Change Static SQL update to dynamic based on changing column names - php

Question

Ok, I asked a question last night and received a number of really great responses. Since that was my first time using StackOverflow I was really pleased.
I'm hoping you guys can help with a new one. Hopefully, down the road, I'll be able to repay the favor to some NEW newbies.
I have the following code in a php file:
$sql = "";
$now=date("Y-m-d h:i:s");
$updatedRecords = $json1->{'updatedRecords'};
foreach ($updatedRecords as $value){
$sql = "update `acea` set ".
"`ACEA_A1`='".$value->ACEA_A1 . "', ".
"`ACEA_A2`='".$value->ACEA_A2 . "', ".
"`ACEA_A3`='".$value->ACEA_A3 . "', ".
"`ACEA_A4`='".$value->ACEA_A4 . "', ".
"`ACEA_A5`='".$value->ACEA_A5 . "', ".
"`ACEA_B1`='".$value->ACEA_B1 . "', ".
"`ACEA_B2`='".$value->ACEA_B2 . "', ".
"`ACEA_B3`='".$value->ACEA_B3 . "', ".
"`ACEA_B4`='".$value->ACEA_B4 . "', ".
"`ACEA_B5`='".$value->ACEA_B5 . "', ".
"`ACEA_E1`='".$value->ACEA_E1 . "', ".
"`ACEA_E2`='".$value->ACEA_E2 . "', ".
"`ACEA_E3`='".$value->ACEA_E3 . "', ".
"`ACEA_E4`='".$value->ACEA_E4 . "', ".
"`ACEA_E5`='".$value->ACEA_E5 . "', ".
"`ACEA_E7`='".$value->ACEA_E7 . "' ".
"where `acea_id`=".$value->acea_id;
if(mysql_query($sql)==FALSE){
$errors .= mysql_error();
}
}
The "ACEA_XX" portions relate to columns in the "acea" database table (obviously), but the programmer set them statically. Unfortunately, these columns need to be added to periodically, with new columns being created related to the new ACEA specs that are introduced.
As a result, this code becomes outdated.
Without having to go in and update this code each time I add a new column, how can I redesign this code so that it updates itself dynamically to include the new columns? I've been trying all morning to make it work, and I can set it so that I can dynamically insert the actual column names into the update statement, but, I can't seem to dynamically grab the associated values dynamically (and I think my method for grabbing and inserting the column names is a little convoluted).
My actual database table columns are currently:
acea_id ACEA_A1 ACEA_A2 ACEA_A3 ACEA_A4 ACEA_A5 ACEA_B1 ACEA_B2 ACEA_B3 ACEA_B4 ACEA_B5 ACEA_E1 ACEA_E2 ACEA_E3 ACEA_E4 ACEA_E5 ACEA_E6 ACEA_E7 ACEA_E9 oil_data_id
The first and last columns will never change and will continue to be the first and last columns. Any new columns will be added somewhere in between, but not necessarily immediately preceding the "oil_data_id" column.
I've tried revising the code numerous ways in order to properly grab the values, but just can't make it work.
Anyone have a concise modification to the code to do what I want? It would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Seems like Doug Kress' method spits some errors out so here is my shot:
$errors = array();
foreach($json1->updatedRecords as $record)
{
$fields = array();
foreach($record as $field => $value)
{
if(substr($field, 0, 5) === 'ACEA_')
{
$fields[] = $field.' = '.mysql_real_escape_string($value);
}
}
// Check if there are any fields set to be updated.
if(isset($fields[0]))
{
// I'm assuming $record->acea_id is an integer. If not,
// replace '%d' with '%s'.
$sql = "UPDATE `acea` SET %s WHERE `acea_id` = '%d';";
$sql = sprintf($sql, implode(',', $fields), $record->acea_id);
if(mysql_query($sql) === false)
{
$errors[] = mysql_error();
}
}
}

Answer 2

First, I would highly recommend making that into a separate table (turning the data 'sideways', if you will). Assuming that's not feasible:
$sql = "";
$updatedRecords = $json1->{'updatedRecords'};
foreach ($updatedRecords as $values){
$flist = array();
$params = array();
foreach ($values as $key => $value) {
if (preg_match('/^ACEA_[A-Z]+\d+$/', $key)) {
$flist[] = $key .'="%s"';
$params[] = mysql_real_escape_string($value);
}
}
$sql = "update `acea` set ". implode(', ', $flist) .
"WHERE `acea_id`='%s'";
$params[] = mysql_real_escape_string($value->acea_id);
$sql = sprintf($sql, $params);
if(mysql_query($sql)==FALSE){
$errors .= mysql_error();
}
}