Question

I need to insert data into DB in two language, and I am having a bit of a dilemma (data needs to exist in both languages). Is it better to make user insert data in both language at once, or is it better for the user to first insert in one language and then to insert in the second one? And if the latter is better how is the most efficient way to do this? How can I present all articles that are not inserted in both language?

DB structure for the articles:

Common table for all article (same data):

**article -> id_article | image | date_created | category_id | subcategory_id**

Table where data is different:

article_info -> article_id | name | text | lang_id

Answer 1

If the data must exist in both languages – i.e., the application assumes that if an item exists in one language, than it must exist in the other – then you should design your application so that the user must add them both at once.

When you perform the database writes, you should also be using transactions. This will ensure that either all of your writes succeed, or none of them do. It prevents the database from being left in an indeterminate state with a record for one language but not the other.

Have a look at this CodeIgniter manual page on transactions to get an idea on how they work.

You can also use the insert_batch method in the database class to insert both records at once. I don’t know how it works with all database drivers, but the mysqli driver will generate a single query when you use insert_batch, so the entire insert will succeed or the entire insert will fail, similar to what happens with transactions. That said, I would still wrap the call to insert_batch in a transaction block just to be a bit paranoid and future-proof.