Question

I’m updating a MySQL table with posted PHP data.
I first gather the posted data, and put them in appropriate variables. Together with the necessary if/else checks.

Then, I only have to write my query once.

But now I have an if/else to check wether to update a specific field or not. How can I store a “do-not-update” value inside the corresponding variable?

Because otherwise I have to put an if/else check around the whole query, just for one field.

I just want to be as efficient as possible. 🙂

My query is as follows:

$updateTable = mysql_query("UPDATE myTable SET field1 = '$field1', field2 = '$field2'");

Answer 1

wherever you are get $_POST into variables, do this,

 if( $field2 === 'xyz' ) { //if value is 'xyz', do not update
     $sql = ''; 
  } else 
      $sql = ", field2 = '$field2'";

Then in the query,

   $updateTable = mysql_query("UPDATE myTable SET field1 = '$field1' $sql");

Edit: if using 1/0 (true or false),

   if( $field2 == true ) { //if value is true, do not update
     $sql = ''; 
  } else 
      $sql = ", field2 = '$field2'";