SQL Create multiple tables at once - php

Question

I need to create multiple tables at once. Im having a hard time figuring out the correct method for accomplishing this. Currently my script looks like this:
private function buildDB() {
$sql = <<<MySQL_QUERY
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS headings (
type VARCHAR(150),
heading VARCHAR(100),
uniqueid VARCHAR(100)
)
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS titles (
type VARCHAR(150),
heading VARCHAR(100),
uniqueid VARCHAR(100)
)
MySQL_QUERY;
return mysql_query($sql);
}
Obviously, this doesn't work and no tables are created. Is there a simple way for creating multiple tables at once?

Answer 1

MySQL is getting confused because you're not delimiting your queries. Add a semicolon after the first CREATE statement:
private function buildDB() {
$sql = <<<MySQL_QUERY
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS headings (
type VARCHAR(150),
heading VARCHAR(100),
uniqueid VARCHAR(100)
);
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS titles (
type VARCHAR(150),
heading VARCHAR(100),
uniqueid VARCHAR(100)
)
MySQL_QUERY;
return mysql_query($sql);
}
Also, make sure MySQL_QUERY is at the beginning of the line with no other characters, except maybe a semicolon, as per the Heredoc documentation.
Seeing as the above doesn't appear to work, give this code a try:
private function buildDB() {
$sql1 = "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS headings (
type VARCHAR(150),
heading VARCHAR(100),
uniqueid VARCHAR(100))";
$sql2 = "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS titles (
type VARCHAR(150),
heading VARCHAR(100),
uniqueid VARCHAR(100))";
MySQL_QUERY;
return mysql_query($sql1) && mysql_query($sql2);
}
You could use mysqli_multi_query() (the MySQL version doesn't exist), but you'd have to use MySQLi then. The above code returns the logical AND of the two queries, so you still get a 0 returned if one fails.

Answer 2

You can issue multiple queries as long as they are properly delimited. When issuing multiple queries, change this:
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS headings (
type VARCHAR(150),
heading VARCHAR(100),
uniqueid VARCHAR(100)
)
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS titles (
type VARCHAR(150),
heading VARCHAR(100),
uniqueid VARCHAR(100)
)
to
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS headings (
type VARCHAR(150),
heading VARCHAR(100),
uniqueid VARCHAR(100)
); // added a friendly semicolon
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS titles (
type VARCHAR(150),
heading VARCHAR(100),
uniqueid VARCHAR(100)
); // added a friendly semicolon
and you should be set.
If not, throw some debugging in there to see exactly where your SQL or surrounding code is unhappy.

Answer 3

It is because mysql_query() can execute only a single query at a time. Please try using mysqli::multi_query() instead (http://php.net/manual/en/mysqli.multi-query.php) but do end your queries with a semi-colon.
The simplest approach however is to directly run the CREATE TABLE statements in your MySQL client