Introduction - autoPrepare and autoExecute

Introduction - autoPrepare and autoExecute -- autoPrepare and autoExecute

Description

Purpose

autoPrepare() and   autoExecute()       are facilities. With them, you don't have to write anymore these boring (insert or update) sql queries which are difficult to maintain when you add a field for instance.    

Imagine you have an 'user' table with 3 fields (id, name and country). You have to write sql queries like :    
INSERT INTO table (id, name, country) VALUES (?, ?, ?)
UPDATE table SET id=?, name=?, country=? WHERE ...
If you add a field ('birthYear' for example), you have to rewrite your queries which is boring and can lead to bugs (if you forget one query for instance).

autoPrepare

With autoPrepare(), you don't have to write your insert or update queries. For example :    
(...) // $dbh is an DB object
$table_fields = array('id', 'name', 'country');
$table_name   = 'user';
$sth = $dbh->autoPrepare($table_name, $table_fields, DB_AUTOQUERY_INSERT);
In this example, autoPrepare() will build the following sql query :    
INSERT INTO user (id, name, country) VALUES (?, ?, ?)
And then, it will call prepare() with it. To add records, you have so to use execute() or executeMultiple() like :    
(...) // $dbh is an DB object
$table_fields = array('id', 'name', 'country');
$table_values = array(1, 'Fabien', 'France');
$table_name   = 'user';
$sth = $dbh->autoPrepare($table_name, $table_fields, DB_AUTOQUERY_INSERT);
$dbh->execute($sth, $table_values);
So, you don't have to write any sql insert queries ! But it works with update queries too. For flexibility reasons, you have only to write the WHERE statement of the query. For instance :    
(...) // $dbh is an DB object
$table_fields = array('name', 'country');
$table_values = array('Bob', 'USA');
$table_name   = 'user';
$sth = $dbh->autoPrepare($table_name, $table_fields, DB_AUTOQUERY_UPDATE, 'id = 1');
$dbh->execute($sth, $table_values);
     autoPrepare() will build the following query :    
UPDATE user SET name=?, country=? WHERE id=1
Then, it will call prepare() with it.

Be careful, if you don't specify any WHERE statement, all the records of the table will be updated.

autoExecute

Using execute() is the easiest way to do insert or update queries. It is a mix of autoPrepare() and execute().

You only need an associative array (key => value) where keys are fields names and values are corresponding values of these fields. For instance :    
(...) // $dbh is an DB object
$fields_values = array(
    'id'     => 1,
    'name'   => 'Fabien',
    'country' => 'France'
);
$table_name = 'user';
$dbh->autoExecute($table_name, $fields_values, DB_AUTOQUERY_INSERT);
And that's all ! The following query is built and executed :    
INSERT INTO user (id, name, country) VALUES (1, 'Fabien', 'France')
And it's the same thing for update queries :    
(...) // $dbh is an DB object
$fields_values = array(
    'name'   => 'Fabien',
    'country' => 'France'
);
$table_name = 'user';
$dbh->autoExecute($table_name, $fields_values, DB_AUTOQUERY_UPDATE, 'id = 1');
The following query is built and executed :    
UPDATE user SET name='Fabien', country='France' WHERE id = 1

Be careful, if you don't specify any WHERE statement, all the records of the table will be updated.