Question

is there an if statement when it comes to mysql query statements?

when i am updating a table record, i want to only update certain columns if they have a value to be updated.

for example, i want an update table function, and there is a table for volunteers and a table for people who just want email updates.

i want to use the same function (there will be a function that only deals w/ the upd queries) and is it possible to do this in theory…

if you are updating volunteer table, only update these columns, if mailing_list, then update these

i know this can by done using an if statement w/ two query statements, based on what table you’re updating, but i am wondering is it possible to use only one query statement w/ the conditionals in it to update the appropriate columns in the table.

this may sound like something you would dream about, let me know.

thanks.

Answer 1

I think this should work:

UPDATE volunteer, people SET volunteer.email = '[e-mail]',     people.email = '[e-mail]',     people.first_name = 'first', WHERE people.id = 2 AND volunteer.id = 5; 

I got this from the update syntax on the MySQL website.