How to do two DB queries at once in PHP? - php

Question

I have two queries but can I have them as just one
$sql = ("SELECT * FROM table WHERE title='$title' LIMIT 1");
$sql = ("UPDATE table SET views = views+1 where title='$title' ");
$query = mysql_query($sql) or die("Error Connecting To db");
At the moment the 2nd one works but not the first one.

Answer 1

This is your code:
$sql = ("SELECT * FROM table WHERE title='$title' LIMIT 1");
$sql = ("UPDATE table SET views = views+1 where title='$title' ");
$query = mysql_query($sql) or die("Error Connecting To db");
First, the first $sql will not run because you are overwriting the contents of that first $sql with new content in the next line.
Then just looking at your logic, here is your first query:
SELECT * FROM table WHERE title='$title' LIMIT 1
I assume that is to get the entry with the title equalling $title and nothing else, right? But then your next query is this:
UPDATE table SET views = views+1 where title='$title'
You are updating the value where title='$title' anyway. So the first query is not even needed. So problem solved, right? Well you might want to add the LIMIT 1 to the second query like this:
UPDATE table SET views = views+1 where title='$title' LIMIT 1
But honestly the logic of updating a DB based on whether an item title matches seems messy. What if two items have the same title? Yes, you are limiting things by 1 but by what criteria? If you have three items with the same title, which gets updated?
You need more differentiation for your app structure. But I think that is fair for what is essentially a newbie question.

Answer 2

Run the two queries separately
$sql1 = ("SELECT * FROM table WHERE title='$title' LIMIT 1");
$qry = mysql_query($sql1);
if (mysql_num_rows($qry) > 0)
{
while ($res = mysql_fetch_object($qry))
{
// -- contents --
}
$sql = ("UPDATE table SET views = views+1 where title='$title' ");
$query = mysql_query($sql) or die("Error Connecting To db");
}