SELECT MYSQL record containing 2 possible values - php

Question

I would like to Select rows where a value is being returned. If they have chosen Male or Female in the select box, I would want it to search for that. That part is working fine. However, if they choose Either, I want it to say that MySQL should look if the column contains Male or Female and return any results.
Please note that I do not want to use OR statements inside the query if possible based on how the code is being written out.
I tried the below, but it did not seem to work. The values are coming from a select box in a form which has Either, Male or Female.
if ($postgender == "either")
{
$male = "Male";
$female = "Female";
$postgenderuse = ($male || $female);
}
else {
$postgenderuse = $postgender;
}
$query4 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM tennis WHERE gender='$postgenderuse' ORDER BY playerid DESC LIMIT 0,20");

Answer 1

start creating the query from statements, also check if the form is sending one of the 3 values (just to make sure)
if ($postgender == "Either")
{
$postgenderuse = " ( `gender`='Male' OR `gender`='Female' ) ";
}
elseif ($postgender == "Male" || $postgender == "Female") {
$postgenderuse = " `gender`='".$postgender."' ";
}
else {
die('Error, no gender selected');
}
$query4 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `tennis` WHERE ".$postgenderuse." ORDER BY `playerid` DESC LIMIT 0,20");

Answer 2

Assuming that you're treating gender in binary terms, as consisting of only two options (Male, Female):
$sql = "SELECT * FROM tennis";
if(in_array($postgender, array("Male", "Female"))
{
$sql .= " WHERE gender=".$postgender;
}
$sql .= " ORDER BY playerid DESC LIMIT 0,20)";
$query4 = mysql_query($sql);

Answer 3

if It is either, then change your query to do a wild card search.
SELECT * FROM tennis WHERE gender LIKE '$postgenderuse'
That way, when they choose either, you can set postgenderuse to a % Sign.
Although, it might be a better idea to just use OR in your query, and build your query off of conditions, like:
if($postgender == "Male") {
$condition = "WHERE gender='Male'";
} else if($postgender == "Female") {
$condition = "WHERE gender='Female'";
} else {
$condition = "";
}
$query = "SELECT * FROM tennis " . $condition . " ORDER BY BLAH";
In anycase, either way should work. Being able to construct queries from conditionals is part of the power of php.
~ Dan

Answer 4

The solution you have tried would work if you were using Bitwise instead of String for the field gender.
What I suggest, is to use the SQL IN function.
Something like:
$query = "SELECT * FROM tennis WHERE gender IN ('" + implode("', '", $postGenderArray) + "')";