Question

My SQL query below won’t output the $srchRegion && $srchCategory string if there are $_POST values for both. Why?

if (($srchRegion!='00') || ($srchRegion!='') && ($srchCategory=='00') || ($srchCategory=='')) {
    return $query .= "AND region='$srchRegion'";
} elseif (($srchRegion=='00') || ($srchRegion=='') && ($srchCategory!='00') || ($srchCategory!='')) {
    return $query .= "AND category='$srchCategory'";
} elseif (($srchRegion!='00') || ($srchRegion!='') && ($srchCategory!='00') || ($srchCategory!='')) {
    return $query .= "AND region='$srchRegion' AND category='$srchCategory'";
}

Is there a better way of doing this?

Answer 1

Instead of looking for all possible boolean values and cluttered if-else, why just keep on appending the where clause based on corresponding value populated.

if($srchRegion != '00' && $srchRegion != '') 
  $query .= " AND region='$srchRegion'";
if($srchCategory != '00' && $srchCategory != '')
  $query .= " AND category='$srchCategory'";
return $query;   

So $query acts as query builder and it keeps on adding where clause based on $_POST values being set.