Question

I’m working on a database with 3 tables, some with overlapping information. A few columns from each table can be updated by the user via the web app that I am creating. But… There is an issue. Not sure what it is, but my updates aren’t happening. I am wondering if something is wrong with my query. (Actually, after debugging, I am quite certain there is).

    if (empty($errors)) {   
    $query1 = "UPDATE owner SET
            name = '{$name}'
        WHERE ownerId= '{$ownerId}'";
    $query1_result = mysql_query($query1);
    if (mysql_affected_rows()==1) { 
        $query2 = "UPDATE queue_acl SET
                    date_expires = '{$date_expires}' 
                WHERE user_id='{$ownerId}'";
        $query2_result = mysql_query($query2);
        if (mysql_affected_rows()==2) {
            $query3 = "UPDATE ownerOrganization SET
                    orgId = {$orgId}
                WHERE ownerId = '{$ownerId}'";
            $query3_result = mysql_query($query3);
            if (mysql_affected_rows()==3) {
                    $_SESSION['name'] = $name;
                    $_SESSION['updates_occurred'] = true;
            }
        }
    }

Sorry if it is trivial; I have never worked with multiple tables before.

Answer 1

It’s not a good habit to update tables the way you do it. If the updates are relating somehow you might want to think about creating a transaction. Transactions make sure that all updates are executed (and if not, a rollback is done (which means no update will be executed)):

// disable autocommit 
mysqli_autocommit($dblink, FALSE);

// queries
$query1 = mysqli_query($dblink, "UPDATE owner SET name = '{$name}' WHERE ownerId= {$ownerId}'");
$query2 = mysqli_query($dblink, "UPDATE queue_acl SET date_expires = '{$date_expires}' WHERE user_id='{$ownerId}'");
$query3 = mysqli_query($dblink, "UPDATE ownerOrganization SET orgId = {$orgId} WHERE ownerId = '{$ownerId}'");

if($query1 && $query2 && $query3)
{
   mysqli_commit($dblink);
   $_SESSION['name'] = $name;
   $_SESSION['updates_occurred'] = true;
}
else
   mysqli_rollback($dblink);

I haven’t tested it but it guess it should work. Also you should take a look at mysqli or prepared statements since mysql_ is deprecated.