Re: Global Changes With Loop To Allow Nulls In A Table...

On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 12:58 PM, Boyd, Todd M. <tmboyd1@ccis.edu> wrote: >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Andrew Ballard [mailto:aballard@gmail.com] >> Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 11:39 AM >> To: revDAVE >> Cc: php-general@lists.php.net >> Subject: Re: [PHP] Global Changes With Loop To Allow Nulls In A >> Table... >> >> On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 11:53 AM, revDAVE <Cool@hosting4days.com> >> wrote: >> > Hi Folks, >> > >> > Newbie question.... >> > >> > I have a mysql table with 100 fields, currently all do not allow >> nulls. >> > Rather than hand typing in phpMyAdmin, I would like a way to loop >> through >> > all fields and update them to allow nulls.... >> > >> > My Beginning attempt needs help... >> > >> > >> > $i = 1; >> > while ($i <= 100): >> > >> > // how do I word this to just change whatever field we are on to >> allow >> > nulls? >> > >> > $sql = 'ALTER TABLE mytable ?*update*? >> '.$???WhatEverField??[$i].' >> > ?ALLOWNULL?;'; >> > >> > //mysql_query($sql); >> > >> > $result = mysql_query($sql) or die("<br /><br /> Could not renumber >> dB $sql >> > <br /><br />" . mysql_error()); >> > >> > >> > $i++; >> > endwhile; >> >> >> The other responses should get you started if this is something you >> really want to do. However, I'll play devil's advocate here and just >> raise the question why you would want to make this change in the first >> place. I'm not quite as anti-NULL as a lot of arguments I've read >> against them, but I tend to agree that the number of columns that >> accept NULL values should be kept as small as possible. Even if you >> decide that you need to allow NULL values in some cases, IMHO I >> wouldn't write a script that ran through my entire database and opened >> every column in every table to accept. > > I just thought I'd throw this out there... > > A lot of people who post questions on this list are programming their algorithms and > structuring their applications in a certain way because that's what the client wants, or > that's what their boss told them to do. Yes, accepting NULL values in a database is frowned > upon (unless the table is a transaction table)... but I doubt his boss or his client cares in the > least. > > My 2 cents. ;) > > > // Todd > Understood. I just thought I'd raise the question since the OP is says he is a PHP newbie (and based on his previous posts I'm guessing a MySQL newbie as well, though I could be mistaken) just to make sure the question (and its implications) has been at least considered before making such a sweeping change. FWIW, I would also be a little cautious about a client who asked me to allow every column in every table accept NULLs. Andrew