update certain table column if else query - php

Question

I'm trying to write a query to check which column to update. The user sends an action which they performed (a like or a comment) and I'm trying to update a table. Is it possible to check inside the query which column to update? For example:
DB structure:
id imageName imageLikesCount imageCommentsCount
$actionPerformed = "like";
mysqli_query($link, "UPDATE table (if $actionPerformed=like SET imageLikesCount+1
else imageCommentsCount+1)
WHERE imageName='$image'");
I'm not sure how to phrase that, if it's possible at all. Any advice? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

though meverhart913 has a way to do it, the better way to do the same thing is to instantiate your variable based on the if condition, then just plug that variable into your string. This keeps you from having to repeat your string over and over as well as allows you to easily add additional conditions.
if($actionPerformed=="like"){
$col = imageLikesCount;
else{
$col = imageCommentsCount;
}
mysqli_query($link, "Update table SET '$col' = '$col + 1' where imageName = '$image'");

Answer 2

if($actionPerformed=="like"){
mysqli_query($link, "Update table SET imageLikesCount = imageLikesCount + 1 where imageName = '$image'");
}
else {
mysqli_query($link, "Update table SET imageCommentsCount = imageCommentsCount + 1 where imageName = '$image'");
}

Answer 3

I'm not a php programmer so my syntax won't be correct, but here are two ways to do it:
if ($actionPerformed == "like")
query for updating imageLikesCount
else if ($actionPerformed == "comment")
query for updating imageCommentsCount
else
whatever
Or
if ($actionPerformed == "like")
$column = "imageLikesCount";
else ($actionPerformed == "comment")
$column = "imageCommentsCount";
$sql = "update table set $column = $column + 1";
Then execute it.