Question

Quick method description:

I have two tables, lets name them table ONE and table TWO.
Every table record has an id of its author (user). There are no limits for records per user.

I would like to run a statistics page for each user.

For example, when John logs in:

John | 20 of A (list) | 150 of B (list)

Demo code

$a = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM A WHERE userID='$userID'");
$b = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM B WHERE userID='$userID'");

$a_num=mysql_num_rows($a);
$b_num=mysql_num_rows($b);

$echo "$userID | $a_num of A <a href='/a/$userID'>(list)</a> | $b_num of B <a href='/b/$userID'>(list)</a> ";

The question:

So, is check for number of records (every time user visits his stats page) an optimal solution when number of table records come to few hundred or maybe thousand?
Is there any better way to run statistics? Maybe a separate table which counts records for each user?

Thanks 🙂

Answer 1

As you don’t seem to be using the resultset itself,

$a = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM A WHERE userID='$userID'");

will get you the count you need in 1 step. Also, it’s very likely a whole lot faster than what you’re doing.

Second, the kind of optimisation you’re thinking of is definitely possible (just a group by userID is all you need, and run that script every hour or day or whatever, depending on the required accuracy) but I’d really wait with that kind of stuff until you’re dead sure you need it as it means extra work for the server and extra code to maintain.

Third and last, get rid of the deprecated mysql_query calls, and also look up prepared statements. A lot safer and not harder once you get used to them.