And what if $id resolve to some specially crafted value like 1; DELETE * FROM myImportantTable;?
In these conditions, your query:
select * FROM $book_categories WHERE id=$id
Will become as received by the DB server:
select * FROM myTableContainigSecretData WHERE id=1; DELETE * FROM myImportantTable;
Probably not what you want.
What I've tried to demonstrate here is called SQL injection. This is a very common bug in web application.
How to prevent that?
The best way to prevent SQL injection is to use prepared statement to replace some placeholders in your query by values properly shielded against SQL injection. There was an example posted a few minutes ago as a response to an other question: https://stackoverflow.com/a/18035404/2363712
The "problem" regarding your initial question is that will replace values not table or columns identifiers.
If you really want to replace table/columns identifiers (or other non-value part of your query) by variables contents, you will have to check yourself the content of each of these variables in order to prevent SQL injection. This is quite feasible. But that's some work...